Love, love, love the green tub (jadeite?) and tile. If you really want to go retro, consider doing the floor in the classic black and white, find a green lid for the toilet, and a green sink. I'd be completely taken by this.

Retro renovations has some great vintage ideas.

Thank you all for your input. Since budget is tight, floor, toilet and tub are staying - walls must go. Need final vote about tile to go over the tub: white vs off-white, solid color vs crackled antique finish, square or subway (and which length) - any thoughts? I am not a fan of glass tile, and feels like it would be overkill anyway, no?

When you say walls, do you mean option two: just replacing the tiles in the shower area? Can you hunt down a matching toilet seat in the toilet green color? I found a bunch on amazon but have no idea how you could figure out exactly what shade of green.

Oh wow, I have almost the same bathroom. Built 1943. I’m in the process of redoing it actually. I’m ripping out the pedestal sink tomorrow. I’m putting in a black vanity. My suggestion would be to glaze the tub. I have to get mine reglazed.

There are small holes in my floor tile, which tells me the original pedestal was there before.

I had my vintage pink bathtub reglazed white. It looked great, until a plumber scratched it with his tools. Even then aside from the scratches it lasted beautifully for 10 years until I remodeled it. FYI it was our only bath/shower for those 10 years, so it got a work out. Good Luck

My vote would be square white tiles around the tub. No accent tiles.

I think your tub might be Surf Green. This company has chips you can order to confirm your colour, then get a matching toilet seat. Knowing the colour name would also help you to find a matching sink like this one.

http://www.classic-colors.com/ENG/PRODUCT/9MCHIP%20105

to mnmamax3 - unfortunately, partial removal is not possible. ALL tile will have to go and something new put up only around the tub. After visiting few tile shops in the area sounds like partim is right- square tile will look less offensive than 3x6 subway, partially because of hexagon floor tile.

e s - few people would not recommend reglazing, and this is a rental property. Any particular service you used? Is reglazing done by local companies or is there a state wide one?

Steph - I love the shape of that tub and have no faith in quality of products sold nowadays. How often do you reglaze your tub and how much $$?

RetroRenovation should carry those exact tiles.

https://retrorenovation.com/category/bathroom-categories/

but you might find more extensive damage that would require you to re-tile all of the walls. If not, great, get the replacement tiles from R.R. If you do have to retile, then go w/the white subways or the white 4x4's. or even a color that closely matches the floor tile color would work.

like this one:

As for reglazing, it only lasts a few years and then begins to peel.(cost is about $450. I've had it done to a few tubs. started peeling within a year or two. called them back and had it fixed 3 times!) you have an original cast iron tub. those things are wonderful as they keep the water hotter, longer. keep the green but just work around the color w/other things.

You could get the other green tile on the wall sprayed, since that would prob last a lot longer.

I'd keep the tub, retile the surround if you have to, remove the wall paper and paint the walls white, and get a new mirror and lights! If you have room for a small vanity, then use one of those too.

would be cute if you could do one like this

or even find a vintage cabinet

the original sink that was prop in that bathroom

I just bought the home, so I can’t comment. I will say that the seller who had this home for 20yrs, did very little maintenance and it’s actually not that bad. You can tell it was glazed before due to peeling around drains.

Reading your comments on re-glazing and educating myself with online videos - looks like if the tub stays then it remains original green.... will keep the toilet to complement (will get matching toilet caps), re-tile with white Daltile 4x4 from HD (anyone had bad experience with those?). Paint other walls in lighter shade of floor color.

Moving on - bathroom has no storage space, so I am seriously considering replacing existing pedestal sink with white 18" or 24" vanity (whichever will allow for the door to open and close).

Steph - thank you for posting your bathroom photos, I clearly see now that pedestal sink is from a different opera and doesn't fit the format.

KEEP THE GREEN TUB!!!!

Toilets are not expensive and would be easy upgrade. That was the first thing I did, when repairing the poorly installed previous one.

Keep the tub, it’s the one thing people keep commenting on when they come to our house.

partim - wow, it is definitely between Surf Green and Ming Green, thank you for the link - will be sure to order swatches.

