Reader Naomi’s new-to-her house came fully equipped with a retro pink and maroon bathroom — which she loves. However, there are a few problems — the toilet is broken and must be replaced, and there is also a non-repairable crack in the sink. Naomi is okay with replacing the broken maroon fixtures with white, but she doesn’t want to replace the still-perfect maroon tub. Her dilemma — she’s not sure how it will look to have two white fixtures and one maroon tub.
Naomi writes:
I just bought a house with a classic pink bathroom. As soon as I saw the main second floor bathroom in this house, I thought of the “Save the Pink Bathrooms!” site — it was so emphatically a classic vintage 1950s pink bathroom. It has Mamie pink tile on the lower half of the walls and on most of the floor, with maroon accents: TP holder, soap dish, edges of the tile…….and all the fixtures. The toilet, sink, and tub are all that same maroon.
I am planning to paint the upper part of the room something other than gray — probably a very light pink. My issue is the toilet and sink. The toilet HAS to be replaced, because the tank leaks and a plumber was unable to fix it. The faucet in the vintage sink also leaks, and was also not repairable. Fixtures in these colors are no longer made — I’m probably going to need to replace them with white fixtures. Since I don’t want to replace the tub, and the tub is that same deep burgundy, what are some ways to tie the room together?
Can you give me any suggestions on how to deal with this? Are there any pictures in your Flickr group from people who had colorful fixtures but who had to replace a toilet?
Thanks!
This issue hits home for me — since my minty green hall bathroom has a mint green tub, white toilet and white sink — that all work together in the room. Fear not Naomi — I have some ideas to help your bath.
Check with deabath.com first, regarding your fixtures
First up, though: Are you really sure the old toilet and sink are goners? Pam says the sink looks to be a Crane — and deabath.com is the expert in vintage Crane — so you might want to consult with them before ripping these lovely vintage fixtures out. If your old fixtures must go, yes, it seems white is the answer. You may also want to stay in touch with deabath.com, though — because over time, true replacement fixtures in your vintage maroon color may well come up. For example, was this your color in this photo of Crane Marcia sinks from our deabath past?
Pull together your bathroom colors with the shower curtain
If your maroon sink and toilet really must go — yes, replacing them with white makes sense. To pull the whole room together: Find a shower curtain that had all three colors — pink, maroon and white. I managed to find this Hometrends Ashdown shower curtain at Walmart.com (link now gone) that is not only pink, maroon and white. Assuming the maroon color worked in person with the tub, the walls could be painted to pick up the fourth color in the shower curtain, light beige. Use maroon rugs, and mix and match your towels to any or all of the colors in the shower curtain.
If the first shower curtain didn’t work out, a simple white shower curtain would repeat a large area of white over by the tub, helping to evenly distribute more white around the room. Painting the walls a light pink — as Naomi suggested she might do — would brighten up the walls and make the whole room look cohesive.
Since there are a lot of maroon accents — the soap, towel and toilet paper holder, the border tiles, the small mosaic floor tiles and the decorative bird tiles — that even though the bathtub is the only maroon fixture, it will still make sense in the room. The key here is repetition of color. All of the colors are already repeated around the room — which is good design. Changing out the sink and toilet for white fixtures will not ruin this good design, but simply change the distribution of color in the room. Instead of pink and maroon being the dominant colors, white and pink will be the main colors and maroon will be more of an accent. The key to getting this color balance right is just choosing the right shower curtain and wall color to blend with the existing elements.
Good luck with your new pink bathroom, Naomi!
Oh and — come back and noon today, we asked Bungalow Bill, and — with no hesitation — he identified your gorgeous accent tiles!
lady brett says
also, bringing the tile up around the medicine cabinet/mirror is a lovely bit of detail – something i will have to keep in mind for our bathroom redo, whenever that happens.
Annie B. says
Naomi, terrific bathroom. White fixtures would definitely work, although I like Sara g.’s idea of maroon coating.
I actually really like the light gray walls quite a bit. Wonder how gray fixtures would work? Might be less of a contrast than white ones.
lady brett says
wow – i am (sorry y’all) not generally a fan of pink bathrooms (though i appreciate anything original in good condition), but with the maroon accents, this is one i would absolutely have in my house!
as for the dilemma, i would paint the walls a bright white so that the color scheme is *white*, pink and maroon, and with that, i think white fixtures would fit in perfectly.
Kelly Wittenauer says
I think the white would work, especially with it being on the opposite wall from the tub. Kate’s ideas would pull it together.
But you might still find the maroon. Last year we had to replace a toilet in a bathroom with harvest gold fixtures, all next to each other on the same wall. I thought it would be a disaster. But my husband found online that Peerless still makes fixtures in a number of retro colors. They don’t sell directly to the public, but recommended Atlas Plumbing Supply in Detroit. We paid Atlas $329.99 for the new Peerless harvest gold toilet, matching Bemis seat/lid assembly, and shipping to our house in northern KY. The colors are not a perfect match, but very close & it all looks great.
Bunni says
Atlas Plumbing Supply’s website has a color chart with lots of fixture colors and the name of the manufacturer. Some looked like maroon or very close.
http://www.atlasplumbingsupply.com/color-chart/
Allen says
Hello, It seems with the sink anyways that its just the hardware that is irreparable and the sink itself has no damage. surely you can find replacement hardware via deabath or some other place that specializes in vintage plumbing fixtures. Again I don’t know the full situation but unless the toilet tank itself has a crack in it, anything else that might make it leak can be replaced and be fixed. I would certainly get a second opinion before removing those beautiful fixtures.
