I love my 1962 ranch house because it is mostly original and I can choose what I want to change instead of having to undo someone else’s “updates.” But, while I adore vintage bathrooms (especially the pink ones!), my original master bathroom is simply not cutting it in terms of function and cleanliness, plus its drab and dirty decor looks out of place with the rest of my cheerful house. That’s why — after living in our house and with this bathroom for 2 years — I’ve decided it is time to replace this old, original bathroom with the retro-modern bathroom of my dreams. I didn’t make this decision lightly — it’s a significant expense to remodel, for sure — but I count at least 12 reasons it’s time to renovate.
1. My master bathroom is mauve. I’m not one to shy away from color… I’ve decorated with everything from bright orange to mint green, but mauve is my least favorite color ever. When I wake up and go into my master bathroom, this color is just not communicating the bright, happy retro modern vibe that I long for. Even so, as much as I dislike mauve, I’m not one to base the need for a remodel on color alone. There are several other issues with my master bathroom that need to be fixed and quite frankly, it stresses me out!
Let’s start with the biggest offender, the shower. At first glance, it doesn’t look that bad…until you notice a few things…
2. At some point, the previous owners needed to repair the shower pipes, which necessitated removing some of the mauve tile. Instead of searching high and low for an exact match (they weren’t retro enthusiasts as many of us are), they replaced the missing mauve tiles with some brown tiles and called it “good enough.”
3. The grout is also cracking in the shower, which is not good at all. Cracked grout can allow water to get into all sorts of places that it shouldn’t be. This needs to be fixed ASAP.
4. There is no where to put shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. in this shower. I had to rig up a few suction cup containers and this shower caddy to get the job done. Not an ideal situation at all! Added bonus of this set up: Every once in a while the suction cup containers release from the wall in the middle of the night while we are sleeping, which scares us!
5. The final issue with the shower is the size of it. It is pretty cramped. An average sized person like myself takes no issue with this, but my tall husband with broad shoulders feels very claustrophobic, not to mention he has the tendency to accidentally bump the shower door open with his elbow while he is washing his hair, which gets water everywhere.
Next we move along to the sink area. At first glance this looks like an excellent example of a peachy keen retro sink, complete with hudee ring…
6. …upon further examination, you can see that the sink is rusting. I have tried and tried to get the rust off, but it always reappears after a few days. It probably has to do with the sink not draining well. Many times it will have standing water in it. We have tried cleaning out the pipes, but I think the whole drain line from the sink to the floor needs to be replaced. I’m sure there is 50 years of gunk in there just waiting for me to discover it.
7. The vintage faucet is also cool, but again 50 years of abuse has made it kinda crusty looking. It makes me sad because no matter how much I scrub, the sink never looks clean.
8. The years of moisture have taken their toll on the mirror and the wood trim on the window (the window itself is the only new thing in this bathroom).
9. The vanity is plywood and in decent shape. The two smaller drawers are great, but the pull out hamper smells like a thousand sweaty socks. I have tried nearly everything to rid it of that awful smell, but alas, I think the smell has embedded itself in the plywood. Now it is just a chunk of smelly wasted space.
10. There is a sad lack of towel bar space in this bathroom. All we have are these two bars, one works for the hand towels, but the other bar is not large enough to accommodate two bath towels while giving them adequate space to dry.
11. What this bathroom lacks in towel bar space, it makes up for in doors. There are two closets in the bathroom, the larger of which is where we keep our laundry baskets. It is very difficult to get them out of the closet and then out though the main bathroom door. It requires some tricky maneuvering skills and the doors constantly bang off each other.
12. The master bathroom also has plenty of light switches. There are a total of five different switches! When I remodel the space, I would like to have a fan timer switch and no more than two other switches. Five is far too many to keep track of!
This redo is going to be a gut remodel. I’m trying keep the cost down by moving as little plumbing as possible, but I am going to remove the mauve tile (which will basically necessitate new drywall), extend the tiny shower (to better accommodate my husband), replace the vanity, retile, paint and get all new hardware. From a design standpoint: My whole mantra is maintaining the retro while making it modern. I’m excited by the challenge of designing a new bathroom with the right retro vibe to fit the rest of the house.
