Save The Pink Bathrooms

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Comments now closed — but so much fun over the years!

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Save the Pink Bathrooms
Our goal:
A gazillion people pledged to preserve vintage pink bathrooms.
Maybe you have a pink bathroom. Or you just love them.
All are welcome.
Your Comment is your Pledge…
and while you’re there, share your pink reveries.

2021 Update: After nearly 15 years of blogging about the retro, I have stepped back from posting regularly, and have closed comments. Enjoy all the wonderful comments over the years! Hooray for pink bathrooms!

Check out my main site: RetroRenovation.com
AND: Be sure to Be Safe/Renovate Safe in your vintage home!

Comments

  1. Ready to close on our new home built in 1955. It has a pink and black original tile bathroom. I cant wait to decorate with retro finds at flea markets and antique dealers.

  2. Absolutely saving my pink bathroom upstairs and our green bathroom downstairs. It’s a little more difficult to decorate the green. I LOVE my 50’s bathrooms

  3. Just bought a great house built in 1987’s with a large oval porceline pink jetted tub and dual sinks with gold fixtures… and pink toilet and even a very unique fiberglass pink shower capsule as I like to call it. Most people would tear it out in a minute, as our realtor commented, but I say no way!!! Just need to get rid of the tan carpet and all is well! 🙂 Thank you for this site! I am very happy to say I saved a pink bathroom and to know others who have too! Not to mention, who wants all the pink stuff in a landfill?

  4. My c.1955 home in the “Pecan Acres” neighborhood in Grand Prairie, TX, has a beautifully intact Mamie Eisenhower-pink bathroom with gray tub, sink and tile floor. This is the home I grew up in; it had to be sold in 2003 but I bought it back in 2008! The big kitchen and also bathroom #2 (green) are original, too. House flippers have invaded my neighborhood and have destroyed some of the best interiors; thankfully, mine was spared that fate.

    The pink is so fabulous. I found a wonderful flamingo-patterned shower curtain and some pink-and-white flamingo and cockatoo figurines to complement the tile. I collect Miller chalkware fish (chalkware parrots in the kitchen) from the ’50s and ’60s and have made a fantastic “aquarium” on the bathroom walls. Will send pictures soon. Decorating hint: Martha Stewart has towels in the exact shade of pink; it’s called “Pink Hibiscus.”

    How I hate the blah gray and putty-colored bathrooms that people seem to think they have to have now. Bor-ing. “Demo days” are so often times of tragedy.

    Restoration hint: If your bathroom is on an outside wall, don’t let a plumber tell you that he has to dig through your original tile floor to make repairs! He should be able to tunnel in from outside, sparing your tile. I learned this the hard way after losing the original floor in my green bathroom.

    Embrace the pink!
    Laura Ainsworth

  5. I just bought a funeralhome in the south side of Chicago. The women’s washroom is pink. It had pink wall paper but it was starting to peel off. I pulled the rest of the wall paper off with no damage to the walls. I’m keeping the tiles, floors and the stalls pink but the top half of the walls, I’m not sure what color to paint them. I can use all the help I can get. It is going to be a funeral home once again. I’m on a really tight budget. It is not easy to open a business.

  12. I’m promising to save my pink bathroom! The pink toilet was replaced with a white, low water use one before we moved in- but I recently found one for free on Craigslist! It needs some cleaning and some new parts, but it matches perfectly even though I don’t think it’s the same brand as the sink and tub. My wife said no pink toilet- but she is in for a surprise the next time she goes out of town for the weekend or whatever! And yes, I will put low water use works or a sealed bottle of bleach in it (or maybe both!) to cut down on the water usage. My only problem- where to get a matching seat? Do I have to have paint mixed and make my own?

  13. My sister and I are in the process of turning her garage into an apartment for me to live in, and we had a completely blank slate to start with. WE could do WHATEVER we wanted! Her house is a mid-century modern affair with large windows and angled roof line awesomeness we like to call “Faux Lloyd Wright”. Obviously, taupe Italianate home depot design was out of the question. Luckily, we found a great a pink bathtub and sink to match at the local salvage yard! I will post pictures of it as soon as it is complete.

    LIVING THE DREAM!

  14. Currently in the process of rebuilding the interior of our pink toilet (which is how I came across this hilarious site). Both bathrooms are pink, white and black tile, the full bath has a walk-in closed show that is entirely pink, white and black tile, floor, walls and ceiling with a mirrored door. Original dove grey and white tiles in the kitchen on all four walls. House built in 1949

  15. After drooling over the pictures of how some of this groups’ members have decorated their vintage pink bathrooms, I realized with disdain that I do not have a pink bathroom. BUT I live in a house that might have had one, originally. It’s a postwar home. Our problem is that the only bathroom is on the second level, and its rough for older folks and pregnant folks (I survived 2 pregnancies going up those stairs to use the loo…). Recently my hubby and I have decided to build on. In the spring, we hope to add a new kitchen, dining room (downstairs) and master suite (upstairs), turning our old dining room into a study and our old kitchen into a brand new BATHROOM! I wasn’t so sure I wanted to actually make a pink bathroom from scratch until I was sniffing around the Habitat for Humanity Restore one day and I dug up a real jewel – a PINK toilet, for only $5. Well, that sold it for me, quite literally. Our “pink potty”, as my 3 year old daughter calls it, is sitting faithfully in the garage waiting to be installed after our renovation. I’ve always enjoyed design challenges and it looks like I’ll be trying a Farmhouse look with our pink bathroom, so it’ll match the rest of the house. Thanks for all the tips from readers that led us to B&W tile, we’re going to order the pink tile! And since this bathroom will double as a laundry room, we’re also going to put in a pink thermocast sink (usually for kitchens) in case I need to soak the kids’ clothes. Here’s hoping it turns out well and thanks for all the awesome stories and inspiration! You have my pledge that our pink potty will be preserved in its own little vintage farmhouse bathroom!

  18. Had the pink and gray tiles on the walls, old linoleum on the floor. I assumed they tore it out years ago. Trying to scrub the old linoleum clean, pealed up a tile, its there, the original tile, coated in glue but coming off. Anyone know of a way of getting it off a bit easier then gentle scrubbing? I don’t want to damage them.

  19. My parents purchased my current home brand new in 1956. My Mom loved the pink bathroom! Last week the built in pink tile soap holder fell out all in one piece, didn’t crack and no visible damage at all. I called a local tile repair company to repair it. The man walked into the bathroom which is entirely pink tile, floors, countertops, bath walls, toilet etc. all still in great shape! He started laughing and said “looks like you need a complete bathroom tear out and remodel not just a repair.” I politely told him to leave!

    I have three daughters who love that bathroom as well as all of their friends who see it and say ” WOW” it’s beautiful! After my Mom decided to sell the house, I bought it and plan on keeping it in my family until well after I am gone. Why? Because of the pink bathroom!

  20. My husband and I are moving into his parents’ home. They were only the second owners of this home, which was a custom built home in 1935/1936. It still has two bathrooms, one of which is its original pink and burgundy. The only thing broken is the handle on tile soap holder. I hope to find a matching piece. If I can’t the pink, I might try the burgundy.

    I am looking for ideas on how to decorate the bathroom. Any suggestions would be appreciated.