I love my 1962 ranch house because it is mostly original and I can choose what I want to change instead of having to undo someone else’s “updates.” But, while I adore vintage bathrooms (especially the pink ones!), my original master bathroom is simply not cutting it in terms of function and cleanliness, plus its drab and dirty decor looks out of place with the rest of my cheerful house. That’s why — after living in our house and with this bathroom for 2 years — I’ve decided it is time to replace this old, original bathroom with the retro-modern bathroom of my dreams. I didn’t make this decision lightly — it’s a significant expense to remodel, for sure — but I count at least 12 reasons it’s time to renovate.
1. My master bathroom is mauve. I’m not one to shy away from color… I’ve decorated with everything from bright orange to mint green, but mauve is my least favorite color ever. When I wake up and go into my master bathroom, this color is just not communicating the bright, happy retro modern vibe that I long for. Even so, as much as I dislike mauve, I’m not one to base the need for a remodel on color alone. There are several other issues with my master bathroom that need to be fixed and quite frankly, it stresses me out!
Let’s start with the biggest offender, the shower. At first glance, it doesn’t look that bad…until you notice a few things…
2. At some point, the previous owners needed to repair the shower pipes, which necessitated removing some of the mauve tile. Instead of searching high and low for an exact match (they weren’t retro enthusiasts as many of us are), they replaced the missing mauve tiles with some brown tiles and called it “good enough.”
3. The grout is also cracking in the shower, which is not good at all. Cracked grout can allow water to get into all sorts of places that it shouldn’t be. This needs to be fixed ASAP.
4. There is no where to put shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. in this shower. I had to rig up a few suction cup containers and this shower caddy to get the job done. Not an ideal situation at all! Added bonus of this set up: Every once in a while the suction cup containers release from the wall in the middle of the night while we are sleeping, which scares us!
5. The final issue with the shower is the size of it. It is pretty cramped. An average sized person like myself takes no issue with this, but my tall husband with broad shoulders feels very claustrophobic, not to mention he has the tendency to accidentally bump the shower door open with his elbow while he is washing his hair, which gets water everywhere.
Next we move along to the sink area. At first glance this looks like an excellent example of a peachy keen retro sink, complete with hudee ring…
6. …upon further examination, you can see that the sink is rusting. I have tried and tried to get the rust off, but it always reappears after a few days. It probably has to do with the sink not draining well. Many times it will have standing water in it. We have tried cleaning out the pipes, but I think the whole drain line from the sink to the floor needs to be replaced. I’m sure there is 50 years of gunk in there just waiting for me to discover it.
7. The vintage faucet is also cool, but again 50 years of abuse has made it kinda crusty looking. It makes me sad because no matter how much I scrub, the sink never looks clean.
8. The years of moisture have taken their toll on the mirror and the wood trim on the window (the window itself is the only new thing in this bathroom).
9. The vanity is plywood and in decent shape. The two smaller drawers are great, but the pull out hamper smells like a thousand sweaty socks. I have tried nearly everything to rid it of that awful smell, but alas, I think the smell has embedded itself in the plywood. Now it is just a chunk of smelly wasted space.
10. There is a sad lack of towel bar space in this bathroom. All we have are these two bars, one works for the hand towels, but the other bar is not large enough to accommodate two bath towels while giving them adequate space to dry.
11. What this bathroom lacks in towel bar space, it makes up for in doors. There are two closets in the bathroom, the larger of which is where we keep our laundry baskets. It is very difficult to get them out of the closet and then out though the main bathroom door. It requires some tricky maneuvering skills and the doors constantly bang off each other.
12. The master bathroom also has plenty of light switches. There are a total of five different switches! When I remodel the space, I would like to have a fan timer switch and no more than two other switches. Five is far too many to keep track of!
This redo is going to be a gut remodel. I’m trying keep the cost down by moving as little plumbing as possible, but I am going to remove the mauve tile (which will basically necessitate new drywall), extend the tiny shower (to better accommodate my husband), replace the vanity, retile, paint and get all new hardware. From a design standpoint: My whole mantra is maintaining the retro while making it modern. I’m excited by the challenge of designing a new bathroom with the right retro vibe to fit the rest of the house.
