Nanette and Jim’s vintage blue bathroom — built new from scratch
Kate - Updated: July 22, 2021
Retro Renovation stopped publishing in 2021; these stories remain for historical information, as potential continued resources, and for archival purposes.
When Pam saw a tantalizing photo of Nanette and Jim’s bathroom remodel on Facebook — posted by rockin’ retro Portland realtor Alyssa Starelli — she knew that we had to feature their fantastic space. So we chased after, with AlyStar making the fairy godmother connection, we get to see Nanette and Jim’s vintage blue bathroom — built from scratch. Using vintage salvaged fixtures, vintage wallpaper and and other era-appropriate choices for tile and flooring, this visionary couple transformed an empty portion of their basement into a beautiful blue bathroom that suits their 1945 transitional ranch home. Seriously, though. Why are we even bothering with this wordy introduction. When we could just say:
WOW!
Nanette writes:
We live in a 1945 transitional ranch in Portland, Oregon.
Goal was to create a second bathroom that looked like it could have been there / was original to the house (in the basement, no small chore).
House did not have a laundry room.
Discovered we could do so inexpensively without digging in new plumbing lines from the street down under the house (used a pump we affectionately call the sh*t pump).
Found vintage/era sink, toilet and medicine cabinet all in MINT working condition which cost way less than buying new and are way more gorgeous. (There’s a bit of a story about getting it all to be code but we managed it, this project was done to code btw).
Used vintage / era wallpaper from Hannahs Treasures, love it!
Used lots of glass block, it comes in hunks already put together!
Varnished knotty pine to match existing pine from the 1940s going down stairwell into the basement. (No small task).
It took a lot more time than we thought it would but it’s so good!!!
Here it is before the demo. It was a storage area that we could access through an large opening at the bottom of the stairwell. We kept a curtain across this hole (which many a person fell through on their way down to the bar).
This storage rack is where the shower ended up, the water heater was moved (and we upgraded to gas).
In the beginning I did a drawing of the space to use as a guide for build out/installation etc. (I’m a graphic designer but have never done anything like this before). It has turned out pretty much identical to the drawing.
Vintage wallpaper from Hannahs Treasures and tile decisions (this was a hard decision!)?We chose 2 shades of aqua/blue tile from Dal Tile and the white is actually from Home Depot (it’s Dal white).
We hired a tile setter to install the tile, he did an amazing job, he was painstakingly detail oriented. For the flooring we went with Congoleum VCT, it is very vintage looking and polishes up to a gorgeous sheen not to mention really inexpensive. It’s from the Congoleum “value” line, it really was a great value. Our white floor is the berry blossom and the blue is aqua spring. The Congoleum VCT is laid with the pattern going in the same direction (I can’t remember what they call that, not parquet).
We considered trying to use vintage glass block but after doing some research we found that new glass block was the way to go. It all matched and it came in already put together sections so we didn’t have to mortar them in. Not to mention it was not super spendy.
You can see here there is now a wall at the bottom of the stairs. The replacement knotty pine was painstakingly varnished to match the existing knotty pink that flanks the entire basement.
We scored this amazing pre-war Crane sink with all it’s original hardware including mounting brackets and the 1940s American Standard uni-body toilet at Hippo Hardware, it was in perfect working condition. Ended up being WAY cheaper than buying new not to mention — GORGEOUS!
The medicine cabinet seen above the sink is also a vintage score from Hippo Hardware, it was absolutely Mint. I literally stood guard over it when I found it to stake claim as there was anther couple drooling over my shoulder hoping I wouldn’t take it.
This mirror was sitting in a corner of our basement collecting dust for at least 12 years in need of rehab. I finally restored it as much as possible and found it a home!!! Also the window, there is no natural light/windows in this area of the basement, we decided to add a glass block window into the laundry room to give it a warmer feel as if it had a window.
I also found this hamper in our basement collecting dust. It was waiting for a home for over 12 years as well. (Vintage wallpaper from Hannah’s Treasures!)
