Your bathroom has the potential to be so smashing if you can let yourself embrace this and not fight it.

You need to go all in...

The person I know who lived in the house with the yellow and blue bathrooms that were dated when the house was new's dad did those acrylic covers over the colored tubs. You could hear water squishing around between the bottom of the acrylic shell and the bottom of the cast iron tub after you turned off the shower.

Honestly I was going to do something like this in my first apartment with my chipped and worn white cast iron tub since it was the only bathroom and I had limited funds.

But to cover a perfectly good bathtub because it is a (relatively inoffensive pale) pink color would be a big mistake. People will probably find this offensive, but where I live you only see this sort of thing in houses in the cheap neighborhoods; if that offends someone I apologize but that's how it is in my real estate market.

It's not just vintage charm--many of these old baths were built like vintage tanks. As good as it looks in the photos, it's probably of better-than-modern-standard quality.

Do real people look at a clean, maintained vintage bath and say "ewww"? Nobody I know, and I've tested it.

If the tub I is Suez Tan:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-1960-SUEZ-TAN-KOHLER-TOILET-COMPLETE-/322308248243

You’ll have to measure from the wall to the opening in the floor for your present toilet to make sure it lines up with a replacement.

i think I’d spend the money on matching the toilet, wallpaper or paint, a window treatment and new towels and a rug.

^^^That's really nice of you chickadee!! Great find!

The floral DOES look nice with the tile--actually mages it embrace-able. The blue doesn't work for me.

Thank you all.. you have know idea how helpful this is! I don’t hate the bathroom. My house is a contemporary home style.

Pine cabinets that previous owner had painted white.

The contractor I’m sure was using pieces that were not a huge expense, I’m guessing.

All tile including the floor is in excellent condition.

I don’t plan on living here for many years to come so I’m trying hard to be wise on updating, I guess. Been here 6 months and does not feel like home yet.

There is ton of storage space in the 12 drawers I have. Lol

I would love to paint my vanity Navy if possible.

The lighting is not bad at all.. Can lights but great LED lighting.

I like roarah's mockups, and in the same vein...

I'm not good at photoshop, but this overscale pattern (background is navy) would certainly add interest! With the additional wallpaper colors, you'd have options for color of towels and other decorative items too.

For scale (it's huge), from the spoonflower website:

Actually to go back to the yellow and green bath I posted in addition to the matching litter box there are a matching green plastic cup and sliver of soap in the dish.

I like that paper, mjlb! Great way to get navy in there. Really like pennydesign's second option as well.

I like penny design's second photo a lot too - more in keeping with the era, probably.

Your house is super cool and will appeal to the same people that the bathroom will. Have fun with it!

Could I possibly use these curtains... shorter of course..... I love them, or maybe I have bad taste.. not sure at this point... lol

like the birds too, but would be my second choice

Not a designer, but IMO those curtains wouldn’t work. Like your idea of painting vanity base Navy. Then would agree with chickadee about focusing investment on a matching vintage toilet, curtains (or better, a coordinating fabric Roman shade), and a wallpaper that ties in the navy and brown.

While I adore Roarah’s mockups tying blue/beige, they seem too femenine if this is a couple/family bathroom. If a single woman lived here, then perfect.

otherwise I’m with Laura Hill on what should happen in this bathroom.

as people post these old bathrooms, I find myself more and more interested in preserving ceramics and at same time modernizing for 21st century use.

Another cheery wallpaper (with navy background) from spoonflower. Might be interesting to see how that looks with navy cabinet... I did lighten the original photo because it was hard to see.

This would fit the bathroom, because the bathroom looks more like 1960 than 1972. But actually the house style was common by 1960 in some areas:

Love this pal...Something I would do in a heartbeat, but I'm a little quirky...

OP, I don't think you can fight this bathroom..and I don't see a navy vanity working in here.

Try looking at some of the Scandinavian wallpapers. I think they might work here, too.

And, sorry, but no on those drapes/designs... :(

OP, I don't think you can fight this bathroom..and I don't see a navy vanity working in here.

Agree.

Actual color of bath tile

Not a Pro.

I like the idea of a Blue vanity.

Here is some inspiration:

Finding the right color Blue paint for your vanity is key!

What is interesting to me is that many people will completely reject this as a ceramic tile or fixture color for a bathroom, but use it as a paint color or faux "stone look" porcelain base color for tile somewhere else in the house and think it's fine.

That's why I think it's all the dated Kool-Aid.

Years back people on GW would shreik about Avocado and Harvest Gold appliances and then turn around and suggest essentially the same green or gold paint colors as a go to color for somewhere else in the house.

It makes very little sense.

Your more recent tile pic makes it looks like cappuccino on my monitor. The earlier pics had it slant towards pink. Is your grout white and would it look better darker?

I think the tricky thing about this is that if it looks pink in some of the photographs it must look pink sometimes in real life. It does't really matter what the tile looks like outside in the sun because the tile is not outside in the sun.

People often want to pick colors or match colors in natural light but you really have to work with the colors as they appear in the environment and lighting under which they will be seen.

Agreed...on my monitor it looks a little like mustardy coffee...

I do think I know what it is, though as I remember it :( as a pinky brown.

Very good point, palimpsest.

On my monitor, the wall tile look almost mauve in the first pics. I love navy with practically every colour but I don't see it in this bathroom, for some reason. What about blush or apricot?

I will say every one of you is right on your color names... during the day it takes on a light brown color as the day progresses it turns more pinkish(which is when I took first picture) at this time of the day it is more like a mocha color. Now you all can see my dilemma! I’m more confused then ever. At one point during the day I thought this would be amazing because my tile takes on this color almost exactly. But right now my tile looks nothing like my picture earlier. This and this is exactly the sam tile. Daytime and late day. Ugh!

Let's get back to what you want to do. Perhaps it will be ideal, perhaps it won't, but if you like it, then that's all that matters, right?

Pick the color of the tub, sink or something from the floortile that was meant to go with it originally. They are already there. This may mean having to ignore a bias. I know many people profess to hate pink, but if it's already there in some form...

Feeling like I could be on the right track.

im truly am usually good at decorating but this is so far out of my wheel house because my last home was completely shabby chic...but my husband loved this house so I’m really trying to embarks it!!

I like both of these, Ttchic!

You're on a better track, I think.

Take care with that second one. It looks like the pinks lean a little toward purple-y pink.

ETA You might also consider a grasscloth wallpaper...

That is a really tough tile to work with. Don’t order any paper until you’ve ordered a large sample or taken home a wallpaper book. The bathroom has a lot of pink/mauve in it on my monitor except for that last picture of the individual tile which is totally different. What color was that called back then? It would be nice to google to see what they put with it.

I’ve been trying to figure out the color.. not much luck.

I agree w wallpaper idea and new toilet to match tub. There goes the budget. New window treatments are also needed once funds are available.

The green-tiled bathroom that Palimpsest posted really brought a smile. There is even a place for razor blade disposal. Now, there's a throw-back!

The flamingo paper Palimpsest posted is available in pink as well. Cole & Son - Flamingos - Ballet Slipper

I love this paper since spotting it in a recent House Beautiful.

I really like it in the pink!

I think I have the same "pink". A lot of the true pinks like the flamingos in the wallpaper Pal posted--which I DID try--don't quite go. And the one Tartan linked is just too much of a not-quite-good thing, although I didn't check it out in person.

Howsabout tropical (I know, they don't really have pink flowers....but hey)?

Here’s some of my “updates”

Love what you did with the vanity!

The vanity looks great

It’s hard to tell in pics, but I wallpapered and also painted counter and put epoxy over it.

Sharp!

Thank you!