apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The only time I like pink for a guy is occasionally as a dress shirt. So why not go with that sort of idea? Super preppy. Maybe touches of kelly green and chocolate brown? An ironic portrait? Or bits of blue? This is such a hard one. That is not a boy's bathroom.

But I think a sort of Ralph Lauren, Thomas Pink idea is the best option. I think the sink gives you a good start in that direction.

Use black as an accent. Try for a 50's look or Art Deco style with lots of chrome mirrors etc. Try for a style to take the "edge" off the pink.

Navy blue or brown would work. You're right that pink-and-black is too Coco Chanel.

Chocolate brown everywhere especially in a really sophisticated cloth shower curtain and some high end towels and accessories. When paired with brown you'll be confused and think the pink is a really warm tan.

Bamboo toilet seat and mocha towelling. Also a marble or bamboo tray on the toilet with a couple of distinctly masculine items (cufflinks?).

Go GRAY, not black.

Pretend you're putting together a swank business suit with a starched pink shirt (very Wall Street!). You want straight, clean lines in your accessories (that room has plenty of curves already) -- menswear tweed, herringbone, or heather textures (I know I've seen gray heather towels) -- and if you want a pattern with pink, think about the kinds of small, repeating prints you see on conservative neckties.

I gotta go with the chocolate brown recommendation. Maybe even some wood floor decking or a wooden bathmat. Also, swap out the light switch with a dimmer.

Ooh, yes, gray -- dark, but not too close to black -- or chocolate brown. Yum.

Chocolate brown. Grey and pink will make it scream 1986.

"Now - keep in mind that this is a rental, so I can't permanently change anything. Thanks!"

Are you sure? I am surprised the amounts of time I have had friends say the same thing, but when I urge they ask, the landlords were reasonably interested in the changes, especially if they didn't have to pay for them and especially when they involved improvements to the place. Price is another issue, but I've seen where people have painted tiles and they have looked nice.

However, if you really can't make any permanent changes, I like Garrett's color suggestions, chocolate brown for sure.

Go chocolate brown for sure! And pin-up girl artwork!

Oh, I second wende's idea of grey, which is exactly what I was going to suggest--echoing a men's suit. I'd add accents in charcoal grey (dark, but light enough so it doesn't look like black), maybe even pinstripes if you can find, and some crisp white.

I used to have the same color pink tile bathroom in L.A. where I lived with my boyfriend. Can you paint? If so, the rug in your pic could be a step in the right direction. We painted the walls a deep army/olive green, then added a couple framed vintage 1950s Hawaiian surf and hula girl posters for a west-coast retro feel. Admittedly, the look can turn horribly "theme-y" if overdone (so go minimal, big, & authentic-vintage with the art), but it helped make the room a gender-neutral space.

i don't have an answer because i think that bathroom will look girly no matter what accent color you add to it. but personally -- i would love to have a bathroom like that!

Brown towels with a pinstripe, if you can find them. You need a darker, deeper color to balance the pink. Also, why not paper the walls above the tiles with a masculine brown-and-cream/white pinstripe paper? Ralph Lauren has bunches of that. Or maybe a brown-and-cream David Hicks-style geometric, though on the small scale.

Brooklynnia --that's exactly what I was thinking while reading this entire thread: charcoal with pinstripes! Would make a great shower curtain. I suppose navy could also work. I like james947's chrome details idea, too.

I strongly dislike brown in bathrooms, esp towels. Makes me think I'm wiping my hands/face on a dirty towel.

I think the suggestions for chocolate brown will make the look too Neopolitan. Plus, that combo can be pretty girly. I see cutesy stationery sets in those colors all the time.

That said, I think dark gray or blue would work ok.

I thought brown, and/or dark olive green before I read any of the comments. Its definitely way pretty for a boy!
If the tile go to plain wall above the white line, hang a large piece of masculine art, to take the eye up from the pink below.

