When readers Amy and Mack were searching for a new home, they knew they wanted something built in the 1960s without a lot of remuddling — so when they toured a house with a lavender bathroom, Amy knew immediately that it was meant to be.
We recently relocated to Raleigh, North Carolin,a and had a hard time finding a suitable house – translated – built in the 1960’s without a lot of remuddling. At the last house on the 3rd day of searching, the house found us. When I got to the top of the stairs, there it was – a bathroom with lavender tile! I thought of SaraRoundhouse and her lavender bath and knew this house was the one. The realtor was yammering on about ripping it out – I wasn’t listening because I was too busy wondering where to find a lavender toilet to bring this beauty back. A year later it’s ready for its closeup. nd yes, I found that toilet! Folks laugh about lavender, until they see it — then they want one!
Did you know you can’t find lavender toilet bolt caps anywhere?! I had some enamel paint matched to one of the tiles, prepped and painted them myself. Bemis has come out with classic color lids and seat – perfect match! The toilet was found at Habitat after stalking them for several months.
The vanity had to go into a space that was of course non-standard sized. Lacking Kate’s woodworking skills, and refusing to buy big box cabinets, I got to thinking, what would look period? I’ve always loved gold and white French Provincial furniture, so I found the one French Provincial style vanity in the USA that would work in the space. (No skills to tear up and rebuild a perfectly good original dresser.) Since the vanity would mostly cover the typical hole in the flooring under the old vanity, we used plywood and concrete board to fill it, and then installed white tile. The baseboard that is visible is lavender tile. The part behind the vanity is just regular baseboard painted lavender. The mirror is classic 60-70’s – just toned it down with a little silver paint.
The pictures over the loo belonged to my mother-in-law. I’ve hauled them around for years and guess what – they have the perfect shade of lavender in them! The wall paint was supposed to be a pale gray blue (winner out of 47 tries). It turned green. But looks good with the lavender.
If you are going to have a lavender bathroom, you have to have a lavender chandelier (you can tell I lost the plot with that).
Amy, your lavender bathroom looks fantastic! The French Provincial style vanity works well in the space, and we just love your lavender toilet and original matching tile. Kudos on a job well done. And heck — if a purple chandelier makes you happy, why not? There are so many ways to retro — and we love them all!
Ree says
Lynn, I love your solution to cleaning the old toilets by taking them to a car wash and using bleach on them before bringing them home. That is a much better way to clean them using industrial strength methods.
We had a bathroom with lavender fixtures in a house built in 1964. The counter top was white laminate with gold sparkles in it. I think the wall tile was an oatmeal color if I remember correctly. The other bathroom in the house was pink.
Pitts says
Your pictures are great! With imagination and a lot of hard work you have created a beautiful bath!!!????????
Bette Jean says
In the 80s we had a bath with lavender tiles. Painted the walls white. Used navy blue towels and had on oil painting with those colors plus spring green. Looked great!
Carolyn says
Lavender plays many roles but for some reason it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. It plays nicely with other colors so you can use it as a neutral similar to gray, or to complement other sherbet colors, or have it be the star.
Sixteventies says
What a lovely lavender bathroom! As a real estate student myself, I absolutely CANNOT stand when I see a lovely mid-century home advertised as “fixer” or “needs updating”. In my opinion, not everyone is on board with the boring neutral color trend and what not! Anyways, it’s such a gorgeous bathroom, and it’s great that you could find it!
Pamela says
Growing up on New Orleans, my grandparents had a palatial yellow and lavender bathroom. Sink, toilet, and tub, plus diamond floor tiles, baseboard and trim were all lavender, and the rest of the tile butter yellow. It was so beautiful! Katrina took it away from us.
Carol says
I’m so sorry Katrina took your house. I spent a week in New Orleans once and it was exceptionally unique. Katrina made me sad for all that was lost. I have seen one lavender and butter yellow bathroom and vowed in my 20’s that I would have one someday. I’m 52 and counting…….. It has always been my dream bathroom.
Melinda says
LOVE, LOVE LOVE,
Renee says
We had this exact same bathroom when I was growing up.
I loved it then and I love it now
Shannon Vetter says
My husband and I also live in Raleigh, and bought a 1960s Ranch that hadn’t been too updated. We found blue and green toilets for our house from a house in the neighborhood that was being remodeled. I have a picture from June 2015 of a lavender toilet from the Raleigh restore (there was a sink too). I wonder if it’s the same one? We couldn’t use it, but I was hoping someone would give it a good home!
Amy says
Yes Shannon, that was the same toilet! The sink was rusted almost through, so we couldn’t use it unfortunately.
Shannon Vetter says
Awesome! So glad it found a home! If you come across a yellow toilet in your travels, let me know, we need one to round out our bathrooms. We live in a one owner ranch (we are the second owners) in the North Hills area. The only thing that had really been updated was the kitchen, and we are slowly gathering old cabinets so we can retro renovate it.
Amy says
Just found this one, not far from us:
http://fayetteville.craigslist.org/for/5676582103.html
mimi says
Isn’t n.c. the best place on earth? Tarheel born, tarheel bred……rah,rah carolina! There is a big 50s 60s market here, i will close on mine next month. Glad to see the triangle posting here. Anyone see james taylor’s home sold last month? Gorgeous.
Shannon Vetter says
Amy, Thanks for the tip! We picked up the yellow toilet today!!! Maybe we need to start a Triangle retro page to share our finds. I come across stuff all the time that I can’t use but others may be in the market for.
carolynapplebee says
so beautiful, i haven’t been to my local Restore in a couple of years. i have to get back on the hunt. i have finally saved enough to redo either my kitchen or my bath, so i have do decide. i’ve been eyeing metal cabinets, but now this toilet is making me think of the bath first.