“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.
Janice says
Wow! What a lucky, lucky girl you are to have found such beautiful bathrooms in such fabulous shape! I wish I would have had at least one bathroom like that when I bought my house 5 years ago, but previous owners stripped both of them of all personality. I just can’t stop staring at them with envy!! Your kitchen is beautiful as well!
Jason says
amazing job on the kitchen, i’d love to know where your floating shelves came from they look minimal and fantastic!
Katie says
The floating shelves look like ones that are sold at IKEA. If you’re doing a kitchen remodel on a budget, IKEA is a really good place to find cabinets and hardware that, while not ‘perfectly period’, have a clean, modern look that goes well with mid-century kitchens.
Robin, NV says
Brty – are the floors in the grey bathroom original? Love them! Is the tub in the other bathroom green to match the sink?
Everything looks so beautiful. I’m on the verge of my own remodels and it’s so inspiring to see your work. My kitchen will be a mix of old and new but love yours. Orange floors! Yay!!
Erin says
Loving the kitchen ~ so nice and clean looking! And that green sink is to die for!
Jeanne says
Love both of those bathrooms! They look like they are in pristine shape. I’m regretting my wallpaper choice in my gray bathroom now and wished I used Googieland. But I did use that Gee Gee in gray in my foyer and love it! Did you have someone install the Marmoleum for you or did you do it yourself?
Janet in CT says
Beautiful job! Love the pink bathrooms, and I have always loved the big landscape mirrors and the way that they tiled around them. Just dreamy!
Kelly Wittenauer says
“Landscape mirrors” – never heard that term before, but wonderful description. Big fan of them myself. They are so much more functional for a family with people of different heights, than those dinky things with the big clunky frames that are in so many newer homes.
Tracie@MiddleClassModern says
I’m in love with both baths, but the pink and gray one is simply fantastic.
My working class pink bathroom pales in comparison!
lynda says
MikeD, in the article, it says the floors are Marmoleum. Very pretty choice.
Brty says
Mike D,
The kitchen floor is forbo marmoleum “African desert”.
There are so many beautiful colors to choose from.
MikeD says
Great bathrooms and nice work on the kitchen!
Just a wee bit jealous as I did not have near the originality in our two pink bathrooms to preserve
We too did a new modern kitchen with a twist or retro, they can really work well in mid century homes.
What floor is that in the kitchen?
lynda says
Wonderful job! Amazing that those old baths were built well enough to “live” over 50 years. Kitchen is just right too. What fun for you and your family.
Judy G says
I think the pink looks very nice