How to decorate an old pink bathroom?

Sources SVG
Answer
To decorate an old pink bathroom, consider the following ideas:
  1. Emphasize the Pink Tile:
    • Keep the original pink tile and use it as a focal point. Update other elements to blend with today's style while maintaining the retro charm1.
  2. Add Wallpaper:
    • Use wallpaper with a complementary color to balance the visual weight between the top and bottom halves of the room. For example, a sage green botanical wallpaper can tie in with the peach tile1.
  3. Update Fixtures:
    • Add chrome wash stand legs to the sink for a modern touch. Replace the plastic p-trap with a chrome one to match the legs. Consider a vintage-inspired faucet to enhance the retro feel1.
  4. Cosmetic Touches:
    • Replace mini blinds with linen roman shades in a neutral color like beige or a green hue that ties in with the wallpaper. Add a bath mat that complements the color palette without being too busy1.
  5. Pattern Mixing:
    • Combine bold colors and patterns to create a unique look. For example, pair moody floral wallpaper with gold accents and star pattern flooring to complement vintage floor tile3.
  6. Whimsical Wallpaper:
    • Use colorful, whimsical wallpaper to add interest to a bathroom with basic tile. This contrast can make both the wallpaper and tile look fresh and crisp3.
  7. Eclectic Styling:
    • Update the bathroom with a fresh coat of paint and an eclectic gallery wall. Add thoughtful accessories like a bamboo étagère to create a style that fits well in historic homes3.
  8. Embrace Color:
    • If you have pink vintage tile, embrace the color and add more. Use matching colors for the vanity and walls to create a bold, cohesive look3.
  9. Complementary Colors:
    • Choose a paint color that is complementary to the tile color. For example, use a bluish green peacock paint color to complement yellow-gold tile3.
  10. Keep It Simple:
    • If the tile is the main attraction, keep the rest of the decor simple. Add a fresh plant and a few luxury bath products to let the vintage tile be the star of the show3.
By incorporating these ideas, you can update your old pink bathroom while maintaining its retro charm.




Author: Bootstrappin'



Key insights

  • "Before you start blowing up your bathroom like your Genghis Khan on some unconquered pink lands, let us explore how to turn this bathroom from grandma's bathroom fit for Eisenhower's turds into something that simultaneously honors the past yet is in tune with modern times."
  • The cast iron base board is built like a brick, infinitely superior to the sheet metal base boards of today.
  • "Three hours from now Taco Tuesday will be knocking on your backdoor having a bathroom backup."
  • ️ The importance of turning off the right breakers and doing things to code when working with electricity in a remodeling project cannot be overstated.
  • "I also removed the sliding glass door and replaced it with a curved shower curtain. Like you see in hotels and made the inside of the shower feel much larger."
  • Tiling the floor was grueling and frustrating, with dust getting everywhere and tiles being difficult to adhere.
  • 🇺🇸 "The pink bathroom comes from an idealistic era of the American Dream, a time of great prosperity in this country, and in many ways, I think most of us still believe in the American Dream even though it has become harder and harder to achieve."

Timestamped Summary

  • 00:00 Consider quality and craftsmanship when remodeling a mid-century pink bathroom to honor the past while staying modern, and avoid creating a bad design by ensuring the design fits the mid-century vibe.
  • 02:19 The pink mid-century bathroom has some amazing original features, but also some worn-out and unattractive elements that need to be addressed in the remodel.
  • 03:33 Pink mid-century bathroom remodel is a nightmare, but detailed planning and caution can prevent disaster.
  • 04:52 Replace light fixtures and bathroom fan in mid-century bathroom, emphasizing electrical safety and dealing with duct work and roof issues.
  • 06:43 Upgrading a pink mid-century bathroom took longer than expected, with 10 days and sleepless nights spent on installing a new cabinet, painting the bathtub, and learning how to solder in valves.
  • 07:37 Bathtub was painted, sliding glass door replaced with a curved shower curtain, and a new cabinet was built from scratch with plumbing designed ahead of time.
  • 08:53 Tiling the floor was exhausting and frustrating, but the end result was unexpectedly great.
  • 10:03 Restomod vintage pink mid-century bathroom with modern improvements, honoring the tradition of the American Dream and retaining past values.