I’ll be reporting on all the stages of my bathroom project here over the next several months. My next step is to draw up some plans and make a few mood board mock ups so I can source my materials. I’m also going to reread Pam’s bathroom remodeling checklist before I work out the budget. Stay tuned, this is going to be quite the job!
Good example of when function needs to come first. When something can be saved you should save it but also know when to redo or renew! Well done, Kate!
Save the Mauve Bathrooms! Just kidding. Aside from enlarging the shower, I can think of a solution to every problem w/o remodeling. But it’s clear you’ve had it with this bathroom.
It will be interesting to see the progress.
Do you know when the brown tile was added? I ask because I’m thinking it may have been prior to the internet. We tend to forget how difficult it was too find things like mauve tile to match.
That’s a good thought ChrisH, I think the tile was added 5 or 6 years ago…they also replaced the toilet- they had a pink one special ordered from Kohler that was the closest color match they could find, but I think they gave up when it came to matching the tile. They did try!
oh my. kate, what a splash you’re making from the get go! if the color is the driving factor, i really wish you’d see it as a challenge – try looking at the spring fashion shows, mauve and pastels are all over the runway. i work with color all day and it’s a tough one! maybe a saturated cream and navy palette could be fresh? my uncle is trying to save a mauve bathroom right now
if it really is function driven, i’m with chris – there are solutions to a lot on your list. i wonder if you could put seamless glass doors on the shower? you can even have glass shelves mounted to them. the hamper, that’s just funny. what about kilz paint? the brown tile – be the one who did it right, find the matches! the grout can be fixed. the faucets – i replaced mine because i HATE separate hot and cold in the bathroom. i try to walk the line in preserving history while modernizing. my house is all about modern meets mid-century, so i love the clean lined faucet against the 4″ tile (that i had to install because my house came with a cracked plastic surround, maybe i’m just jealous of yours).
that said, it’s your house so rock on – but you DID post this on retro renovation – home of save the pink bathrooms!
Can’t wait to see the work-in-progress and final result!
I hear you on functionality. We restored/preserved our guest bath but are considering a some what more extensive remodel on our master because that is the one we use every day. I think that a complete remodel can certainly be done in a way that keeps the integrity of the house, it will just take a lot of planning and if you are working with a contractor, one that understand what you are trying to do
I do think most of your issues could be resolved to a reasonable degree, but I can just hear in your words that it seems like just too many issues to try and work around… and when your done you still might not be fully happy with it
Good luck, looking forward to seeing the progress.
Thanks Miked,
If I’m going to spend a reasonable amount of time (and money) fixing my bathroom, I want to love it in the end…that is why we decided to do a gut remodel. We won’t be hiring out much of the redo…just the plumbing and electrical, otherwise it is all us doing the work. Stay tuned!
We just finished doing this very thing. I hated to tear out my vintage bathroom, but it just wasn’t working for us. I love the way it looks and works now, and it still does the house justice. I can’t wait to see the end result of your new retro reno!
After living with my former bathroom for 4 years where the floor tiles were set in concrete you could hear breaking when you walked on it, cool though they were and matching those on the walls and h**ing the 60′s home made vanity with peeling mac-tack inside and 80′s doors outside I had it gutted. The worn tub in sand as well as the very worn other sand items, gone, linen closet gone, surprise! rotting plywood floor…gone….open and hot wires tucked in ceiling with not even tape on them, thankfully all gone. I do feel a little guilty when I see the bathrooms here but now it’s insulated, not an octopus of hidden live and/or worn wires, the plumbing is correct, there’s enough lighting, shower and a ridiculously large tub I can lay down in.
