Now here is some serous vintage bathroom porn: Satin Glide bathroom vanities, medicine cabinets, shelving — and even a Relaxion Unit to compete with Hall-Mack — all from a 1963 brochure. We see these metal vanities occasionally — I do not know if they really held up well to the humidity in a bathroom. We also see slanted wood vanities like this — like in Chris and Angela’s 1964 bathroom.
Catalogs and images like this: Great for design tips to recreate a 1960s bathroom. For example, I think it would be relatively easy — if you had a good cabinetmaker — to replicate this vanity in a lightweight MDF. And, you could trim it in metal kitchen countertop edging. I’ve even think those legs are getting easier to find now that the rest of the world has gone mid mod mad — finally catching on to us. Hey, I even think you could replicated the Relaxion Unit pretty easily.
75Heather says
I really, really love these angled cabinets and vanities. I’d love to replace the vanity in our master bathroom with one of these.
Trouble says
See that? Panelling in the bathroom. I’m finishing off my bath with some knotty pine I got from a woman on Craigslist.
Mine is the same as Eartha’s kitchen, with that wide routed bead. Paneling like this ads coziness to any room, and where else would you want to stress warmth and security better than the throne room? Gotta build my shelves then the pine is goin’ in….
peggy says
I have this medicine cabinet. It works fine but is a bit tarnished on the top of the storage unit from items being placed on top of it. Does anyone know how to remedy this and clean it up?
Kae says
We have that toilet in bleu our 1969 bathroom! It’s an Eljer. American Standard makes a similar model now called the Glenwall.
Marion Powell says
Thanks Kae. I googled the Glenwall and it looks great. However, when I thought about it, besides the price there would be all that plumbing cost. Changing from a floor pipe to behind the wall would probably double the cost.
Maybe in my retirement cottage!
Kae says
Well, we faced the same plumbing issues when thinking about replacing our toilet. “Old Blue”, as my husband calls it, was manufactured in 1961 and is showing its age. Higher end wall models are available, but they require construction changes to house their frames within the wall. The Glenwall is the best substitute we can find, but it just won’t be the same as “Old Blue” and won’t match our blue sinks and blue sunken tub.
pam kueber says
try deabath.com for possible replacements for Old Blue… ?
Kae says
Thanks for the suggestion, Pam, but we have already tried there. Actually, we have looked all over the country to no avail. Most places we contacted asked to see a picture of our toilet as they had never seen a blue wall-hung one.
Eartha Kitsch says
Love every bit of it!
Jill says
Desperately searching for one of these vanities for our bathroom! Looove them! Thinking I may have to have one custom built?
pam kueber says
Yup: Copy it, in MDF.
Marion Powell says
No one has mentioned it as it’s not the focus of the post, but I’m in love with the toilet that doesn’t touch the floor. What a dream to clean that would be. Do they still make that style or is it strictly high end?
Ronda Vallejo says
That was the comment I was going to make! I was thinking about how easy it would be to clean or replace the flooring.
Elizabeth from Texas says
At the time, those were called “Floating Toilets” and were designed to make it easy to clean the floors! They still make them–I believe it’s Glenwood by American Standard. My 1965 house has two of them. We replaced them with new ones, just like the originals. They are no longer considered “high end” but more like “gas station” lol. But I love them! The thing is, the water and sewer pipes have to be in the wall instead of the floor, so you can’t just replace a normal toilet with them.
Clare says
What a surprise!
I still have this lighted, glide vanity mirror in my bathroom. Nice to know what era it is from! It has held up fairly well, although I have contemplated replacing it, but have not as of yet. It still functions, with minimal rust in the cabinet. My glides are mirrored panels, which reflect the light well. I think it’s the only thing in my bathroom that has not been updated in the last 30 years or more.
Christa says
That is the very medicine cabinet we had in our house while I was growing up (complete with the light) ( the houses were built in 1974 or 5)
Braun / nutone still makes the medicine cabinet/ mirror combo…but alas, without the attached light.
the vanity is pure fab! I want one!
BlueJay says
I’ve heard the new NuTone/Broan versions of these are flimsy. I’ve been trying to find someone that has them for sale locally so that I can see for myself, but to no avail.
pam kueber says
Yes, BlueJay, this is a concern. I have not seen the new versions myself. I featured a MIB item on my ebay carousel last week. I think it went for about $25 plus shipping. Vintage IS out there. Also watch your Re-Store.
Helen aka 52postnbeam says
I’ve owned both the new/repro NuTone and two vintage versions, and I thought they were all flimsy. The problem is that because it is “picture hung” on the wall and not inset, everything has to be light weight. The mirror in particular is on very thin glass, which tends to slightly distort the reflection (think funhouse mirror but subtle).
In the end I took the cheap mirror and frame off and just hung the box part on the wall (took a bit of sawing through the frame but not bad). I’ve got two walls of high quality plate mirror that have been there forever, and they’re mounted all around safely so it works for me.
pam kueber says
Someone handy could sort of *easily* replicate these looks with high quality, I think…Build the box – add stainless steel or aluminum trim from our countertop suppliers… sliders are pretty easy. Says someone who has no woodworking skills. I need to get ’em and start hacking these designs.
BlueJay says
After much conversation, we’ve decided to forego the cosmetic box for our downstairs bathroom renovation in favor of an over the toilet cabinet similar to the Satin Glide version (It’s either one or the other, as our bathroom is about 4′ by 6′). We’re gonna try and build it ourselves out of MDF! It will definitely work better, as storage is limited in the room already so this will provide that, but keep the vintage look.
Will says
My grandparents had that one too in a circa 1980 trailer they owned! I wish I had removed it prior to the demolition (long story). 🙁
dcgrl says
That wallpaper looks like Orla Kiely’s stem print!
pam kueber says
Or more correctly said: Orly Kiely’s wallpaper looks like that stem print. Not much design today is really *new* IMHO.
Helen aka 52postnbeam says
^^ what she said! ^^
Ronda Vallejo says
Oh, it does!