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raeanneshuman

green 60’s bathroom with red brick floor- keep or change?

RaeAnne Shuman
4 years ago

I need to bring my 60’s house up to modern times but I want to preserve the character while creating some modern cleanliness/crispness to each of the 5.5 original bathrooms...green, yellow, brown, blue and pink!! Here is the green one!

Comments (61)

  • felizlady
    4 years ago

    Those colors were in vogue prior to the 60’s. We had colored-tile bathrooms in houses built in the 20’s. (One tile was lavender with a decorative band of pink and purple pansies on black tile.). They were all well-built and well-tiled....quality work in those years lasted a long long time. Because of the quality, we (I) chose to paint the walls and ceilings white semi-gloss and left the tile intact. Faucets needed replacing in several bathrooms, but we were able to use the previous connections without messing up the tile. If your tile is in good condition, I would keep it.

  • felizlady
    4 years ago

    Sometimes the fixtures are not in good shape or are a bit garish if they don’t match the wall tile well. In those cases, I would replace them with white fixtures when new is needed. Those bathrooms often had little storage, in which case I would add a nice white small freestanding drawer cabinet.

  • tangerinedoor
    4 years ago

    I'll bet that chunk out of the tile wall was once a surround for a window....


    I like the black accents in some of the green inspiration photos. They add a l'il modern snap to the whole still in a retro kind of way (like Art Deco).


    I too think that bathroom is older than the '60's.

  • groveraxle
    4 years ago

    Change your bulbs to daylight bulbs, then paint everything white and black...

    ...or gut it.

  • chispa
    4 years ago

    That toilet probably uses 7 gallons of water and only has to be flushed once! The good old days!

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Wow powwow! Great comments! I am purchasing the gem- built in 1962- everything solid and great condition, pristine even. I want to keep as much as I can...and you gave me some great ideas! Yes, I am bothered by the chunk of tile missing and think that needs to go straight across- maybe they have some tile in a storage bldg somewhere?!!?! Haven’t taken possession so haven’t been able to give it a thorough snooping! I would like to keep the toilet but I think with the non matching toilet seat, I need to replace, plus a new one will be more efficient, which I like. Yes, window needs attention- never those curtains!!
    So I was thinking to go charcoal (dark) with the wall paint- maybe even try to do a velvet look finish, keep the gold mirror and add new sink fixtures, brass. The red brick goes throughout the entire main floor, so I don’t think it is an option to change, and frankly, this green bathroom is the only place it looks out of place. I love the look of the green and black...so maybe green and black and red?

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    This one is the half bath, so no green tub, but I do have colored tubs in the blue, pink, brown and yellow baths!! It’s going to be a super fun project!

  • decoenthusiaste
    4 years ago

    Paint the brick floor black just for this powder room. It can be its own little jewel box.

  • Aphaea
    4 years ago

    OMG, if I could I'd come over and buy the green sink, toilet, accessories and tile from you immediately! Those are treasures. But I'd certainly get rid of the wallpaper and floor. More than the green items, those are the things that date this immediately.

  • Cheryl Smith
    4 years ago

    In the 70s I had a friend with those exact fixtures. I was and still am in love with them. I also believe they are earlier than 60s. That tile would be a nightmare to remove. They were installed to last not at all like later tile walls. I would get ride of the wallpaper and look for a patterned shower curtain that would tie the walls with the floors since they are through the whole house. I would have suggested new flooring if you hadn't said that. I've always loved that color in baths and use it as accents in my own bath.

  • PRO
    Patricia Colwell Consulting
    4 years ago

    IMO 60s bathrooms were awful I know lots of people want to preserve this stuff but honestly the toilets wasted so much water if it was my house I would pobably choose one bathroom and embrace the history and the rest I would gut and do what works in the 21st century. I have a 1956 MCM ranch and love many things about it but the bathrooms and kitchen needed to go.

  • PRO
    Norwood Architects
    4 years ago

    I am really beginning to like vintage tile and fixtures. It does make a difference if they function well or not. They can be incorporated into some stellar designs as freedomplace1 posted above. So, I say got for it and keep the tile and fixtures as well as the flooring. Good luck!

