Mamie Eisenhower and “Mamie pink”: More insight from Gettysburg

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HOW DID AMERICA END UP WITH 5 MILLION pink bathrooms? Credit goes to: A super-efficient military wife with sparkling blue eyes.

Mamie Doud Eisenhower had a tried-and-true method for setting up new households as she traveled the world with her husband the General. She knew she looked good in pink. Put the two together and ultimately you get: Mamie Pink bathrooms all across America. Five million is my conservative estimate. Maybe even 10 million, a reader yesterday estimated. Today we dive into the story of how Mamie Eisenhower led us down this primrose pink path. Above: 1960 Christmas card made by Hallmark for Mamie. All images in this post courtesy The Eisenhower National Historic Site. Heck yeah there is more →

Nancy’s pink poodle bathroom

nancys-pink-poodle-bathroom

nancys-pink-poodle-curtainsNancy is the official reader representative on the  Save the Pink Bathrooms website. I really needed a reader to help me illustrate our quest… I remembered her great bathroom from the post a year ago (exactly one year about today, actually!) and asked her if she were game to help with another photo showing off a quintessential pink bathroom. Thank you so much, Nancy!  Nancy wholeheartedly embraced her pink bathroom way before I even had the blog. She writes: “My husband and I are restoring a 1959 split-level home back to its original midcentury glory. Luckily, most of the original fixtures and features were never updated – including a pink bathroom! In fact, our pink hall bathroom is part of what sold us on the house.” Nancy found the vintage plastic poodle curtains, left, just last week. Her poodle accessorizing is now complete, she says, so you won’t be competing with her if you go after this MIB inventory heading forward.

Pink poodle Paris wallpapers

paris poodle wallpaper collage

I found these poodle wallpapers at American Blinds Wallpaper & More and the Wallpaper Connection. I guess if you have a pink bathroom…and put up this wallpaper…then you might as well get a poodle…and name her Fifi.

Susan becomes a fan of her 1962 pink Jack ‘n Jill bathroom

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Susan peeks at us from the other side of her vintage, pink Jack 'n Jill bathroom. I am so jealous.

IT’S A PINK BATHROOM BONANZA. Here we have not only pink , but also the blog’s first Jack ‘n Jill bathroom. And — the adorable Susan (above), a first-time homeowner, to tell us all about the bathroom, and her ‘new’ 1962 home. Surprise surprise, her note includes this:

When we first bought the house I was not a fan of the bathrooms. However, thanks to your site I have realized how great a pink bathroom can be! Heck yeah there is more →

Jack and Jill bathrooms

Susan has an original brochure showing the layout of her 1962 Jack and Jill bathroom

Susan has an original brochure showing the layout of her 1962 Jack and Jill bathroom

JACK AND JILL bathrooms… or Jack ‘n Jill bathrooms were a design that saved space by letting two users, or sets of users, have their own toilet and sink — and share the tub. Here, it’s called a 2-1/2 bath. A famous Jack ‘n Jill bathroom: The one shared by the Brady Bunch kids. Heck yeah there is more →

Chalkware fish from Miller Studios on etsy

green etxy chalkware fishes

Miller Studios seems to have been the big maker of chalkware fish back in the day. I also spotted another manufacturer, Freeman McFarlin. There is a very healthy trade in chalkware fish — they so speak to the period. They can be picked up very inexpensively, but of course there are rare and expensive sets as well.  Above: Gotta love this pair Miller Studios chalkware fishes from frenzyfinds on etsy.com. Heck yeah there is more →