I’m not sure if this would help, but I could not fit a bigger vanity, until I moved the door to the other side. I’ll be putting in a bigger one tomorrow.

Here’s another shot

Alex C - and you went with 3x12 on the back wall! I very much like that size, was afraid it would give more of modern look and clash with the tub...

Really bad tile work, but I like the material and color. Great example of what to do with your green tub.

I agree steph, rush job, needed to get in have a baby and hopefully another in the way, when there older we will redo it all again, but just the walls

Sorry Alex. I think you just missing a bunch of caulk around your niche and tub. You can see the jagged unfinished tile edges.

Right @Steph, it's the caulk, nothing else.

Nothing that caulk can’t fix, as long it’s probably waterproofed.

Beth H. I actually found what appears to be closely matching vintage looking 24" vanity - with carrara top with no backsplash.... Worried there will be too much GREEN in a small bathroom...

Steph - I changed bathroom door to open into the hallway in the past - made world of difference, but there was no pass through traffic in that layout, I am worried it won't work now, and the door is in the only possible place now, bathroom is very small.

Alex C your pictures give new perspective - no need to have anything else green in the bathroom besides the tub, keep the rest off-white to make tub a focal point. May be just towels to match.

A new toilet will save water.

is the little vanity also green? could you paint it? but if you redo the shower tiles in the white, it should look ok. you're removing the wallpaper, yes? paint the wall a coordinating color. or a soft white.

bring in some woven wood blinds, and remove those green shutters. you'll also bring in more light. paint the trim work a nice white.

maybe a hanging plant. some shelves over the toilet, or hang a picture w/some other colors.

and of course buy a white toilet.

all of that will break up the green

We did a pocket door. Had to move the light switch which was fine

houssaon - excellent point! And we have a good visual of green tub and white toilet and vanity cabinet

I didn’t change it to swing out. I just moved the hinge side to the other side and it allowed me to expand from 24” to 42” vanity. I’m putting in this 36” tomorrow.

Beth H. : - can't find exact page for 24" but this is close. They also have it white somewhere. Carrara marble top without backsplash is intimidating in this scenario:

https://www.delightville.com/brand-elegant/30-insingle-bathroom-vanity-set-in-vintage-mint/sku-V758-vf30530vm

Overstock has white with beige top, but more expensive

Steph - LOVE IT!!! please post updated picture when finished

sunshine, that's cute. I think if you did the other changes I mentioned, the green vanity wouldn't be too much.

Can you remove the floor heater? or maybe just the one on the sink side? seems like you could fit a decent sized vanity there.

don't forget, you could also get a wood chest (from craigslist or flea market) and modify it. it would take more work, but I've done it.

on this bathroom I redid, (which is now a rental house) I found this mcm chest for $75 and painted it black. found a remnant marble top for $50, the marble sink was $30 (on clearance)

You could look for a solid wood piece and do the same. (or find one you could paint). Just for example, I saw these on sale on my craigslist, these could easily be used as a floating piece, or stand alone and topped w/stone

You could also do a quartz remnant that looks like marble. or even a piece of black granite. remnants that size are cheap! look on craigslist for those too. or go by a fabricators shop and see what they're throwing away. for a 30x22 piece, they end up trashing those because they're too small to try and sell. Go in person and see if you can snag one for $40

I think if you found an mcm type of chest in the wood, it would work w/the retro feel, and break up the green. Don't forget, you could also mount it to the wall for a floating type of vanity if it's too short.

This was a '50s redo. I love how they did this one. obviously you would use a single vanity.

I wouldn’t do marble in a rental.

Beth H. - yes, heater will be cut to stay only on the outer wall between tub and toilet. There isn't much room between pedestal and toilet, I am hoping to fit 24" comfortably without having to reconfigure the door.

I like the idea about re-purposing a dresser. I can always use separately purchased cultured marble top in the meantime. The vanity and mirror set I saw earlier today at HD had unfavorable reviews about its quality, pictures after the first year were quite convincing. Starting to understand now why all "renovated" homes for sale in that town have IKEA sinks...

