Recreating a 1950s mint green, black and pink bathroom — 5 design boards

The color combination of mint green, black and pink isn’t common, but it is very appealing — there’s just something about the whimsy of the pink and green outlined by the steadfastness of the black trim. Reader Rachel sent in a few shots of her 1949 vintage bathroom — which we love — so we searched our list of bathroom fixture and tile resources to see how well we can recreate the look of Rachel’s vintage bathroom using materials available today. 

Update note: Since this story was originally published in 2015, a number of the resources have become no longer available. Where you don’t see a hotlink, it means the source dropped of the radar at some point. However: Always check for proxies — stuff is around!

When Rachel sent in her photos, she wrote:

• A 1949 master suite addition to a 1913 craftsman foursquare. We love the unexpected mid century influence.

Indeed. And with its mix of vintage pink fixtures and fresh minty green tile trimmed in black, it’s a beauty. Note, Rachel, if you want to get a new, matchy pink toilet, we have two sources today (continue on).

Before we jump into our design boards to recreate this look, let’s talk pink. Pink bathroom fixtures, that is. We have a good sources for mint green field tile and black trim pieces. We even have pretty good sources for minty green floor tiles. But, those pink fixtures? If a full suite o’ pink is your heart’s desire, buckle up for a good game of whac-a-mole.

• Pink bathtubs — Unfortunately, there is no place that we know of that makes pink bathtubs — so if you want these, you will have to source them vintage. This quest could be difficult, so how about instead, create a…
• …Pink tile shower — If you have trouble finding a tub: How about putting a tile-in shower instead? Again, this is what I did in my new pink bathroom.
• Pink sinks and toilets — We tend to believe that pink bathroom sinks can be sourced vintage relatively easily. As far as sinks and toilets made new, there are no options that we know of right now (alas, Peerless closed in 2020.)

All of the bathroom mockups use the same B&W mint green 4″x4″ ceramic wall tiles paired with inexpensive black ceramic 2″x6″ bullnose, black ceramic bathroom accessories — like a soap dish and toilet paper holder — and Bahama Pink sink and toilet from Gerber.  But remember (see directly above) for both toilets and sinks, there are more choices.

Core source list, used on all the boards:

• Wall tile: 4″x4″ ceramic tile available from B&W Tile (40W Green) and Clay Squared (Light Green Mid-Century). Note: Clay Squared sells B&W Tile, these are an identical product.
• Bullnose tile: You can find black 2″x6″ bullnose tile in many big box stores inexpensively. We found Daltile black bullnose at Home Depot for 98 cents each.
• Pink sink and toilet: Gerber Bahama Pink Rotunda drop in sink and Viper toilet (Gerber colors now discontinued.)
• Ceramic bathroom accessories: HCP Industries, though we have several sources where you can find both new and vintage ceramic bathroom accessories.

The principal differences among the design boards is (1) the flooring shown and (2) the size of the black trim tile at the bottom of the wall tile. We could have mixed and matched all these variables some more — but you get the point.

Option 1:

We did find several different options for the mosaic floor — the first of which is a block random tile pattern similar to Rachel’s original vintage except with black and white tiles instead of black and green. We like this option for the floor because it makes the bathroom feel cohesive by bringing the black found in the bullnose, floor edge tile and ceramic accessories down onto the floor, yet the addition of white tile in the mosaic keeps the room from feeling too dark.

Sources specific to Option 1:

• Floor tile: Black and white block random tile pattern available at Classic Tile Inc. (for $3.50-$4 per square foot) or Home Depot (for $9.97 per square foot)
• Floor trim tile: 3″x6″ black ceramic tile available at Home Depot, $4.26 per square foot. Note: For black floor trim tiles, you can also consider using the floor trim tiles at B&W — they have a variety of sizes and also have designs which are curved so that the bottom of the wall trim tile meet ups with the floor tile with no 90″ dust-catching edge. And note: Pam says she believes that 3″ high for the floor trim tile is not likely historically accurate; 2″ x 6″ would be (that’s what she used in her bathroom remodels). But we used this example from Home Depot because of economy ease of purchase.