I’ll be reporting on all the stages of my bathroom project here over the next several months. My next step is to draw up some plans and make a few mood board mock ups so I can source my materials. I’m also going to reread Pam’s bathroom remodeling checklist before I work out the budget. Stay tuned, this is going to be quite the job!
JKaye says
I can tell right away that having Kate as the new blogger is going to be anything but bland. Right off the bat, she’s ripping out an original bath! But, the point is, these are our homes where we live and have to function every day. If something isn’t working, it isn’t working, no matter what color or how old the tile. At our house, we put up with a lot of stuff that we don’t like because we hope to move from here in the next year or two. But, if Kate and her crew plan to live in their house a long time, then, maybe a bathroom reno is the right thing to do. I can’t wait to see what happens in that space. I have a feeling it’s going to be good!
kate says
Yes this may be a bit shocking for my second week on RR, but I’ve been thinking about this bathroom for 2 years, so it isn’t something I’ve decided to do lightly. I do have another retro bath in the hall that is minty green and mostly original and it will likely stay that way (though it needs some general repairs as well. But the mint tub is staying!!!
As for this bath, yes, it isn’t working for us the way we wish it would…and we are planning on staying in this house for a long time so we want it to be something we will enjoy using every day!
With that said, the “new” master bath will still have some serious retro appeal for sure! 😉
Chris says
Kate — so great to read your post! I think so many of us get stuck in the “if it’s old, you must keep it” rut. I am very guilty of this, as a person with a history and material culture education and career background.
There are many things about my house that I love, sort of like an ugly ratty old falling-apart rag doll. But a house has to function. A lot of the stuff that I got rid of — at first description — seemed like a desecration. Felt REALLY guilty about demolishing our knotty pine addition after reading about Pam’s new blog. However, after re-evaluating, I see that our decisions weren’t motivated by style. Everything we got rid of was really, really poorly constructed, using the cheapest materials possible.
So — in a nutshell, yay! Your bathroom decisions have made me feel much better about my renovation “sins.” 🙂
There is a fine line between trying to live in a house museum, where you treat every little thing as a fragile artifact — and living in a retro home, where you choose good, sturdy, made-to-last stuff that you can actually use.
Thanks for reminding me of that!!!!!!!
kate says
You are welcome Chris!
I was similarly sad about replacing my original windows, but I live in Wisconsin, where the winters are cold and we had breezes coming in through the holes in the windows where the knobs were…it was not working for us, or our heating bill, and now that we have new windows we are so much more comfortable.
My thoughts when it comes to new/vs original is to live with it for a while, see how it works for you, and if it isn’t working, fix it so it will…especially if you will be living there for the long haul. It is so much less stressful when your house is functional for how you live! Houses are meant to be lived in, and to be where you feel at home. Plus, you just feeling bad about taking out an original detail shows that you do really care about preservation and did not make that decision lightly! Don’t beat yourself up about it! 🙂
pam kueber says
Gut-renovating the three bathrooms in my house was the first thing I had to tackle after we moved in. Plastic tiles falling off the plywood walls… Chipped enamel-on-steel sinks and tubs…Vinyl covering the plastic tile on the tub/shower surrounds… Leaking plumbing… Rotted floors… Vanities meh plywood… No bathroom fans so mold regular colonizing…. Did I mention one of these bathrooms was pink (plastic). Sometimes you just gotta do what you just gotta do.
Just another Pam says
Gosh, Pam, that sounds exactly like my paternal grandfather’s handiwork which had the very same results.
Doing three bathrooms, wow, you have super powers and amazing stamina!
Amy says
So, Kate — do tell us your plans. Color? Using NOS stuff? Interested to hear about your vision for the new bath.
kate says
I’ll be posting all about that stuff in a series here on Retro Renovation Amy! Stay tuned!!!!
