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!
By Sue Medford on
I had a bathroom with pink fixtures when I was growing up. I thought it was the best ever!
By Kaylie on
Wanted to preserve the pink & black tile, which I think is beautiful. But my floor, tub and toilet and sink were gross (from the 1980s) because of hard water problems. It’s been 5 months, but it’s almost done. I had to special-order additional pink tiles for the shower (tore out the tub and replaced with a stand-up shower instead). The only problem is, now that it’s actually on the walls, it’s not that beautiful “Mamie” pink color. It’s a little orange and peachy, and looks a tad “institutional”. It’s not done yet, so I’ll reserve full thoughts until it’s 100% done. Anyhow, glad to see others agree with me about preserving the vintage tiles.
By Zovesta on
I love pink everything! I am heartbroken whenever I see people DESTROY pink bathrooms. If they don’t want them, they should remove it carefully enough that they can sell it. Heck, I’d remove the tile for them so I could use it! 🙂 Save the pink!!
By Gayle Gross on
I want to move from my McMansion to a mid century place with the wonderful original tile in place. I absolutely love it. Growing up I had the coolest pink bathroom with one of those little niche heaters in the wall. The other bathroom in my childhood home had a pale yellow and green tile,and that shower enclosure had an arch. So cool.
By Sarah Johnson on
Just purchased a 1953 home in mint condition. PINK BATHROOM, knotty pine paneling in basement etc etc. The original couple that built the home recently passed and their children sold to us. We are thrilled! I am excited to find this site as I am hoping to restore the pink bathroom! #SaveThePinkBathrooms
By Adrienne on
My pink bathroom is original to the house (circa 1950) and is kept in pristine condition. The bathrooms décor is anything in retro pink (think retro hair perm curlers, etc.). Change the color of my pink bathroom? Never!
By Liz T on
One of the reasons we bought our 1940s home was the pink bathroom, which not only included an Eljer pink sink, Standard pink toilet, Eljer pink bathtub and pink tile but the walls and doors were also painted in the same pink shade! That was a bit much and I have since painted the walls refreshing white, and we have vintage floral wallpaper for an accent wall (not installed yet) but intend to keep the rest of the pink forever!
By 50s Pam on Author
See my main blog for those stories — http://retrorenovation.com/ Bathroom Help category
By Sharon on
I love how you’ve decorated pink bathrooms. I’ve always thought it would be fun to update the turquoise tile bathrooms in the same way. do you have any pics of those?
By Holly F on
I have a purple bathroom. (Toilet and sink). I love it, my partner doesn’t. Oh, what should I do?
By Claudia Head Brathe on
I adore historic bathrooms..including the pink and “grass green” bathroom I grew up using. Our home was built in 1954 and had the BEST color combinations! We had a second pink bath with maroon fixtures and a third bath that was yellow and black. Having worked in the field of preservation for years, I tried to convince many home buyers to keep their vintage fixtures and tile if it was in good condition.
By Nancy Welch on
still have my pink and grey bathroom, except the toilet had to be replaced, and I was unable to find pink, so the new one is grey–but matches the grey that was in the tiles. Both tub and sink now need reglazing, which I intend to look into. I love the pink and grey. My powder room is soft yellow trimmed in a soft green-love it too.House was built in ’58. Other bath is grey and white-the original also.
By Mark Zagorski on
looking for tile..
I have two beautiful 1953 bathrooms. One is Pink and Gray and the other is Pink and Seafoam. I found “Vintage Tile” in Sacramento and will pay them a visit. Any others you all can recommend?
I will save the master bathroom. It is the shower that has failed. The floor might need it too as it has a hairline crack about four foot long. I will see more when I get further into the demo of the shower.
The other bathroom is perfect. Just needs some grout in a few places.
Bay Area California
By LaResa on
I still have my pink bathroom and recently updated it a bit. Unfortunately, the pink toilet had issues and had to be discarded along with the cracked pink sink. I replaced them with tan/sand colored ones and had the tub re-glazed in tan/sand (it had become etched over the years). The original pink tile still stands! I peeled the dated wall paper and had the walls painted a light sage green. The sad fluorescent light fixture box was made into a light box for recessed lights. The built in vanity was updated with an almond colored paint. All in all, the job turned out nicely! My home was built in 1959. I still have the olive colored theme in the formal living room and the original aqua tile counter top in the kitchen. I promise to keep my pink bathroom!
By Cheryl on
I was considering updating my pink bathroom, until I read the article in an hgtv email.
By Lisa Graham on
I remember when we were house hunting with our realtor friend, Karen, and walked into the second floor bathroom of what is now our new home. Karen looked at my husband, waiting for my reaction of my usual oh my God! Well, I did not disappoint, oh my God came out, but what followed surprised my husband and my friend Karen. It was, oh my God, I love it!!! They both started laughing at me until they realized I was serious. I was transported back to my grandparents home and their pink bathroom. Maybe I am driven by nostalgia or just following my usual instincts to try and keep a home true to its’ era, but the pink bathroom still stands! We have been in the house 3 years now and are slowly upgrading in areas that desperately need it, but nobody touches the pink bathroom!
By Mary Zamboukos on
I grew up in a 1950s house with a pink and gray bathroom. I then moved to a 1930s home with a pink and maroon bathroom and I now live in a 1930s home with a cotton candy pink bathroom.
By Maggie on
Keep the Pink ! And the green, too!!!
Both my baths are still in good condition so my job is to enhance their charm, make them easy to clean and enjoy their vintage charm.
Thanks for this site! It helped me make this big decision not to renovate the baths and save me lots of money that we can use on the new kitchen!
By Maggie Church on
I’m so happy to have found this site! When we finally decided to “Keep the Pink” and the jade green down the hall, I enjoy redoing the bathrooms , not back to original , but to a style that we’ll all enjoy… sort of a Maggie original. The basics are here and in good condition so my task is to make both baths pleasing to the eye, easy to clean and convient to use. I’m enjoying the challenge!
By Giovanna on
Our house was built in 1959 and I have half of a pink bathroom: whatever toilet and sink were there originally have been replaced by a white toilet and vanity, but the tub and tile inside the shower are still there! It just so happened that I had some lovely vintage pink vanity accessories (an old jar of Nair, ’60s?, a 3-pack of pink harlequin-patterned Ajax, a jar of Avon Creme Supreme, pink depression glass little bowl/tray) that I had purchased when we were in our old apartment and I had them all stowed away because they didn’t match anything and I didn’t have the room for them. But now they are showcased lovingly in my happy, half-pink bathroom!