Sarah g says
Buy a white toilet and sink of your choice then have a ‘tub doctor’ (as they are called in my area, coat them burgundy. It cost me 250 for a tub so I’d imagine it would be something close for toilet and sink. Then google colored toilet seats a company called Bemis can match any color that’s been made over the years
Kate says
Thats a great idea Sarah g — I didn’t think about that!
Ann WesleyHardin says
Hi Sarah G! I’m interested in getting my cast iron tub refinished. How has your experience been with yours? How long have you had it and is it holding up as well as you’d hoped? Thanks so much for any help you can offer! Ann
Sarah g says
Well I will be honest with this answer… The look is great and it can be the best solution when you don’t want to rip out a perfectly good tub and risk messing up all your tile work and all that ugly business. It’s also relatively cheap, mine cost $250 to do, much cheaper than an entire bath reno! But you do have to be careful, don’t set your products on the side of it, dont drop anything, don’t use harsh abrasive cleaning products etc.. Do however wipe your tub down after each bath/shower and maintenance should be easy. I’d expect however that with time and use it may need to be coated again in the tubs lifetime but for some senarios it may be the best option
Ann WesleyHardin says
Thanks Sarah G!! I’m on the fence about it because even though the glaze is gone on the bottom, the tub still cleans up nicely. The Boyfriend, however, really wants it reglazed — he’s more of a perfectionist than I. What to do. What to do…perhaps the maintenance end of it will scare him off hehehe. Thanks again!
Kathryn says
We had the tub in our 1929 house reglazed when we bought the house. It needs it again, but it has been 30 years! Yes, you don’t use Comet on it, but Bon Ami works fine and we certainly don’t clean it every time we use it. Even now, there is just a little peeling around the drain and a spot where the leg of a bathing chair I used after my foot surgery wore through.
Andi says
What an adorable bathroom! I also think the white fixtures can be tied into the room smoothly, perhaps by some art with maroon on the walls over the sink and toilet.
However, before replacing those two items—have you tried another plumber (or two)? We live in a smallish town and one plumbing firm is “expert” in repairing old fixtures. It’s by default; they’ve been around forever and their customers aren’t so much “restoring” their homes by maintaining vintage fixtures, but are unwilling to spend the money to replace, if there is any way to get them fixed.
A friend of mine (age 82) recently had two different plumbers who told him his leaking (1960s) powder blue toilet could not be fixed. He persevered, called in plumber #3, who fixed it.
If the sink only has leaking faucets, what about replacement hardware? There are many appropriate styles out there.
Just a thought. I have learned that one “expert opinion” doesn’t always mean the end of the road. Ask around who works on a lot of old houses.
And as Kate said, if they must go….I do think you can tie the white in just fine.
The flamingo tiles are to-die-for, can’t wait to hear what Bungalow Bill says about them!
Janet in CT says
I totally agree with Andi. Get some “second” opinions. If the toilet tank isn’t badly cracked, it may well be reparable. Alot of plumbers these days don’t want to fix/repair as it is much simpler to just replace it. And those old timers are usually the ones to ask! LOVE those flamingos but don’t love the shelf over the toilet. Is the light set over the mirror newer too? That just looks out of place to me. Otherwise that bathroom is just gorgeous!
Eartha Kitsch says
I agree to get many opinions before you take out anything. When we moved into our house, we had a plumber say that our original sink and faucet were toast. We moved on to the next plumber and he fixed not only those but the faucet in the tub that was also deemed unfixable by the first plumber. Sometimes, they honestly don’t know how to work with the older pieces. If not, you might consider pink fixtures. Since you have so many varying pinks in your bathroom, it wouldn’t be hard to find a pink that would work. They seem to come up for free or cheap often in most towns. Or light grey. I’ve seen fixtures in that color new in stock at stores. A dove grey color that might tie in with the walls if you keep them grey.
tammyCA says
Definitely check out different plumbers…we recently had one (um, high rating on Angie’s list) come tell us he couldn’t fix something..blah, blah and so we called another and lickety split they fixed it with no scary story…they also named the previous plumber before we told them who it was! Apparently, he was lazy.
alice says
I agree. We have found that most contractors discard and replace rather than cherish a repair. Thanks to DEA bath and their instructions and resources we have been able to keep two fixtures that we were told by professionals were unsalvagable.
Think the white is a bit stark against the warm colors…I would suggest a pink (widely available) or a gray.
Kate H says
You could provide a charming distraction with flamingo wallpaper. Everyone would be so enamored of the flamingos, they wouldn’t notice the white fixtures.
Kate says
Another fun idea — where might one find flamingo wallpaper? Do you have a source?
Kate H says
I think I got this from Pam, actually. http://www.thibautdesign.com/collection/old_collection.php?patternID=771&productID=4304&material=Wallpaper&colorID=5
I would get a sample before buying. You could also go with a circus or rose theme in this bath. Or: poodles. Though I think that for pure distraction, flamingos would be nicest.
April in Denver says
Such a beautiful Bathroom!
I was in the same predicament last year, and after searching just a few weeks on craigslist, the gray Crane set I was looking for popped up for 200.00, and the guy coincidentally also had a gorgeous maroon set for sale as well.
Point is, I wouldn’t loose hope in finding matching fixtures. Those decorating Gods that Pam often mentions have a mysterious way of delivering when you least expect it.
Kates suggestions are great, and if you need to replace quickly, you can probably find inexpensive white ones that will work until the perfect ones do come along.
I don’t know where Naomi is located, but I saw this on our CL the other day:
http://denver.craigslist.org/atq/3316467167.html
ChrisH says
Nothing to worry about. As Kate says, the color is pretty well distributed. It will look fine. If you can’t buy vintage replacement fixtures (in Maroon or White) try to select something that has kind of a retro look to it – especially the sink.