There are tributes to mid-century with the lighting and the oversized subway tiles and if I had another bundle to put into it I suspect I might try my hand at recreating an early 60′s bathroom but once I got started this time safe became the buzz word of the whole process. My contractor came within an inch of a nest of open unprotected wires when cutting the drywall out. He laughed, spoke ‘colorfully’ about the person who’d do such a thing and I had the vapours.
What evil lurks behind the old finished surfaces…….
Totally agree it needs to be a gut, I can’t wait to see the results!
So, Kate — do tell us your plans. Color? Using NOS stuff? Interested to hear about your vision for the new bath.
I’ll be posting all about that stuff in a series here on Retro Renovation Amy! Stay tuned!!!!
Gut-renovating the three bathrooms in my house was the first thing I had to tackle after we moved in. Plastic tiles falling off the plywood walls… Chipped enamel-on-steel sinks and tubs…Vinyl covering the plastic tile on the tub/shower surrounds… Leaking plumbing… Rotted floors… Vanities meh plywood… No bathroom fans so mold regular colonizing…. Did I mention one of these bathrooms was pink (plastic). Sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do.
Gosh, Pam, that sounds exactly like my paternal grandfather’s handiwork which had the very same results.
Doing three bathrooms, wow, you have super powers and amazing stamina!
Kate — so great to read your post! I think so many of us get stuck in the “if it’s old, you must keep it” rut. I am very guilty of this, as a person with a history and material culture education and career background.
There are many things about my house that I love, sort of like an ugly ratty old falling-apart rag doll. But a house has to function. A lot of the stuff that I got rid of — at first description — seemed like a desecration. Felt REALLY guilty about demolishing our knotty pine addition after reading about Pam’s new blog. However, after re-evaluating, I see that our decisions weren’t motivated by style. Everything we got rid of was really, really poorly constructed, using the cheapest materials possible.
So — in a nutshell, yay! Your bathroom decisions have made me feel much better about my renovation “sins.”
There is a fine line between trying to live in a house museum, where you treat every little thing as a fragile artifact — and living in a retro home, where you choose good, sturdy, made-to-last stuff that you can actually use.
Thanks for reminding me of that!!!!!!!
You are welcome Chris!
I was similarly sad about replacing my original windows, but I live in Wisconsin, where the winters are cold and we had breezes coming in through the holes in the windows where the knobs were…it was not working for us, or our heating bill, and now that we have new windows we are so much more comfortable.
My thoughts when it comes to new/vs original is to live with it for a while, see how it works for you, and if it isn’t working, fix it so it will…especially if you will be living there for the long haul. It is so much less stressful when your house is functional for how you live! Houses are meant to be lived in, and to be where you feel at home. Plus, you just feeling bad about taking out an original detail shows that you do really care about preservation and did not make that decision lightly! Don’t beat yourself up about it!
I can tell right away that having Kate as the new blogger is going to be anything but bland. Right off the bat, she’s ripping out an original bath! But, the point is, these are our homes where we live and have to function every day. If something isn’t working, it isn’t working, no matter what color or how old the tile. At our house, we put up with a lot of stuff that we don’t like because we hope to move from here in the next year or two. But, if Kate and her crew plan to live in their house a long time, then, maybe a bathroom reno is the right thing to do. I can’t wait to see what happens in that space. I have a feeling it’s going to be good!
Yes this may be a bit shocking for my second week on RR, but I’ve been thinking about this bathroom for 2 years, so it isn’t something I’ve decided to do lightly. I do have another retro bath in the hall that is minty green and mostly original and it will likely stay that way (though it needs some general repairs as well. But the mint tub is staying!!!
As for this bath, yes, it isn’t working for us the way we wish it would…and we are planning on staying in this house for a long time so we want it to be something we will enjoy using every day!
With that said, the “new” master bath will still have some serious retro appeal for sure!
So with you! I never felt the bathrooms were clean…funny replacement tiles, faucets that were rusty, chipped sinks, tiny cast-iron tub, cracked floor tiles…the remainder of the house was so pretty!
We just completed 2 bathroom remodels in our 1948 ranch. Watch out for faucets, I’d fall in love with some and when I opened the box, they were chrome colored plastic!
