Retro Renovation » american standard

Mid-century American Standard Gracelynn sink

pam kueber — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:00:55 +0000

YES, I AM OBSESSED with this sink. I have one — in white, although I also love this icy gray — in my garage on hold for my tiny, storage-challenged master bath; I am waiting to see if the retro decorating gods also send me the vanity. Meanwhile, I have finally learned its official name: It’s the Gracelynn Cabinet-Lavatory. The toilet: The lovely Carlyle. You know it is one of my life goals to be able to name every midcentury toilet and sink on sight. This 1960 photo is from flickr friend Java1888, click the image to go straight to his photo stream. Another flickr friend, What Makes the Pie Shops Tick, has a 1965 American-Standard catalog posted where I found the name of this much-coveted sink, and more. Final note, I believe this sink was introduced in ‘59.

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Six mid-century bathrooms, vintage 1962

pam kueber — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:00:20 +0000

There’s more to come in my series of vintage Hall-Mack bathroom hardware. But a pause here for some bathroom illustrations featured in the 1962 catalog. There are some really great ideas in these six mid-century bathrooms. Above: One of our favorite sink and vanity base combos, the American-Standard introduced in 1959. I think a reader just wrote to tell me that he or she had the sink in just this color. It’s terrific. And what about that fabulous toilet.

Look look look. The American-Vanity — longer. I have never seen this. I adore it! Also, I need to do more on yellow bathrooms, this is a wonderful color for a bathroom. This is a wonderful bathroom design in so many ways.

Very sophisticated. If you want a solid surface sink – Carrera Marble is authentic vintage. Note, I am told you must keep it well sealed, marble requires maintenance. Alternatively, there is a least one company that makes a Carrera Marble laminate.

These blue tile colors are available today, I believe.

I love the orientation of the tile in the tub surround. I am not sure you can get 1″x4″ tiles today. But you can get 1″x2″s in sheets and run them vertically like this….

The cover shot for my catalog. Note the greek motif on the bath mat. As we’ve seen and discussed before, Greek and Roman motifs really started to take off in the 60s.

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Scenes from 22 blue midcentury bathrooms

pam kueber — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:00:14 +0000

Yes — we are all dedicated to Save The Pink Bathrooms — but that quest is just emblematic, of course. We love midcentury bathrooms of all colors – blue, yellow, pinky-beige, grey, green, salt n pepper… I recently spotted some great images from Tiki Lisa’s blue bathroom (after the jump), and it got me to thinking… Let’s pull together all our blue bathrooms for a comprehensive look at this classic midcentury color. 22 bathroom inspirations in all.

Above is Tiki Lisa’s bathroom faucet. I have not seen one quite like it, until now. I love her tile-in sink. And notice the tile, it appears to be the gold granite salt and pepper style. You can still get this today, folks.

Here’s another angle on Lisa’s wonderful blue sink and faucet. I’m all for crystal faucets if they have a nice solid hand feel, as the old ones often do.

And here’s Lisa’s coordinating toilet, set against vintage blue wallpaper. See more of Tiki Lisa’s photos on flickr, and on her blog Atomic Tea Party. Thanks, Lisa!

Meanwhile, here’s another new-to-the-blog vintage blue bathroom, 1963, in this home for sale by Uncle Jack. Notice that cute daisy wallpaper. I love the look of the vanity. And darn, I want to see the floor and toilet better. You can still get mirror-cabinet combo’s like these from Nutone. See the listing via the lefthand column of VeryVintageVegas.com.

In another news update, one of our readers just wrote to say that she is buying this wonderful 1959-era American Standard sink and vanity, one of our favorite styles ever ever, and featured in a recent Retro Radar. See the complete 1959 suite here, in green. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the deal works out! Now… for some previously featured posts…

Above: One of the coolest blue bathrooms ever in this 1964 time capsule, so well designed and featuring all the latest gizmos. Click on the first image to start the slide show.

Luminous blue tub, toilet and sink from deabath.com.

Vintage blue fixtures in a grey bathro om…includes a great vintage American Olean tile set of fishes.

We love Cinderella bathtubs.

50s and 60s bathrooms used to have laminate countertops in styles like this. Swoon.

We choose shower curtains for Amy’s blue…well, aqua…early 60s bathroom.

Light blue and medium blue paired in an affordable and easy-to-replicate vintage style tile design.

Feeling groovy in this mid mod bathroom from Chile. Red punches up blue so beautifully.

One of our favorite longtime readers, Palm Springs Stephan, gutted his condo bathroom and replaced it with this wonderful retro renovation.

Alice’s blue bathroom tile, after she’s cleaned the grout with Zep.

A Las Vegas time capsule bathroom. Be sure to see this post for the great Moe lighting in the dining room.

Michael’s very cool bathroom, Worthington, Ohio. Great tile and a wall-mount toilet — we haven’t seen many of these toilets yet, except in literature from the period. Very, very cool.

How much do we love Alice’s bathroom (and kitchen and whole house) in Richmond, Va. Let us count the ways, it’s nearly Perfect!

Anthropologie bath towels will fit right into a vintage blue bathroom, original or retro renovation.

Are blue bathrooms getting your attention yet? Scantily clad genies may help: 1956 Eljer ad.

More advertising inspiration: 1953 Kohler bathroom with two tones of blue tile.

Sinks I saw on ebay. Most excellent for a 60s “Romany Spartan” style bathroom retro renovation.

Here’s tile that would look great with the sinks. Again, very Romany Spartan-inspired.

Did I mention that when I renovated my three 1951 bathrooms I made one of them blue? It’s probably the favorite one in the family – very cheery, classic, too. My field tile came from Olympia – who have now discontinued this Maple Leaf tiles. But this color, essentially a ‘heron blue’ or ‘robin’s egg blue’, is available now by other large brands. Good news – there’s almost nothing more affordable than thsi 4×4″ field tile… and the look is spot-on for retro renovations. Update you interiors to be sympathetic to the original styling and period of your home — and the results will surely have a more timeless appeal.

Do you want to renovate or create a vintage-style blue bathroom of your very own? You can find most all the retro resources catalogued on my Bathroom Fast & Easy page here.

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