What a fantastic tub! I just recently re-tiled our bathtub surround for our midcentury blue bathtub. I too wanted to keep the tub. I ended up using 10x14 white tiles stacked, and did a custom mosaic accent of ceramic petal tiles in matching blue and white (I thought about using NOS or reproduction 4x4 blue tiles, but in the end decided I didn't want an exact reproduction of a mid-century bath surround). I decided against glass accent tiles because, while there are many light blue glass tile options, I thought they were too modern for the old tub and instead of making the tub stand out, just made it look, well, old! I decided ceramic was the right 'look' with the old tub. I absolutely love that green tub- I'm sure it will look amazing. If the floors are light beige, you might try to either find a field tile that is the same light beige, or make sure there is light beige somewhere in your accent tiles, otherwise the contrast between the brand new white tile surround and the beige floors may look disjointed. Would love to see more pics when you finish! Happy tiling!

HU-983227285 I like that there aren't many grout lines and your mosaic is Fantastic! Thank you for sharing - always good to have visual of various shapes and sizes. I even know exactly where to get that white tile. Saw a beautiful green marble pencil today - lighter than the tub, mosaic choices were diamond-shaped polished or small brick honed, both had lighter, darker and even some beige in them. Contemplating if that at all needed, but I see now that definitely need some sort of accent.

sunshine3943 - Thank you! I think green marble would be beautiful with that tub. I'd imagine the polished would be really nice with the tub, although depending on how it looks in person, the honed may be really nice too! I too debated whether it was necessary to include an accent (because I couldn't really find anything that matched super well). I would agree in hindsight it was definitely the right decision to help tie in the new tile work with the old tub. (I ended up purchasing loose ceramic petal tiles, designing my own pattern and hand-sticking approximately 4600 individual tiles to mesh for installation (I doubt I will ever do that again, haha- it took WEEKS!!). Definitely keep us posted on your remodel!

HU-983227285 - Looks like petals came with the pattern, you just had to select color and quantity, right? Where did you order them? Did they have other colors?

I am also thinking polished, as you never know how honed marble turns out when sealed. Or stay with porcelain all together. Tile America used to have good selection of vintage designs, next on my to do list.

https://www.decorpad.com/photo.htm?photoId=115967 - less the window and plus a green tub...

https://www.decorpad.com/photo.htm?photoId=117309 bad tile job but its about the idea - stagger tile straight instead, add mosaic surrounded in pencil as pictured. By comparison, white and blue petals by HU-983227285 above look less aggressive and don't steal spotlight from the tub...

this will work with green marble pencil and porcelain white 4x4: https://www.decorpad.com/photo.htm?photoId=168903

I believe I ordered them from Mosaic Trader USA (there are several companies though if you search for ceramic petal tiles. The do come in lots of different colors!). The pattern is indeed my own design :-) It's just sitting in my little cardboard jig with the fiberglass mesh over the pattern in the photo. I played around with a few different designs before settling on this particular one. Getting the edges of each sheet to line up was the most difficult part. I basically just kept laying the tiles out in different patterns until I settled on a design I liked. Then I penciled around the tiles with pencil/black marker. I made the paper design the size of one sheet for install (approx 8x10 inches), then I photocopied the pattern to lay them out next to each other in order to fuss with the design on the edges so each edge of each sheet would line up properly with install. Getting those edges to line up was definitely the most difficult part, as well as making sure spacing with even throughout the pattern!

Cheers!

HU-983227285 Amazing!!! You have potential for new business here, so creative!

sunshine3943 - That wallpaper is gorgeous! I think if it were me, I would make sure to use very simple tile pattern if used the wallpaper (like the 4x4 in the diamond pattern you posted so as not to have them competing against each other). I do also really like that arabesque tile in the other link you posted- one thing you could consider doing if you wanted to utilize different shaped tiles (ei subway plus the arabesque) would be to use them both in white (separated by the pencil liner in the green marble), that way you'd have some interesting shapes without being too busy.