4″ x 4″ white tile is easily had, so we did it in both bathroom. One bathroom with black trim half-way up the wall. Lavender was the wall paint color. The other bathroom had a trim of green/blue seaglass (not really retro, but it is sooo pretty) There are tile floor heaters that come on a timer too – set the warm floor for 6 a.m.! There are nice light/fan combos that fit the retro bathroom. Switch plates from Rejuvenation. We had a similar plywood cabinet replaced with maple, there were many originals in the neighborhood. We did a marble counter – it matches the window sills in the remainder of the house. We replaced the cracked block glass windows at the same time – the vents had no longer opened.
While everything was gutted, we replaced the vent pipes from the basement through the attic. No more mystery leaks on the basement ceiling!
Grown-up Kohler tub = 6″ less in our one odd shaped closet. Shower heads that work with a tall hubby.
Some tough decisions here, Kate. I admire the way you’ve thought this through and analyzed the specific problems. We are faced with a similar dilemma in our main bath. I LOVE the old, bright yellow laminate countertops with their metal edges, but it is amazingly difficult to design around them, color-wise. I’m still torn between keeping or dumping…
Can’t wait to see what your thoughtful solutions will be for your bathroom!
looking forward to seeing the updates on this!
our bathroom is in desperate shape, but it is such a huge project (as in, the floor, ceiling, and walls are going to have to go – and that’s what you can tell *without* tearing anything out) and we haven’t got either the money or time (or guts!) to tackle it. i’m excited to see an example of a gut-remodel to get ideas from for when we do decide to deal with it (or when *it* decides we’re dealing with it, as our house often does with projects!).
I think you’ve clearly thought it through. Our new house is very 1953, but the previous owners made several updates–like adding a master en suite that is anything but retro, but is still beautiful, and adding granite countertops, but keeping the original Geneva cabinetry–and I’m nothing but grateful for it. You own your house; it shouldn’t own you!
I can’t wait to see how you handle a retro-modern update! Be sure to give us all the deets on your sources!
How can she change the color without starting from scratch?
You’re right, she has to gut to get what she wants.
And so many of those pink bathrooms got trashed because the new owner couldn’t stand the color.
I’m glad the couple on the previous post figured out how to retro-update their French Provincial pink without gutting it.
Pam has started her list of things that are definitely valuable to a Retro Renovator. How about a list of things that no one needs to feel guilty about tossing, even though they’re “vintage”? Item #1: Plastic tile! I just got rid of it in a bathroom I gutted — there was no question of trying to work with it. It seem like “mauve” might make the list for some reason, along with “things that smell” and “things that will never look clean.” Pam, you’ve instilled a sort of moral code about “thou shalt not assume pink bathrooms are too dated to live with”; can you start up a list of “thou shalt not beat thyself up for throwing out ____”?
Hmmm. Okay. Here is my first draft:
“Thou shalt not beat thyself up for throwing out… features you have lived with for a while, sought to understand (rather than just h*** in a knee-jerk way), decide just aren’t for you, and which you can afford to change without plunging the family into debt that will stress you out. This is your house; make it the place you love. Let the old stuff go with respect for the service it has provided the generations before; no evil-glee sledgehammering. Send still-functional materials to the Re-Store, if you really think someone else will want them. And of course, prioritize renovations that address identified safety and environmental issues — and when you renovate, engage properly licensed professionals and Renovate Safe.”
I am wary of calling out any particular items. For example, plastic tiles may be just lovely in certain applications.
How is that for a start?
Amen Pam!
Amen on the evil-glee sledgehammering. Just saw a fix-my-bathroom show on HGTV where they ripped out original pink tile with such glee that it hurt my heart, with NO mention of it having any historical significance. Come on, designers–at least acknowledge that it’s not all awful!
Oh, Jody, you are so right! Every time I see them take a sledge to a perfectly usable and frequently nice set of kitchen cupboards than many people would be thrilled to find at the Re-store it just depresses me.
