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? 1950s blue bathroom fixtures.

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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!
Nancy writes:

Pam-  Thought I would send you some pictures of our new bathroom (we combined 2 half baths).  We are very pleased & everyone that has seen it thinks it looks just like our other bathrooms.  We can’t have a better compliment!  Still looking for that perfect chenille rug & scales.  The lighting of the camera doesn’t allow true color but I hope you can tell what it looks like.  So pleased w/ the tile selection & the different patterned floor.  Please notice the great lights over the sink & in shower area- one of your ebay finds!  Great & I love them!  I like the Vera hand towel & monogrammed towel ( actually from the previous owner’s- haven’t gotten it copied yet).

All of the worry & concern over details are not apparent but I guess made for a good final results… I tried to use everything that I possibly could that was original.  The yellow sink & toilet were in one of the original baths.  The tile is Moonbeam & Crisp Linen (Dal tile) & the floor is the Square Random Biscuit.  The before pictures are very hard to tell what is what- not a very large space.
Readers, notice how Nancy used the two tile colors to great effect — e.g. Moonbeam behind the sink and as a trim color, Crisp Lemon elsewhere. The brick / rug / woodbeam are a perfect color complement to the yellow. And, I love the bird prints – terrific graphic punch!

I asked Nancy about the great little tiled shelf next to the sink:

That was kind of funny (looking back).  I told my young painter (who had never done this large a project & was doing everything) that the boomerang shape was very big back then.  Thought we could maybe do that.  When I came home he had taken the ironing board & cut out a top.  He had tiled it & everything!  It looked like I could go straight from the washing machine to the counter top & get my ironing done.  I labored over whether to tell him how much it was bothering me.  I got up the nerve & he was relieved because he hated it too.  The previous bath has that dressing area (w/ the great Formica top) & this bath needed to have someplace for guests to put their things when showering…  I had thought it would be much larger- then we ran in to the brick wall (literally) which housed the incinerator in a closet on the other side.  So, that is the story of the little counter.  I wanted to use both of the tiles we had used on the walls.

Thanks so much for all of your help with this project!

Nancy

(you can click on slide show to view much larger images)

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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:

Dear Pam,

Your posting regarding sink legs reminded me that I needed to send to you some photos of my bathroom, now that the remodel of it is complete and the wonderful sink legs you sent to me are installed.

I am including a few “before” photos as well as a few “during” photos, in addition to the “after” photos. I will split them up into several emails.

The bathroom started out with a hideous mottled green tile and green fixtures in a shade that reminded me of a hospital from the past … in a bad way. It was sickening. And much as I love metal cabinetry, the existing “Vani-Lav” made the room feel smaller and more cramped than it already was. And the 1970s acryclic countertop with molded-in sink was awful. It all had to go.

So I gutted the entire thing, to the wall studs and sub-flooring. And I did this while already living in the condo! I do not recommend that, as one must then rely on the kindness of neighbors for showering and serious toilet matters and empty paint cans for less serious relief. And if one is as unlucky as I was and the contractor suffers a stroke during the project … actually keeling over IN the bathroom while installing concrete backer-board! … the whole process can get delayed far longer than expected. I was without a functioning bathroom for over a month.

I wanted desperately to do the bathroom in classic 1950s true pink, not “rose blush” or one of those beigey-pinks that were common in the 1970s. I searched for about three months without finding fixtures in a true pink, however. So I instead settled on a great matched American Standard set in blue posted on eBay by City-Girl-In-The-Country, a wonderful dealer in Antrim, New Hampshire (citygirlinthecountry.com). The set was date stamped: the toilet was manufactured on 11 June 1958, and the cast iron tub on 25 March 1958. Since my condo building was constructed in the summer of 1958 and I was keen to do an authentic restoration, the dates were perfect. The set cost $400, with an additional $800 to ship it in two wooden crates from New Hampshire to Palm Springs.

Removing the existing tub and installing the new one in such a small space was a MAJOR chore, one that I do not recommend to any but the most adventurous. But while removing the old one, we found newspapers from 1958 that had been stuffed into the wall for some unknown reason. That was entertaining!

