Tucked into an historic farmhouse in Tennessee — now home to the Sumner County Convention & Visitors Bureau — are a rainbow of seven vintage pastel bathrooms. The building is known today as ‘The Comer House’ after the Comer family, which demolished the original 1850 farmhouse down to the foundation and rebuilt it between 1949 and 1951. The house itself is impressive, but its most amazing feature is the variety of color and tile patterns found in the home’s seven bathrooms. I visited recently and during my visit, I was graciously allowed to photograph six of the seven vintage pastel bathrooms, each of which is sure to inspire.
Are these Crane fixtures? Could be. See our 24 page Crane Plumbinb catalog from 1949 here — material from Pam’s personal collection. If not Crane, they are surely American-Standard. Who’s an expert? What do you think?
#1 Persian Red and Gray — The first bathroom on the tour was a half bath in maroon and off white. The coordinating pinwheel style floor tiles really add that extra something to the space. I should note that all the bathrooms have newer toilets — most likely because of water use requirements.
#2 Ming and Yellow — The next bathroom was a lovely ming green, dark green, white and yellow full bathroom with a standard tub (not pictured). It looks to me like when the house was remodeled, the Comer family must have picked one style of fixtures — same footed wall sink, tubs and faucets — and ordered them in every color. We love this matchy-matchy trick: Even though each bathroom uses different tiles and colors — there is a continuity to the bathrooms as a whole because of the repetition in style of the fixtures, hardware and even the mirrored vanities — giving the house good design sense. It is the tile colors that really distinguish each bathroom’s personality.
The liner tile reminded me of the stash of NOS decorative “sizzle strips” for sale on Ebay that we featured here on the blog a few months back. It is nice to see some of these amazing decorative tiles in use out in the wild – they are gorgeous! And note in the photo above, how the decorative sizzle strip provides a terrific transition from the light blue field tile to the darker blue bullnose. Brilliant detail design work!
All of the full bathrooms had dual tiled-in ceramic soap dishes and a toothbrush holder set in right over the sink.
This vintage green and pale yellow octagon and dot floor had me wishing these color combinations were readily available. Wait. Does Chippy have some alternatives like this at World of Tile? Maybe. Ask! This floor would be perfect in my vintage mint green bathroom.
#3 Pink and Gray — Then there was the pink and grey full bathroom — so pretty. What a phenomenal color combination. Pam says it’s her favorite of all time, for a pink bathroom.
It even had a Cinderella tub. I mentioned my own pink bathroom at home to the woman who worked in the office with the pink bathroom. She was delighted to hear about my efforts and exclaimed that she absolutely loved her adorable pink office bathroom — though I’m sure she has never had the opportunity to use the Cinderella tub.
The bluish grey and white octagon and dot floor tile was another happy detail in the beautiful 1950 pink bathroom.
#4 Beautiful Blue — The next full bathroom was a blue and white combination with a standard tub.
It also had decorative liner tiles in a charming blue and white tulip pattern.
The floor in the blue bathroom was very understated — a simple white — but tile pattern made it look anything but mundane. This is a great floor — multidirectional — would be great to replicate in a bathroom today.
#5 Ming and Black — Another ming green bathroom was next — this time with a green and black tile combination and another Cinderella tub.
All of the bathrooms had the same style of fixtures for the faucets and other hardware. The shape of it is so interesting — and I was thrilled to see the original faucets still in use.
Do you suppose that the handle on the shower head adjusts the flow of water or turns on the shower head?
The green floor wasn’t an exact match for the tub, sink and wall tile — but was interesting nonetheless. The pattern reminds me of the flooring for my master bathroom remodel — University Pink from Merola tile.
#6 — Butterscotch and Butter — The last bathroom I toured was a full bath with buttery yellow and brick red tile.
It had a standard size buttery yellow tub and the same faucets as the other baths.
The real show stopper was the charming tile floor, which reminded me of some of the plaid tile patterns from the vintage 1929 Freidrichsen Floor & Wall Tile catalog. This was my favorite floor pattern of the bunch — it brought all the colors of the bathroom together so nicely and really gave a customized feel to the space.
Mega thanks goes out to Kelley Dickey, Administrative Assistant at the Sumner County Convention & Visitors Bureau for agreeing to give me a special access tour of all the wonderful vintage bathrooms at the Comer House — as well as the inhabitants of the offices who didn’t think it strange that I wanted to photograph their bathrooms. Thanks also to my Mom for alerting me to such an awesome collection of vintage bathrooms.
Carole P. says
Every bathroom a different color! — How refreshing, whereas today they all seem to be pretty much colorless, no matter how many are in a house. My overall favorite has to be the beautiful mint-green bathroom. . . . I would LOVE to get into that Cinderella tub!
My childhood bathroom was the pink-and-gray combination, but it was predominantly gray, whereas this one is predominantly pink.
It’s funny how no one needs the built-in soap dish at the sink now — let alone two of them! — because everyone has switched to liquid hand soap.
The features in these bathrooms were fairly high-end for their day. The large sinks with the attached towel bars, the built-in soap and toothbrush holders, the patterns of some of the tile floors, the patterned liner tiles, and the Cinderella tubs were fancier than would have been seen in a typical suburban “tract” house.