I like the idea of grey if you want to go more muted. What about charcoal grey and saddle brown? And then mixing in some wood and leather accessories. What about somehow mounting an old school shaving kit to the wall? There's nothing more masculine than that. And an old black and white or sepia photo of a man with a moustache and spectacle in a rustic wood frame hinged with black iron. Think Teddy Roosevelt Lit by an edison lightbulb. I still think this room needs a sense of humor about it to really work, otherwise it will always be the "I wish they weren't pink tiles" bathroom. I don't know what type of mirror you have in there now, but that's a great opportunity to define the tone of the space too. Rustic brown and clean grey. Would love it if you could actually cover the walls in some sort of charcoal grey suiting material, but it'd be a huge project. And then a brown leather band between that and the tiles, as if a belt. I don't know why, all of the suddent this bathroom excites me ha.

A teak bath mat, waste basket, toothbrush holder and tray for on top of the toilet tank would help squash the pink. I've seen some great teak bath accessories at some decent prices on Ebay. Love the menswear-inspired ideas. I think this could be a pretty easy transformation to pull off.

I think you have to ugly it up to make it work for a guy.

I like the chocolate brown, but I think a very dark olive green could be cool.

I'm assuming you could make some changes to the room the super would be okay with and would make a big difference like the towel rack, sink fixture and toilet seat.

I knew there was a reason I wasn't going for all the chocolate brown and pink suggestions--it had some association I couldn't quite pinpoint, but catiaelizabeth nailed it: Neopolitan ice cream! Esp. with the white too. Would all feel too ice cream parlor-ish.

How to make it look masculine?

Pee on the toilet seat.

Maybe go for something bold, such as a modern geometric wallpaper - if it suits your style. It will "hush" the pink tile and add a bit more masculinity or at least modernity to the bathroom. The pink isn't such a terrible shade...I have seen worse (such as the pepto bismol shade). There are some great wallpaper sources on this site. Once you choose a design you like, pick one of the darker colors out of it and find some towels, bath mat/accessories in that color to pull it together. Good Luck

http://www.ferm-living.com/

Dude... you can wallpaper that room with NFL penants, and it will still be "girly." And not an elegant, sophisticated girl, but like Molly Ringwald in "Sixteen Candles" girl.

If I were you I would just embrace the pink porcelain throne and and just play it up. I envision a palette of fuscia, orange sherbert, beige, pale yellow and pewter. Don't try to throw in arbitrary "masculine" elements (like that forest green rug), because it will just indicate that you are trying too hard. Embrace your inner princess!

I suggest you ask the landlord nicely
(pretty please with a cherry on top).

Is it OK if I glaze the wall tiles white with a professional service and I would be happy to pay for it.

The glaze usually lasts a minumum of 10 years.
The work only costs a couple of hundred dollars to do.

You can remind the owner it wil look cleaner and modern.

I hope your floors are not pink mosaics.

I am in nyc and did the same thing.

I used al and dave a staten island company that has insurance.

If you don't glaze, the first thing I thought others have mentioned--charcoal grey, and something in pinstriped menswear suiting fabric for the shower curtain, black leather baskets and things for towels, and I can't see what the lighting is, but if you switch it out if you can for something very sleek and modern (i.e. if there is a 3-bulb vanity light or something prissy looking, remove it), I think that would also help. I think the olive green on the floor is just emphasizing the pink... Maybe a different toilet seat---the floral has got to go!

A single guy with a great apartment? Maybe what the girly bathroom needs is a girl! Have your friend drop me a line: allison639 at yahoo.

Failing getting the landlord to go along with glazing as some others suggested and I would too suggest, perhaps you could just cover it up? Use that foam adhesive strip stuff to adhere 12x12 slate, ceramic or even mirrored tiles over the ugly pink ones. You could probably even go Asian inspired and put up reed or bamboo matting. Finish either off with a bit of trim adhered with the same adhesive; if you go mirrored with maybe a chrome strip, with the matting a piece of bamboo, or with the tiles with a richly stained wooden rail.