One other thing that was super hard to find was the square recessed light fixtures in the ceiling. We have a number of those in our house we wanted to match not to mention the clearance is low so we needed recessed lighting. I just can’t remember where they came from. [Pam suggests – see this story about recessed square lighting.]
`Our plumber went to the trouble of finding vintage chrome handles for the hot water valves as well and other chrome parts so that the exposed pipes under the sink would also look stunning. We also learned that cabinet makers are not hungry for work in Portland Oregon, it was a painstaking task to find one to make our cabinetry at a reasonable price. We many had bids ranging from $8,000 to $700 for two small pieces of paint grade cabinetry. Also I used your website a ton for reference whenever I needed to make a decision about how something should look or find a part I started with Retro Renovation!
Pocket door between bathroom and laundry.
The laundry room sink is a Thermocast Kensington acrylic drop in laundry sink. We found this washboard style utility sink online from Home Depot. It’s an Acrylic sink available in a large variety of colors with free shipping
Again, the word of the day, Nanette and Jim, is: WOW. Being in the middle of a bathroom remodel myself, I understand just how much work goes into building a vintage bathroom from scratch. You two did a simply amazing job. Thanks so much for sharing the results of all your hard work and sources with all of us. And thanks to AlyStar for the hot tip!!!
It’s an ejector pump that pumps waste into existing waste lines we already had coming down into the basement from upstairs that were close to where we put in the bathroom. We used a plumber to do the job but saved a lot of $$ not having to dig new sewer lines into the house. We did have to dig (jackhammer) a hole through the concrete foundation for our pump and waste lines. They do make pumps that don’t have to be dropped down underground.
Alyssasays
This is such an inspiration! Everything is truly lovely & welcoming. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Joe Felicesays
This bathroom is, of course, gorgeous. But the pink scale under the sink may need to find a new home. (Or get painted.)
mary hershelmansays
Have always loved glass block…and this bathroom looks fabulous. I had that same medicine cabinet with the original florescent bulbs….made in the USA and lasted 20 years. Not as mint as yours…the contractors found 50 years of razor blades in the wall…
Joe Felicesays
Who doesn’t love glass-block walls? I’d kill for one. And wasn’t it so quaint that they used to have a slit in the back of the medicine cabinet to deposit razor blades. When I was a kid, I always imagined that the space in between the studs would get full and the wall would break, sending thousands of germ -infested and rusty razor blades falling onto the floor! I think it would be neat to open the wall and find those.
Bill Pizziesays
Amazing redesign. We are doing a remodel and have a similar situation with a half wall/shower door/glass block. I notice a rail that spans the glass block and doorway. Is that custom from the glass folks or the glass block installers? I assume it’d necessary cause you mention the glass block is not structural even though it’s just a half wall….
Nanettesays
Hey Bill, for us it wasn’t a redesign, we built it all from scratch. The glass block arrived in sections that were already attached together, we bolted one section to the wall with some nifty fixtures the glass block place provided and then we caulked and mortared the separate sections together. The glass folks were not comfortable using the block for structural purposes. It actually took us going through 3 companies to find one that would work with us to find a solution to put in the glass door. They came up with attaching that top rail into the wall over the glass block as the structural component. We actually like the look as well. Another solution suggested was to put a rod in from a ceiling joist into the curb for the door to attach to / swing on. However this solution would have made the door swing out only and we wanted it to swing in and out. Good luck to you. If at first you don’t succeed (with a glass company), just keep trying. We are really happy with how it came out but we had to really work for a solution.
Cathysays
LOVE this-great job researching and such a wonderful end result! I appreciate your tenacity in sticking with the vision of a vintage remodel. Too often, people get discouraged when they find it’s much easier to just replace everything with new products-or new build. You are so fortunate to live in an area that has an abundance of vintage homes that people seek out to KEEP that way, not to mention the resources for mint condition supplies to complete a renovation.
Like a few others, I am partial to the shelves. The curved shelving of that era scream ‘fung shui’ long before most of the population was aware of it. I love that although it’s well noticed, it just seems to blend into the room and doesn’t interfere with the space.