Ken Thacker says
We just bought a MCM on the “beach side” in Daytona Beach, FL The master bathroom has the pink “Cinderella” tub and the pink matching American Standard Sink. All of the chrome was pitted from the salt air, as in the 1950-60’s there was not any A/C in the house. I found knobs and escutcheons that matched at Home Depot and the stems from a local plumbing supply company. I found a white American Standard sink in the storage room that had a hole the size of a glass mouthwash bottle, it was a victim of the medicine cabinet. One of the unique features was a tooth brush and glass holder built into the tile above the sink that was chrome and revolved to hide the brushes and glass. We are keeping the house as it has always been which is a MCM and just replacing worn out faucet parts and pitted chrome.
pam kueber says
Welcome, Ken. Can we all come visit — there’s a foot of snow and gray skies here in Mass. right now, “beach side” of Daytona Beach sounds… dreamy… to me right now.
Sounds like you are the proud owner of a coveted Hall-Mack Concealed Lavatory Unit. See the following story, all these items come up now and then on ebay, sometimes New Old Stock! https://retrorenovation.com/2009/07/26/18-rare-1962-vintage-hall-mack-bathroom-accessories/
Bryan says
My grandparents had a house built in 1955, and the fixtures are American Standard. The 2nd floor bathroom unfortunately has beige plastic tiles with the ming green inserts. However, the sink and bathtub are the original in the Ming green. I love it, but unfortunately due to those plastic tiles will have to remodel. It’s bittersweet, I love the Ming green, but will remodel with a new console sink and a white enameled cast iron shower base to be easier to take care of my father. I did take some pictures and video though for memories. Thanks for this site!
Mary Elizabeth says
Bryan, obviously you have to take out the tub in order to make the shower handicap-accessible for your dad. You might consider offering it on Craig’s list for someone who has been waiting for a Ming green tub. But before you rip everything out and remodel, please reconsider the plastic tile, which in my opinion has been given a bad rap. Read about the restoration of my 1959 plastic-tiled bath on this site; search on “Mary Elizabeth’s pink bathroom.”
There are ways to clean and reattach any loose tile, and for broken tiles it is possible to find replacements on eBay if you are patient. If you absolutely need to say goodbye to the plastic, you might also consider doing the bath in ceramic tile with some lovely mid-century colors. Perhaps you can find liner tiles and trim in a similar green, keep the sink, and buy a new toilet seat cover to match it. (Also see separate articles on this site for where to find tiles and toilet seats in mid-century colors.)
And thanks for making your dad a top priority in your living arrangements as well as your renovations!
pam kueber says
I will add: Note that vintage nastiness may be found in old adhesives. Get with your own properly licensed pro to assess what you have so that you can make informed decisions.
Katherine says
I have the butter yellow sink, toilet and shower stall. I want to retile the bathroom as someone had a pink phase and added oversized pink tiles to the bathroom which look awful. I’d love some ideas of what to do with a yellow bathroom.
pam kueber says
See our Bathroom Help / Bathroom Tile Help and Ideas subcategory for our stories on where to find tile.
If you can find a yellow tile that matches your fixtures (try B&W, for a start), you could trim that in a minty green — that would be nice.
Or: Green tile trimmed in yellow.
More sedate: Yellow tile trimmed in white, or white tile trimmed in yellow.
Dee B says
The bathroom I loved best was the #5…Ming and Black. I love those colors. Growing up I didn’t have a bathroom I could call my own, and with five others in the house, I had to take a number. I would love to get in that Cinderella tub and soak until the water got cold.
Thanks…db
Cece says
Wow! I have this bathroom set of tub and sink and original light fixtures but only in white…..and I love them….but love all these colors!! A friend had bought an old house but not as old as my 1918 home. We traded bathrooms …she wanted a claw foot tube and I wanted something newer, so I traded for her 1950s stuff. I love the tub for soaking and is more roomy than my old clawfoot tub.
Brooke says
Is there any one who knows where these style shower/tub fixtures can be found? I have been searching to replace the ones that are not salvageable from my 1950’s bathroom, which sadly had to be a complete gut and although we tried we could not remove them to where they could be reused. I’ve tried Locke Plumbing who has amazing products, but the ones in these photos are exactly what I’m looking for!
pam kueber says
Brooke, there are some proxies available. See our research in Bathroom Help / Lav Faucets.
Shirley says
My bathroom has a pink bathtub, white sink and toilet and light grey tile. I would like to repaint the walls, but am undecided what color I should pain it. Any ideas?
pam kueber says
Hi Shirley, check out our Bathrooms / Pink Bathrooms category – we have numerous examples showing what folks have done.
Liz says
I have the same pattern as bathroom #6 in my 1940’s house. I had to do a remodel due to 1940’s plumbing issues and it and the tub were the only things that didn’t get thrown out. In my defense, the rest of the bathroom was a bad 70’s/80’s remodel. Apparently, someone really, really liked brass… ugh “shivers”. We started out to do a retro renovation, but it got sidetracked to something a bit more eccentric by the time I finished. But the floor did stay. Mine is a green/white/peachy-colored mix w/ either dark gray or black grout. You can imagine it was a bit difficult trying to color coordinate with that. The tub is original also, but unlike all the colored ones shown here, they used a bone/biscuit colored one.
Elaine says
Wow, great bathrooms! I think those sinks are American Standard “Roxbury” and I too love the original faucets! It appears that instead of a diverter on the tub spout, there is a separate set of valves for the shower head.