Mid century blue bathroom sink, toilet and tub – real American beauties

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John at deabath.com reports that they remain hard at work on saving the 50′s fixtures.  He recently pulled this vintage blue set of 1956 Standard Sanitary Works fixtures out of a home doing a remodel. Isn’t the blue just luminously lovely? 

Nancy completes her yellow 50s bathroom

From Nancy’s yellow 50s bathrooms

Maryland Nancy has completed the retro renovation of her 50s bathroom – and it’s spectacular. Nancy gutted two small, worn bathrooms to create one larger guest bath. She was intent on maintaining the mid mod feel – and incorporated original yellow fixtures. I recall at one point, she emailed me that she had finally chosen her tile colors – and was so happy that the blog gave her confidence to embrace color. This bathroom is a testament to take some chances! Nancy, you have a beautiful eye, way to go!
Heck yeah there is more →

Palm Springs Stephan finishes his retro bathroom renovation

Palm Springs Stephan finished his bathroom – it looks great! – and sends us this complete report, which includes a couple of new sources that I for one need to check out Heck yeah there is more →

Nancy pines over the Star Line Housewares bathroom hardware that got away

Glamorlux Nancy sends in this beautiful retro bathroom hardware set — which got away from her in an ebay auction a year ago. MIB — good stuff.

Hi Pam,

Thanks so much for featuring our bathroom! We were “tickled pink” (har, har) to see our little bathroom on the  World Wide Web!

I’ve been meaning to tell you:  These starburst “Star Line Housewares, Inc.” bathroom accessories were up for bid on eBay over a year ago.  I was outbid on them and have been kicking myself ever since for not putting down a higher bid. Wouldn’t it be amazing if some modern company like Rejuvenation repro-ed these?! Here is the tumbler/toothbrush holder, soap dish, double robe hook, tissue holder and towel ring.

I’m ashamed to say that I only bid $102, and they went for the next highest bid. When I saw I had been outbid, I actually shed tears – which I’d never done before or since over an eBay auction. I sorta became obsessed with them (you always want “the one that got away”), and even emailed the high bidder, asking her to sell them to me at a nice profit. She was very sweet, but declined. She’s restoring the bathroom in her 50′s ranch house (she was also redoing a pink kitchen). Hey, maybe she visits your blog, and can show us pictures of her wonderful, perfect vintage bathroom with the starburst accessories in place! Grrrrrrr…

Thanks, Nancy. Alas. Rejuvenation, are you watching?

Chrome sink legs and brackets for your wall mount sink – from deabath.com

In addition to the Franklin Brass chrome sink legs I’ve written about, Deabath.com offers this set – from a different manufacturer – for $50/pair. With their ‘hexagon’ styling they are spot-on retro for the 40s and 50s.

Deabath also offers three other varieties of sink legs. They are more expensive models – heavier castings – and generally, for earlier periods. Although – the set authentically reproduced from 1935 has timeless modern appeal – yummy!

Tips:

  • Remember… take any wall hung sink … as long as it has holes to take legs toward the front/underneath … add chrome or stainless steel legs — and voila, you’ve got a great retro look.
  • Note – these sinks can be a little ‘shorter’ than pedestal sinks today. When I installed my vintage sink w/legs, I added some rubber baby buggy bumpers (rubber gasket thingy’s) at the bottom and top of the legs to get a little more height. Worked fine, can’t see it a bit, and the sink-height issue, which I tortured over in advance, turned out to be a non-issue. And I am 5’8″.
  • Finally, A sink with legs means you will have to find places to store your lotions and bottles other than a vanity. And, you will have to keep that bathroom tidy and free of dust bunnies. But, in smaller mid mod bathrooms, a sink with chrome legs really opens up the space and makes it feel bigger. And keeping your bathroom clean is a righteous thing.

Here is the url straight to these legs on the deabath website: deabath.com/pedsinks/wallhung/wallhung.htm

Also new to their site - this beauty. I see that John the sales manager has started calling it "Mamie" pink. I know where you got that from, John! :)

Also new to their site - this beauty.

Toilet seats in 94 colors – for your retro bathroom

I think I have finally lost my marbles. Jumping up and down in my office, all excited to find a company that offers 94 different colors of toilet seats… and dying to share it — to stop the presses — to postpone the planned laminate story — get this NEWS on the blog! Heck yeah there is more →

Retro bathroom: 1959 green and blue bathroom from American Standard

A yummy 1959 American Standard bathroom today – fabulous, don’t you agree? I LOVE the vanity – which we have seen before in pink (and which a reader actually told me that she bought!). And that toilet – why did these off-the-floor designs not catch on? Don’t you hate the dust bunnies (or worse) clinging to bottom of your toilet where it meets the floor? Ick. Also, check out the flooring, so emerging-groovy, and of course, the color palette – also heading decisively into the 60s. Ad: 1959 American Standard.

Midcentury Keith’s amazing 1958 pink bathroom

I met Midcentury Keith when he pledged to help Save the Pink Bathrooms and posted photos of his own incredible pink jewel box bathroom on the STPB Flickr page. Oh my, it is a beauty!

Here’s Keith’s story… and hey, everybody, remember to make your pledge (a comment) to Save The Pink Bathrooms.

Hi Pam,

Thanks for the compliment! When I first bought the house a friend threatened me with my life if I didn’t keep the pink bathroom intact … so really, I had no choice but to keep it :) Actually, I love my 1958 ranch house – very homey. Not much was done to it over the last 50 years – thank goodness. I’m just trying to bring back its shine.

I’m in Steger, Illinois … I’ll fill in my profile today sometime. You inspired me to open a flickr account to post pics of my restoration progress (although I lost some of the earliest pics in a PC crash) – I enjoy seeing what others have done, so I figured I should ad my house to the mix as well. I hope to finish the main house by this fall – refinishing the floors is next on my list (and the last major project to be done!)

I check in on your site every morning with my cup of coffee – thanks for giving me something to get my day started in a positive way!

Thanks, Keith, I can’t wait to see the rest of the house.