“We went back and forth on just gutting the whole thing, but … [once] I …saw some cool examples of pink bathrooms and ideas from others, a plan started to form on how we could make it our own. Suddenly, pink was kinda cool.”
I am going to subtitle this story, “The versatility of midcentury bathrooms.” When Mike first sent me photos of his and wife Lindsey’s 1949 pink bathroom “before”, well, I kind of liked it. Very girly, blingy, French Provincial — a classic, enduring decorating style — the room was nicely done. However, Mike and Lindsey just weren’t feeling the frilly love. But rather than ditch the pink (indeed, Mike admits that at first, before they found our websites, they were in pink-shock), they kept the bones of the bathroom — the gorgeous pink tiles — and focused on making *relatively* easy cosmetic decorating changes that transformed the charming country pink bathroom into a retro modern pink bathroom. Such is the versatility of many midcentury bathrooms: 4″ ceramic tile is about as timeless as you can get in a bathroom. Except for during the 1950s, it’s never been hugely “In”. But, it has never been hugely “Out,” either. As a backdrop for any decorative look, 4″ ceramic bathroom tile is pretty darn versatile. It’s affordable, too — especially if it was there to begin with. Read on for Mike’s excellent story about this bathroom before-and-after transformation. Oh, and guess what? There is a second, even bigger pink bathroom in Mike and Lindsey’s 1949 house… But let’s start at the beginning… –>
So here is our bathroom story….
We will be completely honest and say that we did not love our pink bathrooms at first. During our house hunt in 2009 we were specifically looking for a mid century ranch. Lindsey and I were both moving from 1920’s era homes and had started to really get into vintage, mid century design and style. We both love original tiled bathrooms, but when we finally settled on this house, the pink bathrooms were not exactly what we were looking for. Pink!?? Green, blue, grey, or even black and white would have been great.. but two completely pink bathrooms…pink?…. not really sure about that…
We decided to leave the bathrooms alone as we tackled the rest of the house. We were just not sure what to do with them. We had no idea how to work with all that pink. But not too long after moving in, a loose piece of wallpaper got the better of me and I just could not resist reaching up and peeling it off… and I was off to the races with no real plan on what to do. We went back and forth on just gutting the whole thing, but I thought there must be a way to work with this all this pink. The tile seemed to be in good shape and I just could not bring myself to tear out one of the only original features left in the house. That was when I came across the “Save The Pink Bathrooms” site and Retrorenovation.com. I quickly saw some cool examples of pink bathrooms, ideas from others, and a plan started to form on how we could make it our own. Suddenly, pink was kinda cool.
I certainly understand what you are saying about the “before”. To each their own. The entire house was similar to the bathroom. I guess what I would call french country cottage? Although not our style, it was very well done and I appreciated all the effort and attention to detail the previous owners put into the house. it was owned by a young couple, similar to us, and they had spent the previous 3-4 years redoing the whole house, and then we went in and re-did it all over again lol…. so this house has gotten a lot of attention the last 10yrs, it probably has an identity crisis at this point :).
By far, the two biggest projects were renovating the floor and the built-in vanity.
The floor had been completely covered with a faux wood stick down linoleum. Who knows how long it had been there or what I would find under it. It was a painstaking process using a heat gun and putty knife to pull it up inch by inch. Once it was up, the thick glue left behind had to be scrapped off with a razor blade and the tile scrubbed with “goo off” over and over a again. I have well over 50 hours into that floor. Amazingly it turned out great and luckily ran into very few cracks or damaged tiles.
The built in vanity had been given some sort of special paint/epoxy treatment to make it look like old crackled wood.
Not really sure what that was about or what it exactly was, but it definitely could not be painted over.
Hours were spent scraping off of every nook and cranny, filling damaged spots, sanded, and painted.
Then, on to removing the wallpaper…. After it was removed, the walls had to be skim coated, primed, and painted.
Shower door looked to be a replacement from the 80’s and showing signs of rust. Took a while to find a new one in a appropriate style, size, and reasonable price.
The sink and cabinet had seen better days and took up too much floor space in this narrow bathroom. We wanted to do the bathroom in a twist of vintage and new modern, so the wall mount sink from Duravit with the chrome legs was a good fit and a reasonable price. I could also tell a wall-mount sink with legs had been there originally because of the old mounting points on the walls and two spots on the tile floor where the legs would have rested. The chrome legs on the sink led to doing matching finishes in chrome on the boomerang hardware, towel bars, recessed toilet paper holder, recessed soap holder in the shower, and outlet covers.
