“Moving to this house has given me a personality transplant — I am so much more happy and pleasant to all!” – Br
Reader Brty says that reading Retro Renovation inspired her family to buy their 1956 house — with not just one, but two lovely pink bathrooms. The moment she first laid eyes on them, Brty says she loved the two pink bathrooms, although the men in the house took a little more convincing. Once the family was fully on board, Brty wasted no time and began spiffing up her two lovely bathrooms up for their next half century of service. And yum! We adore seeing some of our favorite wallpapers — vintage style wallpaper from Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpaper’s Atomic Age collection — in these spaces. These wallpapers — with their lovely graphics, colors and metallic sizzle — really make these bathrooms sing. Oh, and Brty remodeled her worn kitchen, to. Read on for the details on both her bathroom and kitchen updates.
Brty writes:
Hi Pam and Kate,
LOVE YOUR BLOG!! Look at it all the time!! And Looking at the blog inspired us to buy our 1956 house with not one, but two mint (almost) condition pink bathrooms!! 🙂 Another thing that is cool about it, is in the family room it has a quartz fireplace — at least I think it’s quartz or marble. The only thing that is close to what we have is what Holyoke Cindy has too — I’ve tried to research if that was a thing in the 50s, but haven’t come up with anything besides that photo on your site.
I love my house, and we have been able to really do what we want with my husband and son’s input. I have convinced them both that we are not TOUCHING the pink bathrooms; and they have come around. My son has his Home-Depotified bathroom downstairs in the teenager zone, so he’s happy enough with that. Moving to this house has given me a personality transplant — I am so much more happy and pleasant to all! [Pam interjects: HECK, I’m so much more happy RIGHT NOW just looking at these bathrooms! We understand!]
I‘ve attached a few photos of the bathrooms.
Fyi– only needed to do a few things to fix them up inspired by your site: Bradbury&Bradbury wallpaper, replacement Crane faucet knobs from Deabath, and “satellite” pulls from Rejuvenation.
The master bathroom is the pink and gray one with all Crane fixtures, the half is American Standard with pink tile and green sink. Irreplaceable linen pattern Formica in the master and a hudee ring!
One day I will focus on finding a matching green vintage toilet for the half-bath, but the current Home Depot model is new, so I hate to just toss something perfectly usable. There is a matching full pink tub in the master as well, and shower is all pink tile inside.
On another note, I also have been meaning to write to you because I have lurked on the blog for a long time, and really used it to put together my spanky new kitchen renovation. My style is not kitschy or DYI (although I admire those who are!), but more modern inspired — we have a fair amount of mid-century furniture — authentic and re-issues. And the vintage kitchen here was so sad– really chopped up and painted over, with holes in the walls and icky Pergo floor. Just not restoreable at all. So, I dumped the whole thing — including the soffits, sorry! and redid with Ikea cabinets, Marmoleum floors, and backsplash tile from Modwalls (I think I originally found them from Atomic Ranch, but I see they advertise with you now too).
Almost all the research and inspiration came from specific stories from your site. The last photo is one view of the finished kitchen, with groovy Jonathan Adler pendant — I love his stuff. So you and your blog were invaluable to me and I wanted to tell you that I thank you very much!!
Take care, and thanks so much for writing,
-Brty
Brty, the amount of jealousy that I have for your two gorgeous pink bathrooms is unreal — I’m so glad that your son and husband have agreed that the pink is here to stay. I’m also loving the Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper that you chose — it helps balance the old and new wonderfully. Your remodeled kitchen is also very nicely done — especially your use of bold color in the orange Jonathan Adler pendant light. Congrats on a job well done, and thanks for sharing with all of us in the Retro Renovation community.
Amanda says
Dear Pam/ readers, Can anybody tell me the model or style name of the green sink in the bathroom?? We are searching for a replacement desperately. It has to have that front shelf feature to fill the spot in the vanity. Any help would be appreciated. I might be able to better hunt for it if I know the style!! Thx in advance.
Pam Kueber says
try deabath.com and large salvage stores
i would call this style tile-in apron-front sink
they are around… craigslist and ReStores would be another place to look
Jill in Nashville TN says
I would like to enlarge and frame your Pink-Ometer Pink Bathrooms Saved pic. Are there any restrictions to doing that, and if so, let’s talk. I would like to work something out with you. If not, how do I get one that I can enlarge where it doesn’t get fuzzy.
I am in the processing of “saving a pink bathroom” and want to put up a Pink-Ometer pickture so that potential home buyers don’t ask me “what are you going to do with the pink bathroom” and so they know I purposely didn’t demo it.
JanetCinNC says
Brty, I love your bathrooms. I’m so jealous of the beautiful color schemes; both my 1963 bathrooms are all white. And my red shiba inu, Teddy, says hello to your redheaded black-and-tan shiba who’s looking so cute in your kitchen!
Linda says
The colors! Brought me right back to my parents 1954 NJ split level. Pink and green tile. The pink bathtub. I guess owners of the saved pink bathrooms actually live in the 21st century. Most of the “period” bathrooms and kitchens are “up-scaled” to a romanticized sleekness that those who didn’t live through the 50’s imagine its style to be. Kitsch is a necessary element for authenticity. Authentic 50’s bathroom and kitchen decor was oblivious to the concept of design purity.
Mary Elizabeth says
Brty,
Your gray and pink bathroom reminds me so much of the color scheme in my 1959 ranch bath. However, mine is plastic! The builder-owner was enthralled with then cutting-edge building materials, such as plastic tile and latex paint. But your photos give me an idea of how I am going to redo the bath with ceramic tile. Thanks so much for sharing!
I have to say that I think your IKEA cabinets fit very well with how the kitchen might have looked in a 1960s renovation, because they are very Swedish modern, which is what everyone aspired to in the ’60s. Also, I like your choice of wall tile in the kitchen. As you redo your home, look at some of their lighting fixtures and shelving units as well.
Brenda Reamy says
Where was this article last week??!! lol I have two original 1959 bathrooms. They both have pink-ish/peach-ish fixtures. One has grey tile and the other has the mint green (the reverse of yours) I have been in a quandary since I moved in last month as to what to do with the hideous wallpaper that was there (one had zebra wallpaper and the other looked like a library with books on shelves! lol). The wallpaper is now gone and I have decided to have them painted. The green tile bath will get a lighter shade of green and the grey tile bath a lighter shade of grey. I know…BORING! But I will pick up the pink color with wall decor, etc.
~ Brenda ~
gsciencechick says
Congrats on such a wonderful home! The bathrooms are amazing!
Michael says
Just hopping on the Love Train for these bathrooms! It’s nice to see that quality materials and quality workmanship and timeless design can last 50+ years.
They’re gleaming and fabulous!
Anne Marie says
I LOVE it! We are about to purchase a 1960 ranch, and I can’t wait to get started on it.