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10 tips to renovate your pink bathroom

by pam kueber

Seems like the #1 issue for new retro renovators is: What to do with my pink bathroom? And I say: What a great problem to have! Mamie pink bathrooms — along with vintage steel kitchen cabinets and 9″x9″ vinyl tiles — are arguably my very favorite things about the era. Not that I don’t have many more.

Today, we look at the topic again – using Catherine’s 1948 bathroom as an example. If you have a pink bathroom, I have 10 recommendations for you:

  1. White it out. To start. That is, paint your walls white (SW Porcelain) so that you can become one with the pink.
  2. Strip your cabinetry and paint it white with the very very best paint that you can find. Honestly – excellent paint shows.
  3. Wallpaper! Bradbury & Bradbury has several designs that would be fabulous in a pink or pink-and-black bathroom. Or, buy vintage, I found several examples that could work, right away. Hey: You have a pink bathroom — it’s like being a flaming redhead. You aren’t going to hide it. Go with it.
  4. Coordinate your towels and shower curtains with the wallpaper, not so much the tile.
  5. Flooring: American Olean Chloe in white, or white with the black dot if you have black trim, are good choices. Catherine has pink metal tiles, so if she wants to re-do the floor, I’d recommend VCT tiles or even better, sheet. Just be careful and don’t let water sit in the corners where the VCT floor meets the tub, it will rot through over time.
  6. Windows: Finish these off with 2″ metal blinds, or a simple pleated or roller shade.
  7. Other fixtures, like mirrors, towel bars, etc.: Keep them if you can! If you need a new sink or toilet, you are fortunate, Catherine, it’s pretty easy to match white and there’s lots of vintage stock around. For those of you with pink fixtures – be very careful before you make a new purchase to ensure the colors really match – there were many variations back in the day. A good way to test, Palm Springs Stephan has recommended, is with a paint color chip.
  8. Add a bathroom exhaust fan. Put it on a separate switch with its own timer and use it!
  9. If you need to replace chrome faucets, cabinet pulls and towel bars, I have a handful of what I consider the best alternatives on this site.
  10. And if you need new laminate for your countertops, I have three choices for you here; there are also some basic carrera marble laminates that would be fine:
Bradbury & Bradbury Googieland in grey. There are 4 colorways – and they all include some pink.
Another view of Catherine’s bathroom. Great black detail!
midcentury style wallpaper design bradbury and bradbury
Bradbury and Bradbury Atomic Doodle in pink. Be careful of wallpapers in bathrooms – the ‘scale’ should be either larger or smaller (but not the same) as thte 4×4 field tiles.
We love Catherine’s original features
Wilsonart Tearose Illusion – special order
Formica white brecia marble, new
Formica tan irish linen, new
Vintage papers from Hannah’s. I really quite like this paper for your house with its 40s aspect, and I think it would likely work with your black trim as it has the darker red in it. You need a punch of dark in whatever paper you choose.

Join our cause! Save the Pink Bathrooms!

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  1. Carol Martin says:

    I too have a pink bathroom…I cant say I’m in love with it but trying to blend in the old with the new. To replace my vanity I had to remove a ceramic soap dish and need a pink tile or two ug….so the search is on also…I also want to remove the sliding glass doors with the mermaid…It is retro indeed…..think I could sell it?

  3. David says:

    Hello

    So were does one get the light fixtures that are mounted to the left and right side of the mirror. My style is a little different as the above photo but the same concept . Thank you

  4. DCAT says:

    Hi,
    I’m so glad I found this site my mother passed away few months ago and I now have her 1950-1960s home with a pink bathroom. When i was going up I had mixed feelings about it, so I had thought of removing the pink tile until i found this site and now I really can say I LOVE my pink tile. Some of the tiles have little flowers that are gray and black on them. So this is now my problem I have god awful yellow linoleum flooring I would like to replace with tile just unsure of what kind and what color to use and what color to paint my walls I was thinking a very dusty gray to match the flowers. I also was thinking of replacing my white toilet with a pink one I don’t know if I really need to go that far. Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated.

  5. Stephanie says:

    Thanks for all the tips…we also have a pink and grey bathroom. The walls are white and cabinets are already white but still trying to figure out the rest of the details. Thanks for the Bradbury recommendation, I might go with one of their wallpaper options.

  6. daviskyle says:

    have pink painted bathroom cabinets that are not in the best of conditions. r there any ideas what to do other than paint white? bottom cabinet only with a pink tile top and pint sink?

    1. Pam Kueber says:

      how about refacing the cabinets with laminate including adding new laminate doors? see my Bathroom Vanities photo-set up in Galleries (top of page). There is a ton you can do with laminate….and if your home is 50s or on, it would be authentic…

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