Saturday I saw the people on the show destroy the original kitchen 30′s kitchen with all it’s adorable nooks and trim to put in another dark wood one with granite counters. le sigh
lovely mantra – such a holistic view of remodeling =)
One of the very big upsides to a full-gut remodel, yet with appropriate new things that actually GO with the house, is it can help the house and its original character survive your departure should you sell down the road. It may keep a future buyer from gutting the bath and putting in a Tuscan special. As an agent that works with mid-century homes I find that as narrow as the audience is for true purist mid-century pink baths etc., there are a lot of people who don’t appreciate them because they have never seen a GOOD example of them. They may not have ever seen an Atomic Ranch magazine or heard of Retrorenovation or anything like that. All they know is HGTV and such. A cool looking, architecturally appropriate redo on a bath, for example, can have an appeal that goes beyond us hard-core mid-century folks to help open the eyes of more people as to the possibilities of working WITH your ranch or mod house design, instead of trying to stuff a Tuscan Villa inside of it. Nobody loves the original elements more than I, and I fret when I consider taking some things out, but when you are not a slave to all things original when those original elements may be questionable in condition or function, then you can help set your house up to be appealing as an appropriate mod or ranch to future buyers that might have not thought that was the style they were looking for, until they saw it with some style!
Very well said Robert S!
It’s fantastic to get your perspective as a realtor active in trying to save some of these houses, Robert. Thank you!
I totally agree. I feel that my DH and I are just the current caretakers in our house’s life, and that it is our responsibility to do what we can to protect it (hello leaking copper pipes I’m talkin’ to you!), and maintain it in good working condition. And that with thoughful renovations we can help protect the spirit of our house for it’s future occupants while still ensuring it is a comfortable and functional space for modern living.
That vintage faucet-it’s awfully cute. We scrubbed ours with steel wool and it looks brand new. That’s if you want to keep it. I certainly love looking at all the bling I could replace it with. I could have gone either way.
“the pull out hamper smells like a thousand sweaty socks” Lol. I have never been able to tolerate previous owner bad smells. Ick.
It’s interesting: When I go into estate sale houses, I of course, also want to carefully ogle the bathrooms. There is a percentage that were (1) made with really great materials and (2) were very well maintained; it would be crying shame to gut these. Then there are others that (1) were not made with the greatest quality or longest-lasting materials and (2) also may not have been well maintained or (3) even if they were well-maintained, are just plain worn out; it may well be time to replace these for a whole new generation of use. There is no “single right answer” to this question.
We are (with regret) planning to gut our master ensuite as well. Our telephone booth sized shower could be liveable size wise (luckily I have a more petite hubs and we have another bathroom if need be), but the leaking shower tray is not, thus, our next reno project is already picked out for us!
I’m already starting to scout out period appropriate but still contemporary design ideas. So I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!
I’m too exhausted (from current renovations at our house this week) to have enough clarity to comment on the remodel but wanted to add that we have one of those flip out wooden hampers and I’ve always wondered why they didn’t make custom-fitted hard plastic liners to go inside of them. I’m always trying to find a plastic garbage can or something that will fit so that dirty clothes and wet towels don’t have to touch the wood.
We had to get rid of our original kitchen sink. It had the hudee ring, too. It was rusty around the edges, like yours. It had no gloss left on it at all, so you had to bleach the dickens out of it, then it still looked vile, sick, and wrong after just a day or two.
Our original front door went a while ago. It killed me, but you had to slam your butt against it and quickly turn the latch or it wouldn’t close. And the kitchen counters might be the next original feature to go–they’re so stained it’s ridiculous. It’s kind of embarrassing when anyone comes over. But I’m so glad we still have our bathroom, and the tiles are a wonderful color and in beautiful condition.
Oh I tend to agree with Kate – too many doors and wasted space – not enough towel bars…
Good luck on the renovations. I can put up with alot, but I would have a tough time living with some of the problems you have. I got lucky with my 1961 raised ranch… the bathroom is peach tiles with a medium brown accent and looks great. Can’t wait to see it unfold!
