The Dilemma of the 1950's Bathroom

Our house was built in the 1950's, and so we have a 1950's bathroom. If you have one, you will know immediately what I'm talking about. This is the bathroom that doesn't die. To update it, you have to gut it. They weren't messing around back then. Ours is a neutral grey, which is a great improvement over the peach 1950's bathroom at our old house. But the original homeowners thought it would be cute to accent the grey tile on the walls and floor with blue, as in blue bathtub, blue toilet, blue sink, and blue vanity. That's right, when we moved in 2.5 years ago, the original accoutrements were still here. Believe me, we could tell.


Right away we replaced the toilet, the sink, and the vanity. The bathtub we are living with for now, and it is mostly covered by the shower curtain so no biggie. We quickly came to the startling realization that the vanity was built into the wall. As in, when we removed the vanity, there was no finished wall behind it. And the floor was unfinished underneath it too. What the what?? That created an interesting dilemma. Since the original vanity was custom made to fit the space, and we were working with a tight budget, that left exposed floor and exposed wall to deal with. Chris rigged the wall by cutting some drywall to fit and painting it. The floor is another story since we aren't exactly going to be matching tile 60 years later. So the gap is filled with a piece of wood so at least the exposed floor boards aren't showing,and then covered with a rug. There was also ancient wallpaper. Oh the joy! Now we are dealing with broken towel rods that were meant to be permanent fixtures. Hmmm. What were they thinking? Well I guess they were thinking that no one would ever change their mind and want new towel rods.


Eventually we got the wallpaper down and painted the bathroom. I thought it would be a magnificent idea to add some decorative glass tiles, so Chris agreed to put a border up along the ceiling. Which turned out to be a much bigger job than we had anticipated. Oops. We also replaced the medicine cabinet, mirror, and light fixture. So it looks better than it did, but could still use some improvements.


For example, the walls are bare and we need something to spruce it up. We also need some storage space, like shelves or a small cabinet. I'd like to go shopping for bathroom rugs and get something a little more attractive than the plain, generic one we have on the floor now. Our shower curtain is fine, but it would be fun to get something like the one pictured above from the Sinatra Collection, with some coordinating accessories.


Do you have a 1950's bathroom? What color is it? How have you decorated it? I'd love to hear your ideas!