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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From the way the question is worded, it sounds as though the renovator wants to rechrome cabinet hardware specifically. While that can certainly be done, rechroming anything is usually an expensive process. For that reason, I would first encourage her to be very diligent in looking for replacement parts of similar design. Lowes, Home Depot, and many of the kitchen/bath hardware specialty stores are becoming attuned to the emerging Mid-Century Modern renovation market, so it may be easier and far less expensive to simply buy new parts that have a MCM look and feel.

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If, however, she really wants to rechrome the pieces she already has, begin by looking in the yellow pages under “Plating” and/or “Metal Plating.” She lives in a suburb of St Louis, and I find numerous metal-plating companies in the area when using Google. Take the parts around to several of them to get a number of estimates. Parts made with steel or brass as the substrate (the metal under the chrome) are easier and less expensive to strip and re-plate than is zinc. Cabinet hinges usually have a steel or brass substrate, but handles and door pulls are often zinc, which sometimes reacts negatively to the acids used to remove the old chrome. Existing pitting on a zinc substrate, for example, can actually become worse if the technician is not extremely careful. One way to find out which company is good and which is less so would be to contact a local antique or classic auto club for their recommendation. Interior auto trim is almost always zinc based, so auto nuts really know who is who when it comes to replating in your area.

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Replating a small number of pieces, as opposed to hundreds at a time, is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process when done correctly, so the cost is usually correspondingly high. The parts must be disassembled and immersed in a series of acid washes that removes all of the old chrome and its supporting layers. The items are then suspended in a chemical bath that has a weak electric current flowing through it, causing one or more layers of transitional metals to adhere, usually brass and/or nickel. This process can take anywhere from several hours to a couple of days. The same process is then repeated using a chromium bath. The parts must then be hand-polished individually on a polishing wheel and inspected for flaws.

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Expect the overall cost of replating to be in excess of ten times the cost of simply buying a new-made replacement part. A cabinet pull knob that might be replaced with one of similar design for $4 may cost as much as $40 to replate. Also expect a minimum charge of $50 to $75, and ask about additional fees for hazardous waste disposal, EPA and OSHA compliance, etc, all of which together can be as much as 15-20% of the base estimate.

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Good luck!

Stephan

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Following up on the FAQ regarding Heywood-Wakefield refinishing, Palm Springs Stephan shares his wealth of experience on the issue. Thank you, Stephan!

Stephan writes:

Heywood Wakefield (HW) furniture has become almost synonymous with Mid Century Modern design, largely because of its simple lines and lack of “fussiness.” The pieces are usually solid birch (no particle board and no veneers) and finished in shades of blond. The 1950s were all about blond woods! And the best part for Retro Reno perfectionists is that they ordinarily dated their pieces using an old fashioned rubber date stamp, so owners will know exactly when their pieces were made. They also normally have the stain color name stamped next to the date, usually Wheat (pale blond) or Champagne (blond with faint pink tones), and more rarely Platinum. HW was mass produced and relatively inexpensive, so it sold well and many pieces are still around. At any one time, there are usually a hundred or so listed on eBay, for example. For a concise history of the Heywood Wakefield Company, see http://www.springdalefurnishings.com/concierge/what_is_heywood-wakefield.html.

Refinishing Heywood Wakefield (HW) furniture is really not that difficult, despite the claims to the contrary made by the very few pros who do it. It just requires patience, some time, and lots of elbow grease. Still, I have not found any good full-time refinishers on the West Coast, despite an extensive search. Even here in the Palm Springs area, where HW is still very common and the market for it is super-hot, there are no good refinishers. Most furniture restorers seem to want to refinish HW using simple clear varnish, but that entirely destroys the collector value of the piece, as well as the authenticity. And some commit the cardinal sin of refinishing it with non-blond stains such as oak and cherry. One might as well chop the piece up for firewood!

I have found only one qualified refinisher west of the Mississippi River who uses the authentic HW process: Boomerang Modern in Denver, Colorado (http://www.boomerangmodern.com/). I used to stand in their showroom and drool when I lived in Denver! It’s thanks to Boomerang that I became an HW fanatic. In Southern California, the only place I know of is Woody’s in the city of Orange, but they lean toward retail selling rather than refinishing. When they do refinish pieces, they prefer to do so with clear varnish … and they charge a huge price. Most of the authentic-process refinishers seem to be on the east coast, such as Strictly Hey-Wake in Maryland (http://www.strictlyheywake.com/).

The original HW process used an opacifier that made the final finish somewhat milky in appearance. The result is a marked muting of the visible wood grain. The process was apparently a multi-step one, but at least one specialist retailer has reduced it to an almost foolproof simple process. EBay seller Needful_Useful_Things custom mixes and sells pre-opacified varnish by the quart through his eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/Heywood-Wakefield-Wheat-Champagne_W0QQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247 ). He also includes with every shipment a very detailed set of instructions for how to properly strip, sand, and revarnish HW furniture. His prices are high, at $45 per quart plus $12 shipping, but that is a heck of a lot cheaper than ruining the piece with clear or dark varnishes! And FAR cheaper than what it would cost to get a piece shipped to a distant professional HW refinisher, get it finished, and get it shipped back. I have purchased from Needful and used innumerable quarts of his Champagne varnish with consistently excellent results. I even custom designed and built a walk-in closet that is wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling birch and poplar wall paneling and shelving plus a built-in chest of drawers. The entire room was done with Needful’s Champagne varnish and I am thrilled with the result. If you follow his written instructions meticulously and do not try to rush the process, you cannot fail. Professional refinishers like Boomerang and Strictly HW use dust-free painting booths and compressed-air-powered paint sprayers that produce an absolutely perfect finish (and they are understandably critical of DIYers), but I am of the firm opinion that – for the money involved – most competent DIYers can do a near-perfect job for a mere fraction of the cost.

To retain the full collector value of HW furniture, follow the Antiques Roadshow dictum and do not alter the original finish. If you must refinish and you have oodles of money, ship your piece(s) to Boomerang Modern or Strictly Hey-Wake. If you are on a budget (as most of us are!), can use sandpaper, and have access to a large clean space in which to work, do it yourself! It is an extremely satisfying feeling to look at a nice piece of funrtiure and be able to say, “I did that!”

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