A vintage snack: super-pink bathrooms from the ’50s and ’60s

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Hello, Homies! I spent my Flickr time this week enjoying vintage bathrooms — I was overwhelmed by the pinkness!

Enjoy these finds, and may you never have a pink bathroom fixture of your own. Me? My bathroom sink looks like we’ve coated it in Pepto Bismol. FROWN!

American-Standard Ad

vintage-bathroom Roses! Roses! ROSES! 1941 American Standard Pepto-Pink Bath

Do you have a dream bathroom color scheme?

About the Author: Cat Rocketship

I was the Managing Editor of Offbeat Home for a year and a half. I have a rich Internet life and also a pretty good real life. Hobbies include D&D, Twitter, and working on making our household more self-reliant. I also draw things.

Comments on A vintage snack: super-pink bathrooms from the ’50s and ’60s

  2. When we were shopping for houses, most of the houses we saw were built in the 50’s/early 60’s. Good lord were there a lot of pink bathrooms. Pink tile up the walls, pink tubs, pink vanities, pink sinks…The works.

    • If you do happen to own a rose, or say, mint green bathroom that does not suit your taste, there are companies that will reglaze your tiles, tub, toilet, etc., in an entirely new color.

      Our floor and pedestal sink were fairly worn, so we had the floor done in a clear coat since we actually liked the colors, and the sink redone in white. Now they shine and whatnot.

      It was fairly inexpensive, although you couldn’t use the bathroom for a day or two. Sure beats a total renovation (and a lot of colors I’ve seen – my mother-in-law’s is grey and yellow tile).

  3. Wow, that brings back memories…my very first apartment (almost ten years ago now) had a bathroom that was entirely pink. It had pink tiles five feet up the walls, pink tile floors, a pink bathroom, and the landlord had hung a disgusting white lace and pink cabbage rose shower curtain. It was emasculating to all male guests.

  4. Makes me glad the builders of our home had some sense. Our house was built in 1950, it had the original sink, which was white, we replaced that. Still have the original bathtub and tiles. The bathroom has aqua bluish colored tiles and our kitchen has daffodil yellow tiles.

  6. I so want framed prints of some of these!
    I think retro design sketches are so dreamy.

    The third bathroom reminds me a fair bit of my bedroom as a kid. My walls were rose pink and my bedspread, pillows and a cushion on a bench in my room were all white with rosy-pink roses with green leaves. When I’d quite had enough of the girliness, I shed the frilly bed stuff, but installed vintage pea green shag carpet.

    • And the bathtub is a whopping 5 1/2′! My bathtub is built for “taller people”, and my head can lay on the bottom of one end while my ass fits snugly against the other end. My fiance loves the way I have to bathe with my legs straight up in the air…

  10. My bathroom has a pink counter- I have to say I’m not a fan but I managed to make it look less…. icky by tossing in some green towels and a lotus picture with matching pink and green. It’s kinda bland but it works for the moment. *sighs* sadly my landlord wont let us paint the peeling walls so it still looks fairly bad.

  13. our bathroom is pink. the tissues that were in the closet (estate sale, we inherited some stuff) were also pink. The tiles around the bathtub are pink. the GROUT between the tiles is pink. I was amazed the first time I stepped foot in it.

  14. These are amazing. I wish my bathroom was designed for “larger families…taller people.” I am “taller people.”

    I kind of really do love the last one though. Pink radiator, how cool izzat?

  15. When I was 11 my mom bought her house. Our bathroom (kids/guest bath) had ORANGE countertops (much like the orange in the first pic) and the wallpaper was a metallic silver with orange/brown wheat grasses all over.We didn’t even have light on yet and that orange hurt your eyes to look at!. Also our house was built in the 70’s and included a lime-green shag (sparsely) carpet in all of the bedrooms… good times.

  16. I think they’re sort of adorable . . . maybe it’s just because my grandmother’s house had a pink tub (it was the BIGGEST bathtub ever) and a pink pedestal sink . . . I guess the toilet was pink, too. But it never struck me as odd or even occurred to me that it was a “thing” to have a pink bathroom — it just was the way it was. The house was built in the 1920s, but I guess the bathroom must have been redone at some point. (The rest of the house certainly wasn’t — the wiring was added later and the entire second floor was plugged into one outlet in the hallway!)

  18. I bought a 50’s fibro cottage 2 years ago and it has a fabulous original pink bathroom, i love it & if it was just me living here i would restore it to its former glory but hubby wants to rip the whole thing out 🙁

  20. So are you trying to say pink bathrooms are a bad thing that should be slated for destruction/renovation? Because I think these are pretty awesome. I’m known in my family for Hating Pink, but my favorite bathroom ever was in an old rental where the bathroom was bubblegum pink with mint green and chrome accents. It was spectacular, and I still miss it…. and I’m tempted to save that pink/orange image for a bathroom renovation in my current house where the bathrooms feel way too beige….

    • Thank you for sharing this site! My boyfriend and I just bought a house with a pink bathroom and he’s determined to demo it. Now I’m determined to leave it and be proud!

  23. I really wish my bathroom was pink and had roses everywhere! My current bathroom is yellow. Yellow tiles on the walls, yellow sink and tub. I HATE yellow.

  24. My grandparents still have their original turqoise blue bathroom complete with blue sink, shower, bath, toilet, ceiling and blue floral wall paper. To cap it off they have a pink guest bathroom to go with the butter yellow guest bedroom including…a butter yellow ceiling! It’s like staying in a retro-seum!

  25. my parents purchased a home while I was in highschool with such a bathroom. pink cupboards, toilet, bathtub… pink tiles covering not only the floor put all four walls as well. One saturday morning while I was eating breakfast, my dad came in the garage with a sledge hammer. He winked at me, walked into the bathroom and shortly thereafter the pepto-pink bathroom was no more.

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