THIS PINK AND GRAY MASTER BATHROOM is just lovely. Pink and gray is a great color combination…and look at that wonderful floor tile, it’s delicious. Moreover, this bathroom is put together in genius fashion, with its subtle mix of patterns. Look closely: 

• (1) pinwheel unglazed porcelain ceramic tile floor…
• (2) squares in 4×4 light grey field tile…
• (3) horizontal “stripe” of dark gray bullnose tile…
• (4) vertical stripes of light and gray window treatment…
• (5) soft round graphic lines of the print, which de-dominates the mirror, also appears to have all the bathroom  colors in it and is smiling down on the whole scene, to boot.
• Then add:  tall pink candle, plush gray towels, pretty sink and toilet (yes! pretty!), crystal bowl — and twisty cylinders of green bamboo (?)…

Well, Colvin: This is really quite a little decorative masterpiece! Well done! Many thanks for sharing it with us today.

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I have a 1952 kitchen that I’ve restored.  The walls and ceiling are covered with 8″x8″ silver pearlescent Tilemaster tiles.  It’s a mind blower. I inspect houses for a living (10,000 and counting…), and I’ve never seen anything like it. When I bought the place, I had originally planned to gut the kitchen, but once in, I became entranced with the stuff.  It’s magical………I bought the house from the home’s (built in 1922), second owner, who remodeled the kitchen in 1952.  The tile is held in place by the old crappy tile setting adhesive they used then; periodically, tiles will come loose, and I resecure them with modern adhesives. I put the cabinets in, and moved some of the tile around to fill in holes left from removing some stuff so I could fit in a real refrigerator.  I worked pretty hard to keep the flavor of the original remodel in ’52.  I want to put in boomerang formica when I change out the countertops next year. There’s a little eating nook/banquette built into the corner (out of the photo) that’s equipped with some Thonet chairs from the early 50′s.  It’s a pretty tight little composition.  If I had a better camera (wide angle lens), you could get the feel of it better. Note the original Nutone fan over the door @ the left.  The sink is an original Elkay Lustertone with draining sideboard.  I think you get the idea.  It’s pretty wild in real life with the correct lighting.

Kurt, while I have not seen a kitchen quite like this one, I have seen a few with larger, Marlite- (laminate-style) walls and ceilings. I think this was an uncommon midcentury renovation for older homes and farmhouses. Case in point: See this vintage kitchen with Marlite covering the walls and ceiling, just like yours. If, for example, you had troublesome plaster walls — you could just cover them over with these miraculous manmade plastics. Thanks so much for saving this little architectural gem – and for sharing it with us. And yes, Kurt, we also need to see your 1959 American Standard bathroom, in seafoam green when you get a chance!

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SCATHING JANE IS READER OF THE YEAR — not because she has one of the most adventurous retro renovations under way (which she does), but because virtually each and every day she scours Craigslist nationwide and puts all kinds of neat stuff onto the Forum. Steel cabinets, yes, but also tons of Bathroom Stuff, in particular. She also sends me lots of great tips, directly – she’s become very studied in knowing when there’s something wicked good I need to see. Jan has recently sent me lots of photos of her projects and for today let’s look at: her bathroom.

It looks like Scathing Jane’s original grey bathroom is a really nice size, and had some great tile work. But, she wanted to reconfigure and raise the vanity, add a Cinderella tub, move some stuff around — and add pink to the mix. She found new/old tile-in sinks… new tile to mesh with the old… and that cool square tub. Here are a few of her comments:

• I ended up using American Universal ceramic tile SX-207 to fill in areas that had never been tiled due to built-ins.  I could not match the original greenish gray porcelain tile. Michael Montgomery (contractor) tried very hard to get me to just tile over the floor, but I wouldn’t budge.  I actually had a grey tile down in those areas, hated it, and had them rip it out.  Russ Carnes, Michael’s partner, did a beautiful job of getting the tile to work out.
• I did a put in and rip out on the walls also.  I had white going up around through/around the window originally, but didn’t like it.  At that point, we were trying to save the original greenish gray ceramic base tile.  Once I realized that could not be accomplished, the white came out and the new grey went in, replacing the original base tile with the new grey (American Olean). Again Russ did a great job, using spacers to get the tiles to line up correctly; old tile seems to be bigger.  I think I am getting away with the slightly wider space between tiles because of the color difference between the old and new.
• Nothing grouted yet.  I toyed with the idea of grey grout on the grey and pink on the new pink, but Russ recommended matching the old grout, “Jane, they didn’t use colored grout in the fifties.”, sealed that deal.
• I included an old shot of the BR.  The old vanity height was too low; toilet location put your knees in doorway.  Closets were removed so that vanity and toilet could be relocated.
• The sinks came from a great salvage yard in California — Ohmega Salvage General Store in Berkeley.  Reasonably priced for “retail”; shipping sucked, but was to be expected.  Well packed.
• The interesting thing about the sinks (FABULOUS sinks, shown at top in lead photo-pam) is that they are not exact clones.  It drove Michael (contractor) crazy until he realized that he would have to build the openings in the cabinet around each individual sink, not just use one as a template for both.  Russ did the detail work of tiling them in. (I asked Jane and she recalls they are American Standards.)

Finally, Jane wants to be sure to credit her long-suffering spouse.  “I found the house, but he said ‘This is the one!’  He provides muscle and moral support (and sometimes grumbling laced with choice adjectives.…)” she says. Don’t they all, Jane. Don’t they all.

More from Scathing Jane to come. Readers, many many of you have sent me photos and stories over the past few months. These are the most time-consuming for me to configure into posts and, yes, my life has been a three-ring circus. Life has not gotten any less circus-y, in fact, someone lit some hoops on fire. But sunshiney summer and lots of recent notes from readers have given me boundless energy and I am attacking all your emails like a demon…reader-blitz in progress. Happy Monday.

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