For the first time ever, I see two of my favorite, ubiquitous (generally unappreciated) features of mid century homes come together as one: Pink Bathrooms and Knotty Pine. Woot! Reader Lynne recently moved into a house with a knotty pine pink bathroom upstairs — and rather than diss them both, she embraced them. Turns out that Lynne also has a thing for Marilyn Monroe, so she’s in the mix too. I love it — including that gorgeous vintage Homart sink and toilet! Read on for Lynne’s story and a slide show of 16 photos from her charming space:
Lynne writes:
Pam, you are my new hero! Luckily I moved into this house with the pink sink and toilet half bath upstairs (and didn’t have to search every where like some do) in a finished attic of knotty pine.
This house was built in 1942. It’s a bungalow style with a finished “attic/2nd floor” with a total of 4 bedrooms and 1 and 1/2 bath in a suburb of Cleveland. From what I hear from the neighbor, the couple that we bought this place from lived here for years and years, but I’m not sure if they were the original owners. It was on the market for a year and in our price range when we looked at it. It was kept in perfect shape with hardly any repairs to be done, and it still had a vintage feel to the entire house.
The upstairs, finished in knotty pine with 2 bedrooms and a half bath, sold me on the place, not to mention the bath had a pink sink and toilet and two vintage white dressers that came with the place! I painted the one wall pink. Honestly I wasn’t sure that the pink fictures were actually vintage until I did research on them and found out that they aren’t made any more, and that’s when I stumbled upon Retro Renovation! I’ve always had a love for retro decor, but now I know I actually have original appliances, so I am totally obsessed. I also have a bit of an obsession with Marilyn too…
Thank you so much for making your website. It gave me the courage to give myself an aqua-ish kitchen which I’ve been painting this weekend. You really should have a reality show!!! I’ll send pics of my kitchen when done.
Tips to use slide show: Click on a thumbnail… it will enlarge… use the arrows below the image to move forward, or back…. you can stop or start at any images:
Thank you for sharing, Lynne — and for appreciating the little jewel box bathroom that the Retro Decorating Gods delivered unto you. By the way, we have seen that sink before: It is a vintage Homart design. Homart was a brand sold by Sears, likely very common across America. You pink toilet is surely from the same suite. That sink is one of my favorites. I also received your kitchen photos and will check them out for posting soon. Great job — keep spreading the retro love — you go, girl!
Love the pink bathmat and towels…they have a vintage feel to them…where did you get them and what is the brand name? Thanks!
I bet the previous owners would be thrilled to know you are preserving the character of this home.
Nice – I use tissue boxes for Kleenex’s as well. I have a lovely pink one w/roses that came with 2 glasses & I have a cream one with stars on it (& a melted spot from someones cigarette!).
How many of us have & use those tissue boxes?
The bath rug and toilet seat cover are from JC Penney. I got them online. The rug is super soft, I love it!
And thanks Pam for the info on the sink and toilet!
Beautiful! It looks so cozy and inviting with all the pine and the wonderful accessories. Job well done! (Can’t wait to see your kitchen…)
What an adorable bathroom. I have a big soft spot in my heart for the knotty pine as I spent some of my formative years in a knotty pine home. Love the pine/pink combo. So glad you’re keeping and enjoying it Lynne!
I am so in love with this bathroom! The knotty pine and pink are so lovely together. And I really love the way Lynne has accessorized!
This is the prettiest, coziest bathroom I’ve seen in quite a while. Thank you Lynne for letting it be itself.
Nicely done! I have to admit I especially like the wire trash can.
Can someone PLEASE tell me where I might find some knotty-pine panelling? When I ask around for it, no body seems to know what I’m talking about. (That’s a frequent complaint. LOL) It was all the rage in the ’50s. My brother & I had it in our bedroom. I would like to do a wall in the dining room with it. There are 2 patterns: One has the scallops (or whatever you call them) spaced evenely, while the other has them spaced randomly. The random spacing actually looks funkier. BTW, I think it was alittle unusual to find it in a bathroom, wasn’t it. I seem to recall it mostly in “family rooms” and bedrooms.
I saw some in Menard’s in Grand Forks, North Dakota, last summer… otherwise, have not done the research….
And yes, I don’t think it was common for bathrooms – hence my interest in Lynne’s story. I think knotty pine was an inexpensive and easy DIY wall solution — in a day when DIY was perhaps the norm, rather than the exception, and especially for the upstairs spaces of Cape Cods. The upstairs was often (I think) “unfinished” space. I believe I remember reading this was the case in the first Levittown (at the least). When the family had more money, they could finish off the attic — and my guess that very often meant Dad did the work. Hence — a gazillion knotty pine attics all across America. With no apologies whatsoever.