Kate, you sound as though you’re carrying a little guilt about having to gut the mauve bathroom, even though you know it’s for the best. But, really, just from the pictures you posted of the shower tile, I’d say it’s a good bet there’s a mold habitat in the making behind them.
Can’t wait to see how it all turns out.
I have to admit this blog post is making me feel a lot better about getting rid of some mauve floor tile and a mauve toilet (both 80s vintage, I think) early on in my home ownership. Like Kate I knew there was no way I was ever going to fall in love with mauve. I won’t use any of Pam’s “forbidden words”
but I find mauve to be such an indecisive color. It’s not really beige, not really pink, not really brown. That just doesn’t work with the clear and strong colors so popular in mid-century decor! I’ve seen Kate’s oranges and greens in the rest of her house (on her blog), so I’m looking forward to seeing how she whoops it up for this bath. Go Kate!
I agree. I want something bright and happy to greet me when I wake up and go brush my teeth!
We have the most gawd awful 1970s blue bathroom on the face of the planet. We’ve lived w/ ours for ten years, and let me tell you, I envy you. There is simply a time and place to remodel, and sometimes retaining the ‘original’ isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We’re hoping to start in on ours this year.
Good luck.
I totally understand! My house is from 1963 and yours looks very similar in color to my hall bath…which is on the list to reinvent to a brighter more fun mid century coloring, once we finally finish the gutted bathroom from downstairs!
One thing we did learn…just wait until you pull those tiles from the shower…if it’s like ours…they very likely could just be tiled straight onto plywood…water resistant options weren’t so available then. This can be good and bad..easier to remove, but might discover hidden leakage. (The reason we have to redo the upper hall bath…leaky window+carpenter ants=problems!….it waits patiently).
I feel that keeping what we can that is original is great…IF you are lucky enough to have had the original be quality products…not all are. Also, not all are best for functioning today. One of the pieces I just couldn’t keep downstairs, even though it was the only thing worth keeping from a ‘not totally gross’ standpoint was the Nutone heating coil in the ceiling to dry/heat the bathroom. I just kept thinking of the electric meter spinning out of control when it ran and it didn’t really remove the moisture as well as a fan would..so it is gone. I think redoing the room in vintage style but with modern function is a great way to go!
We will be doing the same to our original kitchen cabinets, because while the cabinets are perfectly functional and attractive, the layout is non-functional and they can’t be salvaged. But we are the 6th owners (at least) since 1962, and even the original owners quickly built another house, using this as a “starter.” Fixing a functional issue and making a house work for you certainly beats trading up every seven to ten years. Sometimes families truly do outgrow homes, and the best thing is a larger home, as finances truly permit; but I’m not a fan of disposable homes. Just think about all the communities that have languished because moving into a newer community is easier than maintaining and fixing the old. Think about the level consumer debt, and the hours spent commuting further and further from work, the environmental waste. Think about the difference between a person who puts in sweat equity fixing what truly doesn’t work in their own home compared to those who are mainly interested in keeping up with trends and fashion for “resale.” Who is going to be more interested in making functional, needed changes in their own communities, based on what truly needs to be done? Who is going to do make community decisions based on what’s trendy, and who isn’t going to even bother with serving in the community because they haven’t any skin in the game. So make your home, your own home, and own it!
Be prepared for scary suprises!
party pooper
That’s the same faucet set and sink that were in one of my baths, except my sink is white. If like mine the sink is porcelain rather than enamel over iron or steel (which you should be able to tell by tapping on it or looking on the bottom to see if it’s metal or the same color all the way through), then the rust is coming from the drain and not the sink. With some scrubbing and new hardware it ought to be reusable by someone, if not you.
This bathroom looks like it was designed by a drunken architect.
Careful on the non-love for the mauve, people – I totally get why she’s gutting her bathroom, and if she’s doing that she ought to go with a color she loves, but mauve is just recent enough to be caught in the no-man’s land of trendiness. In five to ten years, though, we might be squealing over mauve and popcorn ceilings covered in glitter!