I don't know what you'll do with that toilet though. Maybe the landlord might let you glaze that? Maybe it could have an "accident" and your friend could replace it with a fresh white one? Either way that seat must go, but please don't go with a tacky wood one or, even worse, one of those nasty cushioned ones!

Other than that, accent with simple and few accessories; a nice painting or print, a basket with towels, a shaving bowl and brush, a cloth shower curtain with chrome hooks, etc. Keep it simple and uncluttered and clean and it will be fine.

benjamin moore: pale sea mist or any flat, pale grayed sage.

bath towels:
http://www.restorationhardware.com/rh/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod1361037&navCount=2

poster over toilet: polishposters.com.....one option below.
http://www.polishposter.com/html/poster0725.html
simple wood frame.....

new toilet seat; present one is too decorative. you can create pattern with 1/4 inch tape and spray paint toilet seats with automotive paints......

i agree with bamboo or teak shelving or accessories. succulents thrive in the bathroom, and look substantial and masculine. too "matchy" = too feminine. make the shower curtain......lots of interesting textures out there, and top-stitching(in deep orange) on a textured neutral will look look practical, useful, masculine.

Hunh, interesting. How much money do you have to work with? Perhaps you could hot glue dark-finished wood veneer to the tiles to make panelling in the lower tile area. The hot glue should come off the tiles when it is time to move and you could probably glue just the sides of the pieces. It would be a pain to cut around the existing fixtures, but might be worth it.

Or cheaper options, er- reed fencing found in the gardening section, bamboo rugs, maybe grass mats like those used on the beach (polyurethaned)??

I also keep thinking contact paper in the dark wood grain, but that would probably look tacky, espcially over such a large area! Maybe if it is in stripes with the stainless steel look contact paper?! Ha, or maybe not...

Dark curtains over the lower tiled area? Kind of hard with the number of fixtures and radiator though...

If you can cover the lower tiles then all you have to contend with is the pink toilet, since the sink is fortunately white... Good luck with that one- maybe one of those tacky carpeted covers for the tank and top?!

Oooo, I know- hot glue faux leather vinyl to the lower tiled area!
:)

I think if you accent with black its going to look like a victorias secret store or agent provacateur and not at all masculine. Its pink, there's no denying/hiding it....but you can certainly try to draw the focus away from it. Go with grays/charcoals a great piece of artwork (masculine themed??) with a touch of the pink color or complementary hue in it will even help. Otherwise, I would suggest going with all neutral shades and incorporating natural textures, bamboos, grasses, woven materials and try to make a serene, spa-like space.

Oh, gosh. I can totally relate to the pink tile. It must have been on sale 50 years ago. We have it in three bathrooms...well only 1 now. Loved ripping it out!

Since you can't do that, you should try installing some BEADBOARD and make it look like WAINSCOTING. Just stick a piece of moulding at the top. Beadboard is relatively cheap so it wouldn't be that big of a deal to cut around it and such.

Don't try to work with pink. I love it, but it SUCKs in the bathroom...especially for a guy. Yikes!

I am in the same predicament - a rental with hideous pink tile .. only mine has the added bonus of having a subtle textured pattern.

After agonizing what color my shower curtain would be (as a basis for my color scene) I went with a CLEAR plastic shower curtain and to counteract the pink-ness of the bathroom, I went with steel/charcoal grey's and blues that have a dark-grey tone base for my towels and bathmat. And to futher reinforce the grey, my trashcan and toothbrush holder are all metal.

The trick with the masculine/feminine though was 1. keeping it simple and not overly decorated 2. having masculine patterns in my towelset 3. keeping the same tone of grey/black throughout the color scheme

I strongly do not recommend the brown. I tried it. And because they both have the same color base, it either brought out the "pinkness" of the room or looked like two tones of foundation.

Always leave the toilet seat up...

One more thing...and this goes for pretty much everyone. The color gray is spelled GRAY not grey. Sorry, pet peeve of mine.:)

So Holly, what actually is grey?

