You don’t see many lilac bathrooms. Tina — who recently was able to purchase her childhood home, spotted this bathroom at (a different) open house and sent in several photos.
Tina writes:
Hi Pam,
I absolutely LOVE your site and will use it extensively now that I have FINALLY bought my childhood home which my parents built in 1960-61. More about that later…. Until then, I recently went to a local garage sale at a 60′s ranch that is up for sale. Inside I found a fantabulous LILAC bathroom! I was so excited I went back the next day with my camera to take photos. The Realtor agreed it was a great bathroom and let me take as many pix as I wanted. When I told my Mom about it she told me we used to live in a house with a lilac bathroom. Too bad I was an infant and don’t remember! Maybe there should be another site “Save the lilac bathrooms”, but something tells me the ‘contemporary crowd’ probably ripped them all out a long time ago!
Tina
As I emailed Tina, to be sure our Save the Pink Bathrooms campaigns in emblematic — we love pastel bathrooms of all colors. Here’s the listing for this 1965 house. Many thanks, Tina, and good luck with your own new/old house! Send me pics when you are ready.
17 groovy home interiors from 1965 
A 50s bathroom with dusty-grey-lilac tile 
Pink bathroom fixtures available in the U.K. 
Become a fan
Cranaby-in-Chromadelic would be gorgeous in that lilac bathroom!!
oops, Carnaby….a little dyslexia this morning…
I notice a that retro stuff was really geared to women feathering their nest, and men were busy giving them the means to just that.
OMG, how beautiful!
Pam, months ago you had a post about B&W Tile. I got a sample board of their tiles/colors at that time. They have (at least then they did) lilac tile. It’s gorgeous. Love the bathroom…
I LOVE this bathroom! What a refreshing change of pace from the blue and pink tile that we see more of. I agree that the “chromadelic” wallpaper would be great in this room. Bringing in something with navy blue would also be beautiful with the white and lilac! Green is also a nice complement to lilac. Soo many options!
That is one gorgeous bathroom. I have to say it speaks to me more clearly than even pink or blue. Love your B&B suggestions for wallpaper. How dearly I hope the new owners, whomever they turn out to be, will respect and enjoy this original beauty!
It is so funny how we each react to colors. I have to admit, I don’t think I would choose this color — but then, I am a “winter” and lilac is NOT a color that looks good on me. I think this is why I have a really hard time making suggestions when readers ask for color ideas… We all react SO DIFFERENTLY to different colors.
it’s funny that people react to lilac like it’s a strong accent color, when really it’s a neutral.
I like using it a lot in halls, and area where you can get a bit of color without having to worry about matching it to fabric and woods, etc… but it’s neutral enough that it won’t clash with the colors of the rooms opening off of the hallway.
A very underrated color family IMHO.
Maybe it’s because I CAN wear lilac that I reacted to this bathroom the way I did.
I think your wallpaper suggestions got me grooving on its pop sensibility. You’re so right – color is completely subjective!
We had the very same suite, except the sink was an oval model. Birchwood cabinet topped by white counter with gold sparkles. We completely funked it up with deep purple walls and a black and white tile floor. LOVED it.
How absolutely lovely! Never seen lilac tile in a bath before.
Chromadelic is perfect.
Hi. That lilac is dreamy. Here is a link to a 60s era house for sale in Lexington with a half bath that is lilac. The house is on a street named Hi Crest — I love that ’60s name. The house has had some updates, but enough original exists for it to be pretty cool. Here’s hoping the new owners will keep the lilac bathroom.
http://www.lbar.com/mls/details/residential/1007919.html
I am absolutely in LOVE with this lilac tile! I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. ever. Not even at the re-use store where they have every color mid-century bathroom tile & fixture imaginable..Gorgeous!
I like it!
But we should pool our sources and find them a lilac toilet seat.
Beautiful bathroom! Glad you got pictures of it since the new owners may not be as fond of it unfortunately. Good thing the realtor appreciated it and didn’t insist it needed to be “updated”, which I saw happen in a house near us (an all original1961 custom ranch). The new owner gutted it completely and its original features all went into a giant dumpster! I don’t actually know how much sway the agent may have had on that new owner, but it was very sad nonetheless.
It is so funny that this came up, as I have just recently been thinking about the lilac bathroom that I grew up with in Wisconsin. It was VERY similar to this one with a long counter but only a single sink. I’ve never seen another lilac bathroom. I hope the new owners keep this one!
Oh! This bathroom is screaming out for this fabric i found last night.
http://www.fatquartershop.com/store/stores_app/Browse_Item_Details.asp?Shopper_id=3172541410433172&Store_id=499&page_id=23&Item_ID=34326&Parent_Ids=
The little dresses look like lilacs!
I would trade this for my pink bathroom!!!
I saw a lilac bathroom in a home in Peoria, Illinois… several years ago when I was house hunting. I had previously seen all different shades of four inch glazed tile in MCM homes… blue, green, yellow, coral, mauve, pink, beige… but never lilac! Obviously not very common, but oh-so-pretty! I want that bathroom!
It’s glorious! I have never dreamed of such a beautiful tile color. I love that wallpaper too.
All this admiration of the color Lilac. I thought you all might enjoy seeing http://www.lilacgardens.com Our town is famous for the lilac gardens and they are in bloom all over right now. This bathroom needs a bouquet of them on the counter don’t you think?
Sara, I need to take a trip up there from Portland…been promising that to myself each spring for years!
Love it! My grandparents had a yellow hall bath and a lilac master bath. We had white at home. As a kid I wanted a yellow bath and a lavender bath when I grew up. Well, I have the yellow bath, but not the lavender. If I rip out my ugly gray bath, I could look for vintage lavender fixtures…
What a really cool bathroom! How fun to think of all the diverse ways to decorate this one! And how very special to be able to buy your childhood home. My mom thinks I’m crazy, but the very first (and smallest) little ranch house that they owned, built in 1963 (and because of that, I think they had to be the first owner-occupants), is my favorite of all of my childhood homes. I look at it sometimes on Google Maps, and there’s a photo of it at that county’s tax assessor’s website, but it’s too far away to just go gawk – last time I actually saw it was in 1988. So lucky you! I can’t wait to see pictures!
Question: Are those lights period correct? I have similar lighting – horizontal rather than vertical – above my sink in my house built in 1950…was thinking of changing them out but don’t want to if they are original??? I just figured someone came along in the eighties and changed the OG to these. What do you think?
i think that what you have – if it’s like this light – is likely original to the period. chrome base, frosted glass with etched design = likely original to the 50s.
the theater dressing room type lights shown here don’t look original 50s/60s to me, but more 70s/80s and probably were added when the medicine cabinet and over toilet cabinet were added.
oopsy, when I responded, i was thinking it was about today’s post about the menard’s light, rather than yesterday’s about the lilac bathroom. i agree with error 404, the showgirl dressing room lights probably were added later. btw, i like showgirl lights! but they probably are more “authentic” for 60s on…
Awesome, thanks a ton for taking the time to respond! I will likely end up with a fixture like the one you posted on…so timing was good
I have seen many lilac bathrooms in my time…but in typical 1961 fashon- the complimentary color has just about always been a mid-hue greyed blue for cabinets and accessories.
OMG, I’m in love! Lilac is my favorite color!
Oh my goodness, a bathroom in my favourite colour!! I never dared to dream it could be true!!
I’ve never seen lilac colored tiles in any bathroom I’ve ever been in. It’s BEAUTIFUL!