I’ve been in Kentucky all weekend — my Dad’s 80th birthday is today — and while here, I’ve been staying with my brother and his family. About two years ago, they bought a 1962 midcentury modern house that needed a ton of work. They have now lovingly restored it — and it’s an absolute treasure. One of the things they left virtually untouched — for me — was the pink bathroom in their guest room. This pint-sized pink potty space is so darn cute I could bust! And the sink and toilet, in particular: These are spectacular designs!
Above: The sink, toilet and tub are all American Standard. It’s difficult getting the color right with my iphone camera. The fixtures are decisively pink!
The sink is quite tiny — a petite lavatory on beautiful, hefty chrome-plated steel legs with an integral towel bar. All the fixtures are in near-perfect shape. I don’t think the bathroom was used much over the years.
Above: I edited this photo to be black and white to spotlight the lines of the toilet. Gracious, I think I will declare this the most beautiful toilet design in American history. I am too lazy right now to go looking for historical info, but I am pretty sure this design was available for decades.
The wall tiles are salt-and-pepper. They are mud-set, I think. I tend to believe that salt ‘n pepper tiles came more into fashion around this time, the early 1960s. They are a nice way to do “white” but knocked down a bit so’s you don’t get a big slab ‘o white. Over the years, I’ve seen salt ‘n pepper tiles with a variety of ‘dots’ combinations: Golden combos, black combos, blue combos.
Note, when I retiled the bathrooms in my house, circa 2002, I had not started the blog yet… I did not know where to get Mamie pink bathroom tiles. If I had, for sure I’d have a B&W Tile pink powder room paradise in my own little palace!
I did go retro, though. One of my bathrooms has heron blue field tile, trimmed in white; another, rose beige trimmed in white; and the third, peach trimmed in black. And they all have wallpaper!
Above: There’s a recessed medicine cabinet, sliding doors.
Above: The floor is a random mosaic. I think you could replicate this one, more or less, using Dal-Tile’s Mosaic Design Tool. World of Tile used to have lots of 12″ x 12″ sheets like this, in colors like this, and older. Alas, the company is gone now.
More stories about designs using Daltile’s Mosaic Designer:
- Lookie the floor that Lauren created for her bathroom.
- Natalie and Graham use the Designer to create a floor for their doggie shower.
- Pam designs a pink-gray-cream mosaic tile floor using the Mosaic Designer, when we first discovered it.
And:
- Nicole pieced together a mosaic floor DIY — “the meaning of insanity or dedication,” she asked!
It’s the honorary Aunt Pam’s Vintage Pink Bathroom! #sohappy
Ack! I need to make some art for the bathroom to thank my brother and his family! xoxo family!
Heather Mumma says
HEy there, this is AWESOME!
I wanted to let you know that “Merola” brand tile has a similar (kind of) pattern called Academy Pink if anyone is trying to replicate this look.
pam kueber says
Yes, we’ve written about the Merola Tiles — see our Bathrooms Help/Tile Help & Ideas section. There’s a second source, yet again another variation, covered too.
joan says
pinkalicious
Ree says
Your brother knows how to keep you happy when you visit. I think some wonderful 60’s style wallpaper would make this room complete. Maybe another project in your future.
pam kueber says
I was thinking the very same thing! I’m not sure they’re game for all that pattern though!
Karin says
Oh, my my. This is a pretty darn near perfect. It’s a total feast for the eyes for 50s pink bathroom lovers. The curved Art Deco tank on the toilet is one of my all time favorite designs. Looks like the chrome sink faucet and tub fixtures and faucets are new, but period appropriate. Did they replace them? The tile is wonderful, too. On my screen, it reads as just having the teeniest hint of pale aqua. Lovely. Another pink bathroom saved. Thanks for the post, made my day.
pam kueber says
Yes, I am pretty sure they replaced the sink and tub faucets.
Sam R says
1962 would have been close to the switch from Coralin to Venetian Pink, but I think that’s still the earlier color. It can be hard to tell them apart, even with samples side-by-side.
pam kueber says
I will take a closer look at the colors. The tub ‘container’ is angled – so there’s a larger triangular ‘shelf’ up front on the inside wall. Could be the tub is Corallin and the toilet and sink are Venetian pink. Now that you’ve told me this is ac changeover period, I’ll inspect more closely. Thanks for the info!
Sam R says
I actually picked up on the timing of color shift from your post on pink bathroom shades (https://retrorenovation.com/2016/03/22/bathroom-color-pink/) while trying to figure out what shade my 1954 Briggs tub and sink, and unknown date American Standard toilet are. The toilet has the old-style Gothic-script AS logo, as does the one-piece you’ve pictured here, but I’m not sure exactly when the switch to the newer logo occurred. Your post identifies Venetian Pink as the shade from the 1962 American Standard catalog. I’ve been unable to locate any AS catalogs between 1955 (when it was Coralin) and 1962 online, so the changeover was somewhere in there. And, of course, the builder of the house may have purchased fixtures from warehouse inventory rather than a fresh order. There might be a date stamp inside the toilet lid or tank.
Bemis identifies Coralin (Briggs called the same shade Coral) and Venetian Pink as separate colors, but I have both of the sample discs and I can barely identify any difference under any lighting. Venetian Pink seems to have a tiny bit more of a shift towards red, while Coralin seems to be shifted a tiny bit towards yellow/peach.
pam kueber says
Haha, I was just in the bathroom squinting at all the colors and remembered that story from last year! So much on the blog I forget what we have!
Sam R says
I have no idea how accurate it is, but I did find this page detailing the history of American Standard logos: http://toiletguide.weebly.com/standardamerican-standard.html
dkzody says
Thank God they saved the bathroom. It is indeed a wonderful bathroom that works so well for the space.
Barbara says
Good morning Pamela!
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!
Plus, you got to enjoy this beautiful pink bathroom for a weekend.
I’m sure…there will be more stories from all over the world how people, who have read your blog, talked about your blog and decided NOT to throw away history because of you Pamela! You certainly have made quit an impression when it comes to retro renovation!
Thanks so much for all your dedication and information!
Barbara
p.s. Lovely story! Again, it appears that, “balance,” most certainly agrees with you!
Once you tap into it, you can’t go back.
Stacy says
Hurray for Aunt Pam’s Vintage Pink Bathroom! That bathroom is darling! I love the sink with the towel bar. And you’re right, the toilet is really a lovely design. I am a huge fan of the random mosaic tile floors. How wonderful that they kept that charming bathroom just for you. 🙂
CarolK says
I want a sink like that when we renovate our bathroom. Our tub is a pinky beige as is the lavatory which is set into a vanity. The vanity has seen better days and so has the lavatory, which has some rusty scratches in finish. We originally had a matching toilet, too, but replaced it with a white one years ago.
Nancy says
Oh my goodness..a walk down memory lane. This was my bathroom in every detail during the ’80s in a Buffalo NY apartment building built in 1949. Perfect! I always thought the color was somewhere between pink and peach.
Jay says
OMG! Instant flashback, 62 was the year my father tore out the 20s bath and put in this pink bath; same fixtures except the S & P tile walls were trimmed in pink and the floor mosaic was just pink and S & P. In later years my mother resorted to beige t-seats.
How nice that it was saved in your honor.