Love the pink combined with the knotty pine! Gorgeous bathroom Lynne! And I love the Marilyn Monroe theme – very appropriate. I have a knotty pine upstairs attic/bedroom that I’ll have to photograph when I get it finished (want to do some painting this fall) with built-in dresser drawers, bookcases and open shelving. It really has grown on me.
Pam is right about upstairs attic spaces being unfinished when people bought new houses back in the 50s, and the “men” of the house finished them off with the knotty pine paneling as they could afford to. My first husband’s father bought a few pieces every paycheck to finish off their upstairs.
Wonderful! I love knotty pine panelling and it looks great with pink.
I think Marilyn herself would love this room. I love the bottle of Chanel #5…
“What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.” Marilyn Monroe
BTW: you can see recent photos of Marilyn’s house (including her bathroom) here:
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/haven/take-a-tour-of-marilyn-monroea-s-one-and-only-la-homea-on-sale-now-2042885#photoViewer=1
I love this bathroom but oh how I love that pink sink!! It is super gorgeous!!! I also LOVE that shelf under the sink. Lynne you said it came from Target. Did you buy it online? I have searched online at Target and can’t find it and I really want one!!!
Guy, thanks for the link. I’ve seen that before and I would give my right arm to buy Marilyn’s first and only house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shyanna, I bought that shelf in the Target store probably about 3 months ago. I’m not sure if it is online or not….maybe they still have some in the store. It was one that came in a box that I put together at home and it wasn’t very expensive.
Thanks Lynne for letting me know about the shelf! We don’t have a Target where I live but there is one about an hour away. A good excuse for me to go shopping!! Again you have a beautiful bathroom!!!
This just might be my favorite bathroom on RR yet. I think the previous owners were smart to choose pink fixtures over any of the other pastels available at the time — that pink looks so right with the color of the wood. Lynne has done a nice job making the bathroom look interesting and inviting and not staged.
My husband grew up in a 1910 cottage and his dad went wild with knotty pine in the 1950s. He turned the attic into a big knotty pine bedroom, and placed knotty pine in a few other strategic areas, such as one wall of the living room. Wayne says he hates knotty pine now, but we recently went to an open house where you could tell that the knotty pine had been removed from a room. (It was still in the closet, and also, the ceiling hadn’t been repainted and you could see the outline of the paneling edge on the ceiling.) Wayne was surprised to find he was disappointed that the knotty pine was missing. (This retro stuff is growing on him.)
Oh, this is SUCH a cute bathroom. I have been lucky enough to have a knotty pine bath once, and now lucky to have a pink one. My knotty pine bath was done in purple and yellow. Kind of mexican-ish. But never did I imagine the two together…pink and pine, together at last!
I too, love your under sink cart thingy.
As well as the use of the dressers.
Very, very cute!
Thank you all for such nice comments! The rest of my upstairs is also all knotty pine, 2 other bedrooms, the hall, ceiling to floor. I actually painted one of the rooms an off white (right over the wood) because it is so small and felt dark and dreary but I kept the rest of the wood the way it is in the other areas. It actually is very cute and has a cottage feel. I will have to send Pam some pics of that as well. I use it as a spare bedroom and tv room.
So many great features in this bathroom! Wow, even the ceiling is knotty…very cozy. That undersink unit is so cool…that’s what I need for my small bathroom.
Lynne is correct. So much of the wood panelling in the ’50s, ’60s & ’70s was dark, and made the rooms look small and, sometimes, dreary. Today, I think we use that panelling in limited amounts, just to give us the feeling of yesteryear. I want to do 1 wall in my dining room with ’50s knotty pine.
lynne-
the pictures look awesome! i can’t wait for everyone to see your kitchen pictures. your kitchen looks fantastic! i am so happy for you hon! now when i buy a house i’m paying you to be my interior designer =)
Im new to this sight. The pink sink here, caught my eye and Im wondering if anyone can direct me where to take my concern. I am from the city of Minot, ND, that was recently wiped out from a very bad flood. Thousands of homes were destroyed and therefore, many are going to be torn down. The problem (for me) is that there are tons of vintage fixtures, lighting, tubs, toilets, sinks, tile, etc. many of which are still in perfect condition, that are going to be…..put to death along with the rest of the house. I have a friend that had an awesome 50′s pink bathroom. The sink was absolutely divine, but I cannot use it in my house. The tub, toilet and tile in that bathroom are also pink and still in tact. I have dug out so much stuff out of trash piles already and I just cant possibly use it all. Can anyone tell me if there is a place to call that might come and salvage some of these things? It might be worth the drive if they could round up enough stuff? It kills me everytime I drive down the street and see the all of the retro greens, blues and pinks sitting out on the curb for the trash. HELP!