The tile is a combination of two brands. The walls are Dal-Tile 4×4-inch high-gloss glazed porcelain in Arctic White with 6-inch black trim pieces. The floor is in a pattern that one of your contributors had in her all-original 1950s bathroom, and she had sent in photos just in time for me to duplicate the pattern in my own bath. The Ocean Blue and Black tiles are 1×1-inch Dal-Tile Keystone Color-Body porcelain, while the white ones are 4×4-inch Interceramic matte glazed ceramic tiles. The floor grout is Polyblend Sanded in a color that I mixed myself from two standard colors, Captain’s Blue and White, to match the fixtures.

The ceramic accessories, including the three soap dishes, toothbrush holder, and toilet roll holder, all came from Eclectic-Ware.com. They matched the Dal-Tile Arctic White perfectly and are authentic 1950s shapes.

You were kind enough to locate a set of sink legs and attached towel bars at a local Re-Store for under $20 and send them to me. I had them re-chromed at Palm Springs Plating for about $400. And while that may seem pricey, they did an outstanding job of removing the pitting and restoring them to “like-new” condition. I was and am very pleased with them, and they generate lots of comments, mostly gasps and dropped jaws and “OMG, I remember those from when I was a kid!”

The other hardware … tub/shower faucet and handles, shower head, and hand-held shower attachment … are Kohler’s Memoirs Classic line. Solid, heavy, and well made, but far more expensive than I would have liked. But the line has matching accessories … for a price! … so I was able to get a matching wall-mounted towel bar and glass shelf for above the toilet. Caution when buying Kohler hardware: the stems will not adapt to non-Kohler valves. I had to replace the tub/shower valve within the wall before I could install the Memoirs hardware, at a total cost of over $800 for just the valves and new copper piping. The actual Memoirs hardware, includuing matching towel bar and glass shelf, came to over $1600.

The mirrored cabinet above the sink is another eBay “find.” It was in mint condition and did not require any restoration, and it was inexpensive. The shelves along each side provided a great display space for some of my 1950s toiletries, all purchased on eBay, of course.

The light fixture above the mirror came out of the apartment I had just moved out of. The landlord there wanted to remodel and modernize the bath, removing all traces of 1950s design and replacing it with modern beige cultured stone (sacrilege!). So I “appropriated” the light fixture when I moved out, with his permission.

The other decorations and accessories, including the pink Detecto bath scale and chenille bath rug and toilet lid cover set are from eBay, of course. The Irmi children’s step-stool is from my own childhood. “Wash Hands And Face And Do It Well, When You Step On This Carousel.” The Palm Springs poster is a modern reproduction that is sold here in PS, giclee on tin, of a poster from the 1950s. It features tourists in and around a swimming pool with the legend “California’s Hot Spot! Palm Springs. Discover a new life … vibrant, gay, relaxed … Plan to visit California’s Desert Shangri-La!” Because I ended up with blue fixtures, I decided to design the bath around the poster. The photo above the toilet, another eBay treasure, is an original 1950s American Models Guild black-and-white of two physique models perched on the side of a swimming pool with aluminum lawn furniture visible in the background. I’m still looking for more poolside photos from the 1950s, but they are rare and unexpectedly expensive when they do appear on eBay.

The project took longer than I expected and cost far more than I had anticipated and budgeted, but the end result is much better than I could have imagined. I am really very happy with my little 1958 bathroom.

Stephan

So I also quizzed Stephan on the hunks in the photo above the toilette. Could those be naked-nudies? Stephan advises:

Yes, they are naked men, posed without the “boy bits” showing. The photo is an original from the late 1950s or very early 1960s, back when physique magazines served prurient interests under the guise of “art” or “physical culture.” The legal catch was that no genitalia could be shown. If you want to get some idea of the variety of such photos and magazines available in the 1950s, do an eBay search under the keywords “vintage beefcake photo” or “vintage physique.”

