Yellow sun burst 20 X 17 inch oval 8 inch spread lavatory sink
Just before the holidays, I heard from Marcos at McMillan Sales, a plumbing supply company in Denver, Colorado, which has uncovered up to 50 New Old Stock vintage bathroom sinks stored in the business’ warehouse for the past several decades. Lots of pastel vintage bathroom sinks — now for sale. Isn’t the yellow sink with pretty scalloped edges so… pretty?! Marcos and I talked on the phone, and this story seems to reads like so many others we have discovered over the past several years, a classic tale:
ONCE UPON A TIME there was a nice local company — a family business — and they built a good solid enterprise selling (fill in the blank)…
Silver gray 19 inch round 8 inch spread lavatory sink
They were so successful and so busy and grew so very fast that they got a great big warehouse where they had plenty of room to store the stuff they bought, then sold…
Light yellow 26 x 20 inch square 8 inch spread lavatory sink
Over the years, lots of stuff kept coming into the warehouse. Almost as quickly, it was sold, and out it went. Moving trucks were coming and going all the time!….
Light Green 20 X 17 inch square 8 inch spread lavatory sink
Of course, not every last little thing got sold. What didn’t sell, the people running the company just pushed farther back into the warehouse. Golly, that was just the easiest thing to do, because they always were very busy, and they had so much room in the warehouse, and, well, the stuff that didn’t sell kind of lost value as more popular products were introduced to the marketplace….
Light green 20 x 17 inch oval 8 inch spread lavatory sink
Well, time passed. And before they knew what had happened, some 30 or 40 or 50 years had flown by…
Light blue 21 x 17 inch oval under mount sink
All that old stuff was collecting dust. But it was safe in the original boxes. Funny, for the last few decades, folks thought that old stuff was “hideous.” But twinkle twinkle, time passed through a magical door — and that old stuff started to become popular again…
Blue 20 and a half X 17 and a half inch 8 inch spread oval lavatory sink
One day, someone in the company who was hip to the jive was staring at the stacks of strange old stuff and was struck by a bolt of lightning idea: “Hey, I think that there are people who want these again,” he or she said. “This stuff is historic! It’s retro! We can make more money! A gazillion dollars maybe even!”
Dark blue 19 round 8 inch spread lavatory sink
“But who can we tell?” they wonder. And that’s when they go online searching for the folks who want this old stuff. And that’s when they find our leetle Retro Renovation clan. And we all lived happily ever after. THE END.
hehehehehe, I do amuse myself some times. I need to make this into a children’s book. It will be like The Brave Little Toaster, only it will be Adventures of NOS. Maybe the protagonist will be an Electro-Sink Center — she will be like, a (lost, now found) NOS Super Hero! hehehehehehehe
Note, I’m not saying these are super duper old. 1980s, 1990s maybe even? Even so, nice to see some color, and some styles no longer on the market today.
Marcos sent me photos of the first batch of sinks he was able to photograph. There may be more. I think he said there is a mile high city of toilet seats of many colors, too… If you want one of these sinks, call Marcos at (303)-399-8500.
More:
Bone ceramic and plastic one piece low flush toilet picture 1
Bone ceramic square toilet 12 inch rough
Brown steel enamel 21 inches x 24 inches 3 hole Kitchen sink
Light pink ceramic 19 and a half inches X 21 and a half inches 8 inch spread lavatory sink
Turqouise steel enamel 21 inches x 24 inches 4 hole kitchen sink
White ceramic 20 and a half inches x 19 and a half inches 8 inch spread wall hung lavatory sink
White ceramic 19 and a half inches x 24 inches 4 inch spread wall hung lavatory sink
White ceramic corner sink 4 hole
Ok, but NOS would only be the first book in the series called “Adventures in Retro Renovation Land” surely other titles would follow.
That would be so fun — let’s do it Pam!
Love that yellow sink with all my heart.
As the kids say today – “squee!” Totally adorable.
Yes, isn’t it Wonderful!!
What an awsome year 2013 is going to be for house projects! I always see such great things featured on your site but alas they are usually too far away for me to visit first hand. But now a feature in my own back yard (Actually 100 miles south)…close enough. I believe the first project of the year will be the basement bathroom!!
The Super-hero should be the “someone in the company who was hip to the jive,” don’tcha think?
…. wish I hadn’t just done the bathrooms. I’m, like, here! I’m partial to that silver-gray round sink — oh what an innovative design: a place to actually put the soap!
Great to see a fellow bathroom trader on the other side of the pond with some classic wares stashed away for a rainy day as we say over here. We have literally thousands of NOS retro bathroom items, mostly UK-spec but they look very similar to those in the photos. I wonder what the differences are between UK & US plumbing?
Yes, Sam, I’ve written about brokenbog.com before!
He wouldn’t happen to have any pedastel sinks would he ? could he?
give him a call, i just heard from him (i will be adding more photos shortly) and he says he’s uncovering more daily!
OMG! What a treasure ; )
The wild west: good thing real estate is cheaper, there.
Beautiful! And in pristine condition. But don’t forget to browse in your local Habitat for Humanity resale shop, if you don’t mind slightly used. I got the pink sink for my pink `50s bathroom addition for $20. Save the pink bathrooms–and if you can’t save them, build one from scratch!
hi, need a light blue drop in lav sink. i see you have a under mount pictured. what are the chances? thanks oh and how much for the sink shown.
Mike, you need to contact the seller as listed in the story…
Please let me know if it is possible to get a drop in oval light yellow sink.
Mine got a dent and I will like to replace it.
Carmen, you need to look for the contact info within the story itself. Good luck.
Thank you for the story! We just bought a vintage pink pedestal sink and white cast iron wall mount sink from Marcos this morning. They still have most of the colored sinks pictured and are still uncovering a bunch of vintage white sinks. We combed through a pile in the back of the warehouse. He even has some vintage urinal troughs.
Yay!