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Alll awesome comments! I will post an after picture but it will be a few months into the future before I get everything done! I will start new posts for the other bathrooms when I can take more pictures.

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Groveraxle- what program did you use to do the photo edits? It’s awesome and I can see it coming in super handy throughout my project!

  • Leslie Heidebrecht-Evin
    4 years ago

    Definitely Keep tiles. For such a small room it would look much nicer and bigger with white floor and walls. The black trim with tiles looks very nice . Burn the curtain so it can't return.

  • RedRyder
    4 years ago

    The suggestions to keep anything in good condition (except toilets) and ditch the wallpaper and flooring sounds like a good plan for this bathroom. Rarely do bathroom floors mimic the rest of the house, so keeping it isn’t necessary. It darkens the room. I wouldn’t go with dark paint, but if you think you’d like it, try it on this smaller bathroom first. Post photos of the other bathrooms as well.

  • Lyndee Lee
    4 years ago

    I love the vintage fixtures, although that cabinet under the sink top isn't a positive to me. Those fixtures are very similar to my parent's powder room which was built in the mid to late 50s. Yes, they too have a toilet seat that doesn't match very well. When you get the house, you can see if the manufacturing date is stamped on the inside of the tank lid.

    I would not bother replacing toilets unless they are flushed more than once or twice a day. That tank appears to be smaller than the older style 7.5 gallon toilets so it is probably more like 5 to 6 gallons. In my area, water costs about a penny per gallon so if you are saving 5 gallons per flush, that is about 5 cents, or 20 flushes per dollar. Payback point would be about 3,000 flushes for a $150 toilet, perhaps 5,000 flushes by the time you pay for install too. So, I would wait as long as the toilet was working correctly.

    That number of bathrooms in a house built in 1962 must have been quit an upscale house. I can't wait to see more pictures

  • apple_pie_order
    4 years ago

    The tile work is beautifully done. The window and tile underneath look original. You can buy a matching green toilet seat (several companies offer color-matching seats).

    New wallpaper would be fun.


    Honolulu Palm Green Wallpaper by Julien MacDonald · More Info


  • groveraxle
    4 years ago

    RaeAnne, I use Photoshop for my renderings. It's got a steep learning curve; not for the faint of heart.

  • tqtqtbw
    4 years ago

    Love it!. White walls and do something about the floor. Paint the vanity white. I love vintage in good colors.

  • judymn
    4 years ago

    Im so excited to see where you go with this great bath. I have one in blue and i love it.

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Since I teased you, I will post the other colors but several of them, I’m planning to pull up the old tub and replace with standalone tub (likely claw foot ones) and add separate large showers- changing the footprint somewhat. Allll of them have plenty of room to change layout, however I like the floor tile in them, soooo will have to figure out how to deal with needing more or something that matches. I’m less inclined to keep the sinks...I like quartz counters with under mount sinks as my personal preference, so I’m thinking I might do something with a solid surface and still incorporate the funky sinks, but we shall see when the time comes. I really appreciate the help- I am so much a rip and replace person, typically going for industrial, clean lines, simple. However, I am trying to embrace the funky side of this and will embrace the color and “fun” I can have with this.

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Here are the other two

  • PRO
    Beth H. :
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    look at mcm style furniture for vanities.







    you could also find a floating vanity and do a custom top. try the niche for towel.

    mcm dresser




    even the old oak vanities can be painted a bold color to work w/the tile


    or even Ikea


    redo the tub w/wood like this:


  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Oh I love that tub surround! Great ideas for vanities! I will definitely be using Offer Up and Let Go to help me make the budget go further!

  • PRO
    Celery. Visualization, Rendering images
    4 years ago

    Some inspiration with wallpaper and floor


  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Love both!!

  • comelyhomely
    4 years ago

    What a dream! I totally support your goal of retaining the '60s character of your new "time capsule" home and highly recommend checking out https://retrorenovation.com/ for tips and inspiration. I'd send a note to the owner Pam -- might even get your house featured on the site!

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    I will check it out!