I like the suggestions of treating the pink tile like it's a pink botton down dress shirt, and decorating the rest of the bathroom like a masculine suit. Garrett and Wende are on the money.

Hmm........I think golden/mustard, medium olive green, with a little brown as accent would all look great together in that bathroom.

The gold/mustard would make the pink look more like a salmon color, I think, which isn't as feminine.

These towels from jcpenney have the colors I'm thinking of:
http://tinyurl.com/2b7no8

Oh! I think this shower curtain would tie the gold/olive/pink/brown together REALLY well:

http://tinyurl.com/2d6u5j

I'd paint the walls the gold color, with the olive and brown for the towels.

Please do not glue ANY kind of paneling or other cover-up over the tiles......you'll have mold and mildew growing like crazy behind them within a week.

In Britain (and what was once called the Commonwealth) it's grey; in the United States, it's gray. Considering Audrey Hepburn's choices of residence....

I don't think pink is inherently feminine, though it's not a favorite of mine. If it were my space, I'd work with either taupe or medium grey. (Sorry, Holly, but I favor standard received.)

However, that sort of pink is common to both the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Why not something that's sort of Aloha/Hawaiian shirt?

I'm a guy. I've had an apartment with a pink bathroom. You can go turquoise with gray and/or black accents. That will give it a 50s look. If that's not your thing, go with a mustang red. The pink will look like "light red" instead of girlie pink.

(get rid of that ugly floor mat)

I would not suggest covering up the tile, as it will only bring more attention to the pink toilet that remains.

Also, both grey and gray are correct. I once had a professor explain that gray referred to warm tones and grey referred to cool tones.

Brown will only make it look more feminine...think Target's trendy dorm bedding. Please use gray. Start with a great clean, true gray paint. Accent with a crisp gray linen shower curtain thats longer than the usual curtains. Use plush gray towels and a coordinating bath mat. Surely you could swing a couple hundred for a white toilet (Toto, cotton white), it would really help the sink out. If the towel bars and soap dish can be replaced without leaving holes in the tile, use brushed nickel or chrome instead. You can also replace the little storage cart with a thin brown "real" wood cabinet.
Brands to note... Ralph Lauren, Pratt & Lambert (both for paint)... Restoration Hardware & Crate & Barrel (towels, bath mat, shower curtain.

that would be correct cantabrigian1 and jonathanB... Grey vs. gray... Sorry Holly I have a design degree.

Uses browns and/or grays, and include argyle (yes, 80's, and still a bit modern) that includes pinks and creams.

Red would not make the pink look "light red" sorry.

Charcoal grey is genius (I lived in London for a while Holly), but I still say dark olive green would work too. Don't try for retro.

LOL! You all are too funny. I have a design degree, too! (And I'm probably much older than you as well.) But, of course, I'm dead in the ground (considering that I AM actually Audrey Hepurn come back to life. Oooooooo (those are ghost sounds) Ooooooo, I'm so scary!!!

And also, paneling would not create an excessive amount of mold (people do it all the time). And my husband is a contractor (who has done it before). No mold...looked great, actually.

Okay, I'm sorry about the gray, grey thing. I said it in jest. Didn't mean to upset anyone. (But it is gray.;)

Holly.......what is "an excessive amount of mold"?? IMO, ANY amount is too much.

If I was the owner, I'd pay the renter to paint that bathroom!!
I think it's worth asking the owner if you can use tile paint to paint the bathroom white or a different neutral color. Worse they can say is no.

Oh please- there won't be mold. Especially if all the wood is sealed front and back. Use common sense- if you have a bathroom that is always damp and holds the moisture, don't do it. If your bathroom is larger and has decent ventilation there won't be mold. People are putting beadboard on bathrooms all of the time. Why try to fight pink tile if you can cover it up easily (and reverse it)?

In Canada, it's "grey". I know I'm a little late to the party, but seriously...it's ridiculous that Americans insist on creating their own interpretations of British English, and then proclaim that the new way is correct.