Retro Renovation» tile

Small bathroom remodel in 5 steps

pam kueber — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:30:24 +0000

When I was at Mom’s last year helping with the renovation of her master bathroom, we also did a small update to the small, second bathroom. (Mind you: Five children grew up just fine traveling daily through this “tiny” bathroom. Don’t even get me started with today’s 20-something house hunters who can’t LIVE in a house with a bathroom this SMALL.) For the small bathroom freshening, I count basically five steps or decisions — mostly inexpensive ones — that gave the bathroom a fresh and classy sassy new look. The most expensive and only “structural” change — but the one with a very fundamental quality impact — was tiling the floor, eliminating vinyl:

Step one: Replace vinyl floor with stock ceramic tile.

We pulled out inexpensive 1970s-era vinyl flooring, and replaced it with white octagon-and-dot ceramic floor tile. We got the ceramic at Lowe’s, it only cost about $2.50 per square foot, as I recall. We used medium gray grout so that the shape of the tile would pop. And so begins my small “graphic bathroom.”

Step 2: Choose the shower curtain.

The tile was an easy decision (it sort of coordinated with the hex tile in the master bathroom). The shower curtain came easy peasy, too. I was shopping around Target, there it was. I knew that this Peanuts shower curtain would coordinate just fine with the floor… It had simple, light colors and that nice punch of red… I knew that the large-scale graphics would look good in the small bathroom… kind of playing nicely against the conservative conventional graphic of the floor. Oh, and I love Snoopy. I just knew it work — that the shower curtain would become the not too big, not too small, just right focal point of the small bathroom. Note, this shower curtain is no longer available at Target online, but you may still find it on ebay (affiliate link):

Oh, behind the shower curtain is a basic, almond-colored fiberglass tub/shower insert. If I had more time, I’d paint the gold rod with a shiny black lacquer spray paint.

Step 3 (above): Repaint the walls.

Because we kept the original vanity — with its almond-colored plastic top — I chose a wall color that would bridge the white and the almond. I also wanted to keep the room light and bright… but with some gravitas. The color is Muslin from Sherwin Williams. I like it very much. It’s like the classic Navajo, but with a lighter touch. Glowy… classy… rich looking, even.

Step 4 (above): Paint the vanity.

Previously, the vanity had been natural oak. I wanted to simplify the palette, so white it was. Note, we used an outside painter dude, and he used the wrong finish paint on the vanity. Within a few weeks, you could see see the fingerprints accumulating on the flat paint. And I wasn’t paying attention when I took these photos, so I didn’t scrub them off first. My bad. See things I’d changed, below.

Step 5 (above and continuing below): Accessorize.

When I painted the vanity in Mom’s master bathroom black using Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations, I also painted this old shelf that I found in a storage area. The old color was blue, as I recall. The Rust-Oleum kit did a fab job. Originally, I had thought this would go in Mom’s bathroom. But it seemed too cramped in there. So into the second bathroom it went. Again, I was trying to go big and graphic black-and-white in this small bathroom. So this piece worked well.

It contains an important message for XX-chromosome users.

A key to being all graphic-like was not to clutter up the shelf. Mom collects these little sheep figurines, duh, hello. This is a fun and unexpected way to experience them daily.

New-fangled TP holder. Kinda works well.

What would I change? I’d paint the vanity and the light fixture base black, as well — to match the shelf and also the mirror I found at Target. The faucet also is new. And LoOk! I put the exhaust fan on a timer!

Towels and rugs are red — made possible by that red PuNcH! in the shower curtain. Overall, this cheap and cheerful bathroom update turned out great.

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The 3 most common questions: On tile, on plumbing fixtures, on steel kitchen cabinets

pam kueber — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:58:51 +0000

The three most common questions I get via email, and sometimes in random places on the blog are:

Where can I find replacement bathroom tile?
Where can I sell, or buy, vintage sinks, toilets, tubs — and how about pricing?
Where can I sell, or buy, vintage steel kitchen cabinets — and how about pricing?

These are all already answered within the blog, but here’s a round-up on where to find these answers… and answers to common questions, in general.

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1. Where can I find replacement bathroom tile?

Answer: My best resource at this point is World of Tile in Springfield, New Jersey. I have multiple stories on World of Tile — read them all by clicking here.
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It’s also possible you may find vintage tile at the Re-Store… and if you’re looking for new tile in retro colors, there are lots of options today. See my navigation — Bathrooms / Tile category for all my stories.

2. Where can I sell, or buy, vintage sinks, toilets, tubs — and how about pricing?

Answer: Check out this 2009 story: Where to find vintage bathroom sinks, tubs and toilets. This story was written with buyers in mind — but use the advice in reverse if you are a seller.
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On pricing: I give no advice and don’t plan to. It’s what the market will bear. You have to do your own research based on your own market dynamics.

3. Where can I sell, or buy, vintage steel kitchen cabinets — and how about pricing?

This one also is answered in a comprehensive story I did in 2009: How and where to sell your vintage metal kitchen cabinets. This one was written with sellers in mind, use it in reverse if you are a buyer.

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On pricing: Reader 52PostnBeam did extensive analysis on sales through 2011 and arrived at some per-cabinet averages for the selling prices of vintage steel kitchen cabinets.

Are you looking for an answer?

I try to keep most common questions in the FAQ.
Please check it out.

Also use the navigation at the top — there’s tons of research and experience captured there.

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4 places to find recessed soap dishes and ceramic bathroom fixtures — including both vintage and new

pam kueber — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:33:11 +0000

Here is another source to check for recessed soap dishes: Deabath.com, which has four pages of New Old Stock and salvaged ceramic tile accessories on their website. Above: A Hall-Mack “Chinavogue” soap dish from 1958, still in its original box. Gosh, I want to get all gushy about how beautiful this is… Deabath.com — aka Bathroom Machineries — also has ceramic tile-in toothbrush holders, toilet paper roll holders and shelves… not only in white, but also in a catch-as-catch-can variety of vintage colors.

deabath even sells a tile with slot to dispose of used razor blades -- so old skool!

Recessed soap dishes are a pretty popular topic. I now have a list of four places to find them, along with other recessed and tile-in ceramic accessories — including both vintage New Old Stock (NOS) and made-new:

Disclosure: Deabath.com is currently an advertiser, but this story is not part of the deal. It’s part of my continuing hunt for and coverage of, places to find the hard-to-find products for your Retro Renovations.

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