And the sink-OMG! Again, (to me) fung shui. Not only is it beautiful, but the light and space moves effortlessly through it; there are no cabinets blocking the movement.
I too would like to see more of your house-can I come over?!? LOL
Joe Felicesays
Pam, I have a Turner flamingo mirror. What can you, or the readers, tell us about them?
Trishsays
Hi Joe
Will share what little I know. I think the company was called Turner Decorative Arts but have also seen it called Turner Mfg. Co., from Chicago IL. I think the tropical bird mirrors and pictures are from the late 40s to early 50s era. I bought my first one at an estate sale in one of the nicest parts of our town, in the mid 70s. But I don’t think their items were really pricey for their day, I seem to remember hearing that these things were sold at Sears and similar retailers. My first was a mirror with two pink flamingoes standing under a palm tree. The next a friend found stored away in a house he bought in the early 80s. It’s a picture of three white egrets standing on the shore of a lake in what looks like Florida to me. I have also seen items with cockatoos but the ones I saw were quite spendy, at least for my blood. I do have a couple of the smaller ones too which are of flowers. I think the company was in business at least thru the 70s, they may still be in business as far as I know. Hope that wasn’t way TMI!! And anyone feel free to correct me if the info here is wrong.
Joe Felicesays
I guess I assumed Turner was the artist’s name, because there are initials & a number on the back. Mine came from my grandma via my sister. My grandparents lived in Pueblo, Colorado, and acquired the mirror in 1955 in exchange for carpentry work. I checked to see where something that nice would have been purchased in Pueblo, and found out there was one fine furniture store that sold them back then. The store is still in business, and I called and found out that it had indeed carried Turner mirrors. It was the only place in town that did. I have seen flamingos (like mine), egrets and leopards, but the flamingos are the most common. There are a lot of imitation painted mirrors that came out of hotels. Those had gaudy frames. I’ve had a few people try to pawn them off on me, but I am only interested in the real thing.
Joe Felicesays
It is beautiful, but it’s green.
Nanettesays
It’s what they call Aqua which is definitely more in the blue spectrum than the green, that said it’s a blue that leans more toward the yellow spectrum than the purple spectrum. The problem with taking photos is that there is no natural light down there so the incandescent (yellowy) lighting is affecting the photos. I corrected out a lot of yellow out but it’s impossible to get an accurate representation on a computer screen. You just have to believe us that’s its more aqua blue than green.
Joe Felicesays
OK. I believe you. It’s still beautiful. My kitchen & dining room are aqua.
Mona Zavadasays
Stunning! We are restoring our 1962 bathroom to original. I hand stripped white paint off three tile walls. The tile is beautiful minty green with gold flecks. We are inspired by your story and this winter plan on completing our bathroom.
tammyCAsays
Gorgeous! Super work. Lovin’ all of it (and, the laundry room, too).
When Pam saw a tantalizing photo of Nanette and Jim’s bathroom remodel on Facebook — posted by rockin’ retro Portland realtor Alyssa Starelli — she knew that we had to feature their fantastic space. So we chased after, with AlyStar making the fairy godmother connection, we get to see Nanette and Jim’s vintage blue bathroom — built from scratch. Using vintage salvaged fixtures, vintage wallpaper and and other era-appropriate choices for tile and flooring, this visionary couple transformed an empty portion of their basement into a beautiful blue bathroom that suits their 1945 transitional ranch home. Seriously, though. Why are we even bothering with this wordy introduction. When we could just say:
Nanette writes:Here it is before the demo. It was a storage area that we could access through an large opening at the bottom of the stairwell. We kept a curtain across this hole (which many a person fell through on their way down to the bar).
This storage rack is where the shower ended up, the water heater was moved (and we upgraded to gas).
In the beginning I did a drawing of the space to use as a guide for build out/installation etc. (I’m a graphic designer but have never done anything like this before). It has turned out pretty much identical to the drawing.
Vintage wallpaper from Hannahs Treasures and tile decisions (this was a hard decision!)?We chose 2 shades of aqua/blue tile from Dal Tile and the white is actually from Home Depot (it’s Dal white).