  • RedRyder
    4 years ago

    All of them are adorable. You need to do one at a time so you can capture their unique personalities. Love the brown tiled walls in what I think is the 4th one (?). You will have fun on this journey. Trying to preserve the house’s history is a worthy task to take on.

  • partim
    4 years ago

    Love them! My brother moved into a 1970 home a few weeks ago and just discovered that his kitchen back splash was painted over in white and gray, but was originally small squares of soft pink, orange and blues. He's thinking about restoring.

  • judymn
    4 years ago

    I see a lot of potential in the blue and yellow bath. Thanks for sharing those great pics. And fyi, there are surface specialists that can match those colors and paint to restore the luster if your sink is as scoured to death as mine was.

  • tqtqtbw
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    OMG that yellow wall heater! My parents have a late 50's house with original soft pink and yellow bath bathrooms. I'm not fond of any of your flooring but it is the time period. (My parents have small-stone terrazzo, which is easy on the eyes.) Have you considered staining the brick floor in the powder room?

  • User
    4 years ago

    I vote (loudly, ahem) to keep the tile, fixtures and floor. Wall paper, mirror, and window treatment, I could do with out. If nothing else, starting with that stuff let's you reevaluate the more permanent (and expensive) stuff.

  • MaryAnne Smith
    4 years ago

    following


  • Rachie Cat
    4 years ago

    Following

  • jbtanyderi
    4 years ago

    Replace the overly fussy window treatment with a roman shade. Go bold rather than bitty on the walls.

  • Sandybean
    4 years ago

    I have a blue version (would much rather have green) so I'm interested in what you end up doing.

  • motupeg
    4 years ago

    My aunt had the brown tiled bathroom. Makes me think of the old holidays....

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Tqtqtbw- tell me more about staining the red brick?!

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    RedRyder- agreed, one at a time! That is the only thing the budget will allow anyway!

  • granny4ten
    4 years ago

    I love the yellow bathroom! Looks like it could be a fun project!

  • Kendrah
    4 years ago

    I suspect that the green cabinet is not original to the green sink. It looks like the sink may have been a consul with legs. I would do some investigating once you have the house and see if you can remove the cabinet. Paint the floor black since you don't want to rip out the brick. Ditch the wallpaper and curtains, paint the walls white. You'll have yourself a beautiful powder room.


    I really love the built in wood corner cabinet in the bath with the blue sinks. So beautiful.

  • tqtqtbw
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    There are products available. I haven't tried it but would because the red brick is just not working . Either go light or dark. Look locally. I found this on the web:

    https://www.dyebrick.com/gallery/index/category/444-lightening_bricks

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    That dye brick really looks compelling!

  • partim
    4 years ago

    I think those are glazed tiles, not bricks. They are brick colored. Glazed tiles cannot be stained, only painted.

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    It is a real brick floor throughout- the picture doesn’t do the floors justice.

  • Izzy Mn
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Maybe work with the two colors somehow. Vintage look wallpaper with those two colors might make the colors work. Or maybe a white and red brick color to pull that brick into the design. A different mirror plain rectangle maybe with chrome frame.

    Maybe something like this, but may not be the right green or red. Not sure but I like this wallpaper, just a example.

    https://www.rosiesvintagewallpaper.com/1950s-vintage-wallpaper-cabbage-rose-bouquet/

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    Izzy, I think that would tie the colors in for sure

  • RaeAnne Shuman
    Original Author
    4 years ago

    All- based on everyone’s feedback, here is the current plan for the bathroom- I will tweak the vision as it comes together, but for now, until I can get my hands on it: stained or painted black/charcoal brick floor, paint the cabinet black or ditch the cabinet, white walls, local artist doodle on the walls as a mural in black marker font, black burnt wood mirror frame (I forget the name of this technique), black painted window sill, no window dressing - have to check out the window- I think it is frosted so I would just leave plain. For the toilet- my options are to match the seat color (thanks to you, I have sample color chips on their way!) or replace with white toilet. If I replace the toilet, I will also replace the sink with a white square under mount with white quartz countertop. Then I would save the green sink and add it to the yellow bathroom as a 2nd vanity....with some cool fun wallpaper or mural. Replace the faucet with stainless or black stainless if I can find it. Replace the door knob with nickel easy open.