Mollie D says
Totally agree it needs to be a gut, I can’t wait to see the results!
JamieAbe says
We just finished doing this very thing. I hated to tear out my vintage bathroom, but it just wasn’t working for us. I love the way it looks and works now, and it still does the house justice. I can’t wait to see the end result of your new retro reno!
Just another Pam says
After living with my former bathroom for 4 years where the floor tiles were set in concrete you could hear breaking when you walked on it, cool though they were and matching those on the walls and h**ing the 60’s home made vanity with peeling mac-tack inside and 80’s doors outside I had it gutted. The worn tub in sand as well as the very worn other sand items, gone, linen closet gone, surprise! rotting plywood floor…gone….open and hot wires tucked in ceiling with not even tape on them, thankfully all gone. I do feel a little guilty when I see the bathrooms here but now it’s insulated, not an octopus of hidden live and/or worn wires, the plumbing is correct, there’s enough lighting, shower and a ridiculously large tub I can lay down in.
There are tributes to mid-century with the lighting and the oversized subway tiles and if I had another bundle to put into it I suspect I might try my hand at recreating an early 60’s bathroom but once I got started this time safe became the buzz word of the whole process. My contractor came within an inch of a nest of open unprotected wires when cutting the drywall out. He laughed, spoke ‘colorfully’ about the person who’d do such a thing and I had the vapours.
What evil lurks behind the old finished surfaces…….
Miked says
I hear you on functionality. We restored/preserved our guest bath but are considering a some what more extensive remodel on our master because that is the one we use every day. I think that a complete remodel can certainly be done in a way that keeps the integrity of the house, it will just take a lot of planning and if you are working with a contractor, one that understand what you are trying to do
I do think most of your issues could be resolved to a reasonable degree, but I can just hear in your words that it seems like just too many issues to try and work around… and when your done you still might not be fully happy with it
Good luck, looking forward to seeing the progress.
kate says
Thanks Miked,
If I’m going to spend a reasonable amount of time (and money) fixing my bathroom, I want to love it in the end…that is why we decided to do a gut remodel. We won’t be hiring out much of the redo…just the plumbing and electrical, otherwise it is all us doing the work. Stay tuned!
deb says
Can’t wait to see the work-in-progress and final result!
ChrisH says
Save the Mauve Bathrooms! Just kidding. Aside from enlarging the shower, I can think of a solution to every problem w/o remodeling. But it’s clear you’ve had it with this bathroom.
It will be interesting to see the progress.
Do you know when the brown tile was added? I ask because I’m thinking it may have been prior to the internet. We tend to forget how difficult it was too find things like mauve tile to match.
kate says
That’s a good thought ChrisH, I think the tile was added 5 or 6 years ago…they also replaced the toilet- they had a pink one special ordered from Kohler that was the closest color match they could find, but I think they gave up when it came to matching the tile. They did try!
jen says
oh my. kate, what a splash you’re making from the get go! if the color is the driving factor, i really wish you’d see it as a challenge – try looking at the spring fashion shows, mauve and pastels are all over the runway. i work with color all day and it’s a tough one! maybe a saturated cream and navy palette could be fresh? my uncle is trying to save a mauve bathroom right now 🙂
if it really is function driven, i’m with chris – there are solutions to a lot on your list. i wonder if you could put seamless glass doors on the shower? you can even have glass shelves mounted to them. the hamper, that’s just funny. what about kilz paint? the brown tile – be the one who did it right, find the matches! the grout can be fixed. the faucets – i replaced mine because i HATE separate hot and cold in the bathroom. i try to walk the line in preserving history while modernizing. my house is all about modern meets mid-century, so i love the clean lined faucet against the 4″ tile (that i had to install because my house came with a cracked plastic surround, maybe i’m just jealous of yours).
that said, it’s your house so rock on – but you DID post this on retro renovation – home of save the pink bathrooms!
Beth says
Good example of when function needs to come first. When something can be saved you should save it but also know when to redo or renew! Well done, Kate!