Option 2

Option 2 uses an all green 1″ tile mosaic floor from Merola Tile. We’ve seen samples of both the B&W 40W Green tile and this light green Merola floor mosaic and they are a very close match indeed, even though the Merola light green tile looks more yellow green on the Home Depot website. That said, we both agree that using an all green floor may be just too much green. If you do choose this solid floor, we think it would be essential to also use a black tile at the bottom of the wall tile — or else the bathroom would start to feel tippy.

Sources specific to Option 2:

• Floor tile: Merola Tile Metro square matte in light green at Home Depot, $5.95 per square foot.
• Floor trim tile: 4″x4″ black ceramic tile available at Home Depot, $3.22 per square foot.

Option 3

Option 3 uses the same light green 1″ square tile mosaic as option 2, but this time we inject a random 1″ black square tile every so often. Adding the black makes this floor infinitely more interesting than the solid green floor, plus it brings the black from the bullnose wall tile, floor trim tile and ceramic bathroom accessories out onto the floor, creating a cohesive look.

Hmmm… this Option 3 might just be our favorite — and it’s very close to Rachel’s original. And e think: It would work with or without the black floor trim tile.

Sources specific to Option 3:

• Floor tile: Merola Tile Metro square matte in light green at Home Depot, $5.95 per square foot and Merola Tile Square matte black at Home Depot, $5.95 per square foot.
• Floor trim tile: 4″x4″ black ceramic tile available at Home Depot, $3.22 per square foot.

Option 4

Option 4 uses a classic go-to flooring pattern, especially in homes built prior to 1950 — Merola black and white 1″ hex tile mosaic. The pattern is classic without being too busy and — like option 1 — brings the black from the bullnose wall tile and ceramic bathroom accessories down to the floor, creating a cohesive look. Note that on this board, we did not use a black tile at the bottom of the wall, to help everyone envision the difference between inserting the trim and not.

Sources specific to Option 4:

• Floor tile: Merola Tile Metro hex matte in white and black dot at Home Depot, $5.95 per square foot.
• Another option for the same look (Thanks, Robin, for this tip!): Polka dot porcelain mosaic by Mosaic Tile Supplies., $10.95 per square foot.

Option 5

Option 5 would be the most labor intensive version of the floor for this black, mint green and pink vintage style bathroom because you can’t buy this color combination off the shelf — it must be pieced together using two different colors of Merola Tile hex tile, black and light green. It would be relatively easy to buy sheets of the green hex tile floor and just pop out and replace some of the green tiles with black tiles to create the pattern above (which seems to be, row 1: a black tile every fourth tile, row 2: an all green row, repeat). Even though making this floor tile pattern would create an extra step, it wouldn’t be quite as labor intensive as the block random pattern that reader Nicole put together by hand.

In this Option 5, we also tried 6″x6″ floor trim tile. We tend to think that if you are going to use a floor trim tile this big, you should be careful about its scale relative to that of your walls. That is, if you are running your wall tile quite high: 6″ floor trim tile could look really great. See Nicole’s bathroom at the right, that’s what she did. If, on the other hand, you are only running your wall tile about half way up the wall, that 6″ of black at the bottom might be overpowering.

Sources specific to Option 5:

• Floor tile: Merola Tile Metro hex light green at Home Depot, $7.82 per square foot and Merola Tile Metro hex matte black at Home Depot, $9.95 per square foot.
• Floor trim tile: 6″x6″ black ceramic tile available at Home Depot, $3.22 per square foot.

Thanks, Rachel, for sharing photos of your 1949 bathroom!

Which option is your favorite, readers?
And, do you like these kinds of stories, in which we show different options for a particular color combo?