We hired a tile setter to install the tile, he did an amazing job, he was painstakingly detail oriented. For the flooring we went with Congoleum VCT, it is very vintage looking and polishes up to a gorgeous sheen not to mention really inexpensive. It’s from the Congoleum “value” line, it really was a great value. Our white floor is the berry blossom and the blue is aqua spring. The Congoleum VCT is laid with the pattern going in the same direction (I can’t remember what they call that, not parquet).
We considered trying to use vintage glass block but after doing some research we found that new glass block was the way to go. It all matched and it came in already put together sections so we didn’t have to mortar them in. Not to mention it was not super spendy.
You can see here there is now a wall at the bottom of the stairs. The replacement knotty pine was painstakingly varnished to match the existing knotty pink that flanks the entire basement.
We scored this amazing pre-war Crane sink with all it’s original hardware including mounting brackets and the 1940s American Standard uni-body toilet at Hippo Hardware, it was in perfect working condition. Ended up being WAY cheaper than buying new not to mention — GORGEOUS!
The medicine cabinet seen above the sink is also a vintage score from Hippo Hardware, it was absolutely Mint. I literally stood guard over it when I found it to stake claim as there was anther couple drooling over my shoulder hoping I wouldn’t take it.
This mirror was sitting in a corner of our basement collecting dust for at least 12 years in need of rehab. I finally restored it as much as possible and found it a home!!! Also the window, there is no natural light/windows in this area of the basement, we decided to add a glass block window into the laundry room to give it a warmer feel as if it had a window.
I also found this hamper in our basement collecting dust. It was waiting for a home for over 12 years as well. (Vintage wallpaper from Hannah’s Treasures!)
One other thing that was super hard to find was the square recessed light fixtures in the ceiling. We have a number of those in our house we wanted to match not to mention the clearance is low so we needed recessed lighting. I just can’t remember where they came from. [Pam suggests – see this story about recessed square lighting.]
We also learned that cabinet makers are not hungry for work in Portland Oregon, it was a painstaking task to find one to make our cabinetry at a reasonable price. We many had bids ranging from $8,000 to $700 for two small pieces of paint grade cabinetry.
Also I used your website a ton for reference whenever I needed to make a decision about how something should look or find a part I started with Retro Renovation!
The laundry room sink is a Thermocast Kensington acrylic drop in laundry sink. We found this washboard style utility sink online from Home Depot. It’s an Acrylic sink available in a large variety of colors with free shipping
Natasha says
Could you please tell me more about the s*** pump you used? Not having to dig up the existing floor sounds great!
Nanette says
It’s an ejector pump that pumps waste into existing waste lines we already had coming down into the basement from upstairs that were close to where we put in the bathroom. We used a plumber to do the job but saved a lot of $$ not having to dig new sewer lines into the house. We did have to dig (jackhammer) a hole through the concrete foundation for our pump and waste lines. They do make pumps that don’t have to be dropped down underground.
Alyssa says
This is such an inspiration! Everything is truly lovely & welcoming. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Joe Felice says
This bathroom is, of course, gorgeous. But the pink scale under the sink may need to find a new home. (Or get painted.)
mary hershelman says
Have always loved glass block…and this bathroom looks fabulous. I had that same medicine cabinet with the original florescent bulbs….made in the USA and lasted 20 years. Not as mint as yours…the contractors found 50 years of razor blades in the wall…
Joe Felice says
Who doesn’t love glass-block walls? I’d kill for one. And wasn’t it so quaint that they used to have a slit in the back of the medicine cabinet to deposit razor blades. When I was a kid, I always imagined that the space in between the studs would get full and the wall would break, sending thousands of germ -infested and rusty razor blades falling onto the floor! I think it would be neat to open the wall and find those.
Bill Pizzie says
Amazing redesign. We are doing a remodel and have a similar situation with a half wall/shower door/glass block. I notice a rail that spans the glass block and doorway. Is that custom from the glass folks or the glass block installers? I assume it’d necessary cause you mention the glass block is not structural even though it’s just a half wall….