A few finds from etsy on the vanity stool, art for the wall, and candle holders over the toilet rounded things off.
The light above the sink took forever to decide on. Have had three different lights there and finally rested on what we have now. Really wanted to do sconces on either side of the mirror, but that would have meant bringing in a electrician. In total we spent about $2K.
We also have a all pink master bath that is the last room in the house for us to tackle… just started pulling up the same faux wood linoleum floor, oh what joy. (included a pic of the start on the master bath floor)
Resource Highlights:
Hardware: Rejuvenation boomerang drawer pulls.
Shower door: Basco from The Shower Door Store.
Towel Bars, recessed soap dish, recessed toilet paper holder: All from Franklin Brass found searching through your blog postsSink: Duravit Happy D wall mount sink with chrome legs. Don’t recall where it was purchased, but was around $500 shipped.
Lighting: Above the back vanity, Eglo frosted globe light. Above sink, Jonathan Adler Havana light (*affiliate link)
Prints: Seller/artist on etsy.com — Tonya Newton, Gamma Gamma Hey — that I have bought a few prints from for the house.
Let us know if you need anything else
Thank you!
Mike and Lindsey
What can I say? Not much! Lindsey and Mike, you two did a fantastic job. And you are toooooo cute! Many thanks for so generously sharing your story, your photos and your resource list. Now, can’t wait to see your master bath when it’s done. Two pink bathrooms, happily renovated/renovating. You are a lucky — and smart! — pair. xoxo
Kate H says
Love it!
What will you do about the little spots above the sink that something else was attached to, and now isn’t? Is there something you can put there to cover it up or do you have to find a new tile? What’s the best thing to do in this situation?
MikeD says
Shoot, you notice them. lol
That is one of the last little things I need to do, cover up those holes somehow. Pam posted that great info on World of Tile that has all the different pink 4×4 tiles available, but they require sending in a sample to match and I don’t have a tile I can remove to send them.
I considered installing replacement soap holders, as that is what was there before. But how high I mounted the sink and the faucet I chose would make them awfully close to the faucet and might even interfere with it.
Any suggestions?
Jenny A. says
I liked the before, but I LOVE the after.
Andi says
Just an echo of all the accolades—fantastic, beautiful job! I liked the before version, and I love the after. Can especially empathize with all the agonizing on every minute detail…but your attention to those minute details really paid off!
Casey says
Wonderful job! The before was well-done for what it was, but the after is so sleek and clean! I don’t know why anyone would ever paste down that fake wood junk over a perfectly functional and lovely tile floor. So weird. I especially love the JA light fixture over the sink. I’ve been eyeing that collection for a while.
Anita says
Awesome job! You were so fortunate to find the tile in such great shape!
Maryanna says
I love everything you’ve done here! Especially the fabric used for the curtain (any info on that?), and the boomerang pulls.
One other question…do you have plans to replace the soap dish and toothbrush holder that had been mounted above the sink?
Sarah V says
We have the same boomerang pulls (but vintage originals) in our original pink and grey bathroom in our basement. Sadly the last original item in our pink master is a leaking shower, which is our next reno project/ gut job since the plumbers can’t find the leak 🙁
It’s great to see others appreciate these rooms and the quality of the workmanship. As they say, if it ain’t broke…
Marta says
Absolutely love everything you’ve done with one exception; I would have kept the skirted chair, and changed the bow to match the curtain. My favorite thing, though, is that great little running trim tile. So simple, but so beautiful.
Great job, guys! Can’t wait to see what you’ve done with the rest of the house.
MikeD says
The “before” picture is the previous owners items, it is one of the many pictures we saved from the realtor listing when it was for sale showing exactly how the house was from the previous owners.
pam kueber says
Mike, I did not realize the before photos was not yours. I am converting it to a thumbnail.
Jennifer says
Is that heater built-in? If not, was it always there or did you purchase it? I adore it!!
We are about to move, and have a 50s blue bathroom currently.
MikeD says
yes, it is original and built in. Never used it, not sure if a gas line is hooked up to it or not. Have one in the master bath as well
Jennifer says
You should try and use it, see if it’s hooked up. I bet it would be nice on those cold winter mornings. 😀
Jan says
Excellent job – the floor would have driven me mad and I’d have stopped. I’m thrilled that you kept the original vanity.
I also am a girly girl so I like the way it looked to begin with, but for a 50’s retro look, it’s terrific.
I certainly want to see the other rooms – post that link to Photobucket!!