Video Full Text

  • 00:00 A toilet that has seen the same ass for 60 years the tub witnessing bodies. One supple turned weathered and gray a sink that washed where he faces the morning of the moon-landing. A fan that dutifully sucked the farts out through the eisenhower JFK Johnson Nixon Ford Carter Reagan Bush Clinton Bush Obama and Trump administrations and finally the tiles that gave breath to the eponymous pink bathroom if you like myself become the steward of a bathroom like this and in the inevitable thought of remodeling to some absurdly Photoshop. Pinterest post comes to mind. It is your duty to consider the following given that the quality of materials and craftsmanship lasted over half. A century are you confident that you can pull off the same and given that this bathroom exists in the context of an architectural II design home which design cues are going to make sense. Here. We all want to make our marks on the world and we want to live our lives the way that is in tune with our own sense of selves so before you start blowing up your bathroom like your Genghis Khan on some unconquered pink lands let us explore how I turn this bathroom from grandma's bathroom fit for Eisenhower's turds into something that simultaneously honors the past yet is in tune with modern times. Let's get something straight here. It's a mid-century bathroom in a mid-century home. It belongs here and if I were to start eagerly throwing Instagram inspired Home Depot garbage at it. Then that is exactly what I'll get a mediocre copy of Suzi big boobs unrealistic portrayal of what her bathroom looks like and that is to say nothing of the fact that if any of your design cues are missing mid-century vibes well then congratulations you just put two things together that don't belong. There are some things in this world which are just in harmony together like ketchup and fries Alex Trebek in jeopardy or Amy Schumer and not being funny. Likewise. A bad design will send bad vibes just as loudly as taking a dump in a urinal putting a walmart spoiler kit on a Rolls Royce or a neckbeard with a fedora so let's take stock of the best things. In this bathroom.
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  • 02:19 The pink wall tiles have character are an astonishingly good shape and have been masterfully installed. Complete with really special corner tiles tiles that flare into the floor special pieces for the towel racks and decorative trim. The bathtub although dingy in color is actually very high quality cast iron covered in enamel and has nice design cues the oversized mirror is very luxurious man is an acceptable shape. The cast iron base board has awesome design and is built like a brick infinitely superior to the sheet metal base boards of today which look like they're one particularly strong sneeze away from falling off then let's take a look at the not so nice things. The ceiling fan is cool but worn out beyond repair. The floor tiles overwhelmed the otherwise nice pink wall tiles aside from that I just personally think they're gross looking like old ham. The sink cabinet doesn't look particularly good functions poorly due to how well it accumulates gunga and the crevices and again overwhelms with his color. The toilet has seen better days and doesn't inspire confidence for my occasional overindulgence at Taco Bell. The tub faucet is fine but it leaks so whatever half it goes.
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  • 03:33 This abomination is so horrendous only the 80s could thought of it. Lastly the sliding glass door makes the space inside the shower really constrained and I hate cleaning the nasty stuff that builds up in the tracks. The light fixers are outdated and there's nothing particularly special about them. So with everything I decided to keep or replace out of the way it's time to work and I should mention that in all my previous videos I go into much greater detail of how to do the work. But the work should come with a fair disclaimer like Dave Ramsey will tell you trying to remodel and live in the same place. At the same time will suck the marrow straight out of your bones. I cannot begin to explain the anxiety that is induced by removing the only toilet in the house then discovering that you are laying over your head and have no way of going back because you just broke the cast-iron flange and oh God oh jeez. Three hours from now Taco Tuesday will be knocking on your backdoor having a bathroom backup. Plan will go a long way seriously. Even renting a porta potty can help I better not be catching any of you trying to Waffle stomp your way out of this removing wallpaper in the bathroom isn't too difficult given that the glue is weakened from decades of moisture.
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  • 04:52 Then I tackle the light fixtures. The can light was easy enough in a direct screw and replacement. The light fixture. Though he oh of course it was mounted weird ordinarily. You support a light fixture with an appropriately rated box. But here we just have a plain old rectangular box that definitely won't support. Jack-shit now goes without saying. But this is electricity so you'll need to learn about safety turning off the right breakers and doing things to code either way out. It goes and in comes a new one instantly improving the vibe. It just goes to show you that a DIY project just isn't complete until you visit the hardware store. At least five times in the three hour span next this bathroom fan when we first moved in. Here we were confused as to why nothing in the bathroom ever fogged up while we showered and so dismissed it to being. Some weird fluke of magical wind. Drafts turns out that even going on sixty years of service was sucking like a jet engine. Something I would discover really soon but it wouldn't be so simple as just replacing it. Of course. There was no duct work going out the roof of course I'd have to go on the roof in the dead of winter and try to make a hole in the roof while it's raining like an idiot of course. The replacement fan I put in rated at 80 CFM made the room fog up like the window of a sauna with eight fat and sweaty Russian men in it. Of course. The 110 CFM fan I then upgraded to didn't make enough of a difference of course. I had to go all the way to two hundred CFM and replacing the fan for a third time to discover what a hell of a fan. The old one was it just do be like that sometimes.