Yes. Agreed. Let’s be nice. Mauve may not be for everybody, but the evidence is clear that some like it or even love it: We have the vintage bathrooms to prove it. I am going to delete any mauve-h*** in the comments, consistent with my commenting rule, “No one can be made to feel bad for their decorating decisions.” Thank you for the reminder, Cloud.
And anything with glitter in it will ALWAYS be super-fabuloso in my book. Ceiling, floor, countertop, nail polish…..
I would like to see a gut remodel as I may have to do one on my sister’s bathroom. It was originally a pink 1930 bathroom replaced in 1979 with a beige bathroom that is now a moldy ugly mess. Would it be possible to keep the rest of the vanity but rebuild the smelly hamper with fresh plywood? And get a modern sink kind of like you have? If you are having trouble with slow drains, it could be that the plumbing is not properly vented. Its not at my sisters and we will use a professional plumber to have it done right. I agree about the switches (needs GFCI protection) and the lack of towel bars but just add more. Also suggest watch a few Holmes on Homes shows as he tells a lot about how to do showers right. Be sure to ask your remodeler to use Hardibacker and KERDI membrane and consider in-floor heat too.
If you want to get a similar-looking faucet after you get new fixtures, that is definitely an American Standard model. The restrooms in my office have American Standard fixtures, including some sinks with the exact same handles!
An eBay search for the handles suggests it’s from the Heritage line. The sink handles and shower kits appear to be easy to come by but I don’t see a faucet exactly like yours (just more angular ones). Maybe someone at a plumbing supply store will be able to identify the faucet itself?
SOS soap pad on that sink will shine up the chrome and remove that rust!!! Worked fer me!!!
All one has to do is stick to the design principles of Danish Modern, and all will be well.
Pink bathrooms are cool, however they needn’t be ALL pink! Mix in some grays, whites, avocados, and teal blues, too. Of course, very dark charcoal (h*** total black) is awesome for trim work — and maybe even sink taps and knobs!
Be sure to post lots of photos of your progress!
For the future, for anyone that needs to replace pipes near the tub/shower, you can usually go in through a side wall, cheaper to replace drywall than tile.
Hubby just did some plumbing work on our tub, and went in through the bedroom closet. He left the hole and put in a panel for easy access in future
Hi Kate, I’m especially anxious to learn how the demo of the shower goes for you. When I moved into my midcentury complete with original salmon tiled master bath, I REALLY wanted to remodel the bathroom to have a larger shower. But, my plumber father warned me that my shower would be solid concrete and would be about impossible to remove. So, we upgraded to a rainfall showerhead and lived with it… for now…
I am glad you posted this. I do not have the close up pictures you provided for our our ex-bathrooms, BUT all those issues existed. The only thing that was still quite nice was the yellow in one and green in the other tile. But the best part of the bathrooms (the tile) stood on the back wall that had to come off the house. Long story. Anyway, as one reader said, remodel in the Danish modern style and you can’t go wrong. We remodeled in the mid-fifties clean and modern designers/architects like Eichler, Eames, van der Rohe. I had a bathroom reveal party last weekend and got the comment from one guest that the architect on our house would be pleased with the new bathrooms, that they fit the house perfectly. Yay.
Yes: Yay! No better compliment that “it looks like it belongs” or that “it looks like it always has been there” or “the original architect would have approved!”
We had a similar rust issue with our guest bathroom sink. We thought the sink was going to have to be replaced (grey wall mount that matched the toilet, tub, and wall tiles all otherwise in great shape). Turns out Martha Stewart has a bathroom cleaning product that miraculously took the rust out–completely. Its an “organic” product, but holy cow did it work!
We are looking for that exact sink! We have one, but we are also doing a bathroom remodel and would like double sinks. I’d rather find a matching sink than buy two new ones, but I’m having a hard time finding one. Are you planning on selling it?