Oh how I love retro renovation, there is always more to learn around every corner… or in this case, behind every bathroom door. Thanks, PSS, you are the best!

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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?

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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.

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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!

Thanks to Sales Manager John at deabath.com, who provided a quick-as-a-flash answer to my question about where to find vintage-color toilet seats. I think John knows everything. Readers: Send me questions. Let’s test him! I’ll get a radio show. Like Click and Clack, only… about Vintage Plumbing.

So, the company that performs this wonderful service to all of mid mod America, is Bemis Inc. from Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. Elongated, or round-bowl. Plastic – but it will do if I wanted…needed…the perfect pink toilet seat.

Here’s the url direct to order the perfect color toilet seat of your very own!

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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.

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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.

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Alexa was looking to dress up her dad’s 1951 bathroom, and I suggested she play up the black trim with a fancy black toilet seat. Well, here it is – the Black Pearlescent Kathyrn toilet seat from Kohler. Be sure to get the nickel hinges (chrome is also fine if that’s available.) The one caveat is that it is for elongated toilets only. If you have a round-front, all that I can find so far is plastic (not even wood). I’ll keep searching on that front.

One other thing – this is expensive, the list is around $250 as I recall, although you can find it cheaper online.

Also – it’s available in White Pearlescent. I have to say, if I had an elongated toilet, I would definitely get this, it is wonderful. And – I have seen precedent for it in vintage advertising.

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My dad lives in an apartment building in Brooklyn that opened on April 1, 1951. I assume the bathroom is original. The bathroom floor tile is a (true) gray and white in a simple checkerboard pattern. The wall tile is a funky purplish-gray field with a black bullnose border. It doesn’t really go with the floor.

We’re going to renovate the bathroom, and I’d like to be able to keep at least the wall tile, but the color is impossible to coordinate. It’s not gray and it’s not purple. Have you seen this color before? What should I do with the walls and floor if I keep it?

Thanks so much,
Alexa in Brooklyn

Thanks for the photos, Alexa – what a gorgeous gorgeous color that tile is! In the palettes of the late 40s and early 50s you do see some dusty lavenders, but I have to admit you are the first reader to send in a bathroom this color. Here are some thoughts:

• This bathroom definitely has a deco feel to me. For additional tiles, if you need replacements, the only place I know to send you is B&W Tile in California.
• And I must say: Unless that floor is destroyed, please keep it! The photo does not show it in great detail – but from what I can see, it’s gorgeous as well! And I think you can work with the grey. It is neutral.
• Put a black toilet seat and lid on that toilet to play up the black trim. The best you can buy, like, really substantial. I need to do some research on this…It’s bizarre to even think about “good” toilet seats, but I think there are truly deluxe ones out there worth the investment – like, with marbling and stuff. This will be fun. I think: Kohler…Barbara Baker or some high-style designer. Wicked expensive.
• Finally, how about vintage wallpaper to perk that bathroom right up: I had to work hard to find the possibility below for you, it’s from Hannah’s. Can your dad handle a floral? If you’re doing wallpaper, you want to be careful regarding the scale – you’ve got 4″ tiles creating one kind of pattern, and then those smaller floor tiles creating their own thing, too. A wallpaper must complement but not compete. I really kind of like this floral, although if you can hunt some more and find something more deco, maybe with some metallic shine, that might be the very best. As I recall, Secondhand Rose is right there in Manhattan – maybe you could go hunt through their stocks? Yowza, what fun. I’d also recommend Bradbury & Bradbury – but nothing in purple family there.
• Oh and accessories: Put in a brushed steel-style hamper, the wicker is clashing, it’s jumping out too much. Can you find one built-in side towel bar to fit the sink-from a salvage place perhaps? That way, the hand towels could move there. (Do you understand this suggestion?) For shower curtain, towels and rug: I would tend to think darkish grey, you want these to recede. But no need to make a final decision on this, until the other elements are completed.

Alexa, let us know how it all turns out! This is a really beautiful bathroom – the quality is amazing. What a wonderful daughter you are!

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