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  • 06:43 Now we get to the longest stretch of the project. So I get 10 days off from work for winter break and I thought that ritand the floor installing a new cabinet and painting the bathtub would take about three days tops nope it took ten days and ten sleepless nights. I returned to work and spent the next several weeks being utterly useless. Not really all that different from I usually am just more tired I guess. Regardless. I first decided I just wanted to upgrade the handles and faucet of the tub in hopes that it would stop dripping unfortunately I didn't read the box and realize that had bought an entire kit with a new mix valve oh well. Here I go doing I've never done before again. This was really quite difficult. I soldered in valves to specifically shut water off to the bathtub for this job because I didn't want to lose water to the rest of the house. Then I proceeded with a job. It was very hard and took a lot of learning YouTube videos and effort.
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  • 07:37 Then I painted this bathtub because it deserve to stay after all. I'd have to pay several grand just to get the same quality because remember this is cast-iron covered in enamel. Some fiberglass from Lowe's couldn't hold a candle to this I painted it with what basically amounts to being Satan's piss seriously. Even with a mask I could barely breathe and my eyes watered as if people were taking turns farting in my face. Another interesting thing of note is that enamel is extraordinarily hard fancy that I could barely get a scuff in trying to prep and sand the surface we'll see how long it holds up. I also removed the sliding glass door and replaced it with a curved shower curtain. Like you see in hotels and made the inside of the shower feel. Much larger next came the cabinet it wasn't terribly difficult. It was destroyed in its place. A brand new cabinet was built completely from scratch. All it really involves is a base 2 sides a front face and a countertop. The tough part though and then this was self-imposed was to plumb for a double sink but I came at this with a solid plan and designed the plumbing ahead of time. So I was basically just building to my drawings. The waste water I just kind of played with the pipes like Legos until I got a good result.
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  • 08:53 Then I cemented them in now comes the most grueling part in my opinion the floor. This truly sucked the marrow right out of my bones and left me feeling exhausted part of it had to do with the dust. Just got everywhere and was really frustrating to deal with part of it had to do with how well the tiles were adhered and even with this pneumatic hammer I had a hard time I don't know about you. But this is one of the few times I send curses flying into the wind aimed at the contractor who did such an excellent job. Anyways with those gone you will learn that apparently I'm into getting my dick punched repeatedly because we chose a very difficult pattern to tile you'll become a surgeon with an angle grinder to cut these to shape. We started tiling a 10:00 in the morning and it wasn't until 5:00 a.m. the next morning that we laid the final super special cut tile only to have it snap of course that would happen not gonna lie. I was ready to flush myself down the toilet in anguish. After decking the bathroom out in fresh pain and a few accessories. It was finally complete. Holy I did not expect to get such a great result.
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  • 10:03 I would consider this a restomod vintage but with modern improvements and furnishings. The pink mid-century tiles mesh incredibly well with the mostly white bathroom and are now a feature rather than background noise like they were before it's not until the white floor was in that I had my oh yeah. It's all coming together moment. So what is the takeaway we shouldn't eagerly jump headfirst into DIY. Nor should we erase history. The pink bathroom comes from an idealistic era of the American Dream a time of great prosperity in this country and in many ways I think most of us still believe in the American Dream even though it has become harder and harder to achieve. I did my best to retain from the old bathroom what I could as a reminder of past values because as the greatest generation gave rise to the Boomers and so the Boomers gave rise to Millennials because everyone knows that Generation X isn't real. We understand that the reason we still believe in the American Dream is because it is a value that has been passed down to us. In this way I hope to honor and remember the tradition of reaching for the stars. White picket fences the dog the yard the family and a Dunkin Donuts on every damn corner.
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