Nanette says
Hey Bill, for us it wasn’t a redesign, we built it all from scratch. The glass block arrived in sections that were already attached together, we bolted one section to the wall with some nifty fixtures the glass block place provided and then we caulked and mortared the separate sections together. The glass folks were not comfortable using the block for structural purposes. It actually took us going through 3 companies to find one that would work with us to find a solution to put in the glass door. They came up with attaching that top rail into the wall over the glass block as the structural component. We actually like the look as well. Another solution suggested was to put a rod in from a ceiling joist into the curb for the door to attach to / swing on. However this solution would have made the door swing out only and we wanted it to swing in and out. Good luck to you. If at first you don’t succeed (with a glass company), just keep trying. We are really happy with how it came out but we had to really work for a solution.
Cathy says
LOVE this-great job researching and such a wonderful end result! I appreciate your tenacity in sticking with the vision of a vintage remodel. Too often, people get discouraged when they find it’s much easier to just replace everything with new products-or new build. You are so fortunate to live in an area that has an abundance of vintage homes that people seek out to KEEP that way, not to mention the resources for mint condition supplies to complete a renovation.
Like a few others, I am partial to the shelves. The curved shelving of that era scream ‘fung shui’ long before most of the population was aware of it. I love that although it’s well noticed, it just seems to blend into the room and doesn’t interfere with the space.
And the sink-OMG! Again, (to me) fung shui. Not only is it beautiful, but the light and space moves effortlessly through it; there are no cabinets blocking the movement.
I too would like to see more of your house-can I come over?!? LOL
Joe Felice says
Pam, I have a Turner flamingo mirror. What can you, or the readers, tell us about them?
Trish says
Hi Joe
Will share what little I know. I think the company was called Turner Decorative Arts but have also seen it called Turner Mfg. Co., from Chicago IL. I think the tropical bird mirrors and pictures are from the late 40s to early 50s era. I bought my first one at an estate sale in one of the nicest parts of our town, in the mid 70s. But I don’t think their items were really pricey for their day, I seem to remember hearing that these things were sold at Sears and similar retailers. My first was a mirror with two pink flamingoes standing under a palm tree. The next a friend found stored away in a house he bought in the early 80s. It’s a picture of three white egrets standing on the shore of a lake in what looks like Florida to me. I have also seen items with cockatoos but the ones I saw were quite spendy, at least for my blood. I do have a couple of the smaller ones too which are of flowers. I think the company was in business at least thru the 70s, they may still be in business as far as I know. Hope that wasn’t way TMI!! And anyone feel free to correct me if the info here is wrong.
Joe Felice says
I guess I assumed Turner was the artist’s name, because there are initials & a number on the back. Mine came from my grandma via my sister. My grandparents lived in Pueblo, Colorado, and acquired the mirror in 1955 in exchange for carpentry work. I checked to see where something that nice would have been purchased in Pueblo, and found out there was one fine furniture store that sold them back then. The store is still in business, and I called and found out that it had indeed carried Turner mirrors. It was the only place in town that did. I have seen flamingos (like mine), egrets and leopards, but the flamingos are the most common. There are a lot of imitation painted mirrors that came out of hotels. Those had gaudy frames. I’ve had a few people try to pawn them off on me, but I am only interested in the real thing.
Joe Felice says
It is beautiful, but it’s green.
Nanette says
It’s what they call Aqua which is definitely more in the blue spectrum than the green, that said it’s a blue that leans more toward the yellow spectrum than the purple spectrum. The problem with taking photos is that there is no natural light down there so the incandescent (yellowy) lighting is affecting the photos. I corrected out a lot of yellow out but it’s impossible to get an accurate representation on a computer screen. You just have to believe us that’s its more aqua blue than green.
Joe Felice says
OK. I believe you. It’s still beautiful. My kitchen & dining room are aqua.
Mona Zavada says
Stunning! We are restoring our 1962 bathroom to original. I hand stripped white paint off three tile walls. The tile is beautiful minty green with gold flecks. We are inspired by your story and this winter plan on completing our bathroom.
tammyCA says
Gorgeous! Super work. Lovin’ all of it (and, the laundry room, too).