apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I will buy your sink!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why didn't my apartment come with this bathroom? It's so cute! A little leprauchan toilet--I love it!

yeah, i'll take the sink too

I love the vintage bathroom as is, but understand that you want to make it a full bath. This month's Domino (Oct 07) has an excellent "Big Black Book" feature on renovating sources, with some great bathroom recommendations.

I dig the green bath too, but if your home has lots of natural wood, i've seen ceramic floor tiles modeled to look like wood planks.

that's funny, my bathroom is the same thing (house was built in 1950), exact same tile, but my bathroom is pink & black (just the wall tiles). Of course everyone loves it but us, however I was thinking more along the lines of subway tile and 1" grey tiles in the tub area.

Keep it simple. One or two colors tops. The least expensive place I found to buy tile was Bergan Tile in Brooklyn. They have a large inventory and very helpful staff. I would suggest a glass shower guard to keep the space open. You need to research these at places other than the big box stores. Search out smaller glass dealers and you can save some money and still have a good clean look. I am happy to hear that others like the green but I find it worse than the 'pink and black' bathrooms that were put into so many NYC apratments.

I love the green toilet/sink/accessories. Not so much the wall tile or floor.

It looks like a green version of my peach bathroom, but to me, with those particular colors, I'd think that you wouldn't have as difficult a time finding things that would make it look modern without even renovating.

That said... one thing that seems to be popular right now in a vintage look is really one that's from the 1920's or before, with the hexagonal floor tile and the white subway tile, etc. It would be very easy to find things that would go with that kind of look.

Well, it's got to go for several reasons.

1) The tank on the toilet cracked. How? I have no clue! It's not like anyone lifted the lid up, but there you go. So the green toilet's got to go since it constantly drip-drip-drips water on the floor when it's on now.

2) Several tiles are cracked and damaged, and more are coming off the wall. I have a box of extra tiles from the previous owner, but none are from this room. :-P

3) I am dreadfully afraid there is a water leak behind the wall on the left, and getting back there means demoing the wall.

4) It's not a full bath. This serves two bedrooms, and there's not even a shower. There's also no storage with the sink, as cool as it is--no place to put ANYTHING, no drawers, nothing. (I've got two more sinks just like it--a smurf-blue one and a white one without the console part. The white one is staying--it's in a powder room that's staying a powder room. I do think the sinks are totally awesome. This one just ain't working.) It's not the main bathroom, but three people already use that, and considering that we've got guests for a minimum of 2 months of the year ALREADY, it's pretty painful.

5) The green has gotten oppressive over time. It seemed charming and funky at first, but as the months wore on...it's just so GREEN.

I really liked most of the way the bathrooms here looked initially--aside from the smurf-blue one, yikes--but this just isn't working for me right now. I thought about replacing it with something substantially similar--4x4" tile in a better shade of green, for example--but I'm just not feeling it. This sounds crazy, but I won't be able to get a tub, toilet, and sink to match (because of space issues, the sink has to be extra narrow), and that kind of ruins the charm for me! *g* And, plus, I've gotten pretty sick of it being so very, very GREEN.

I promise to salvage the sink when everything goes, though!

I would neutralize the bathroom floor with grey tiles/slate, buy all white bathroom fixtures but really play up the retro color scheme with the wall tile. Subway crystal glass tiles in a medley of bright colors like orange, lime green, brown, yellow, etc. would look really modern but retro.

Salvage as much as you can, please. Your trash is someone else's treasure. There might be someone out there that would love this, (see above) even just 30 unbroken tiles worth. Sell it to your local salvage company or donate to a local Restore, organized by Habitat for Humanity. Thanks.

Wow that's ugly!

I just did a gut rehab of my own bathroom four months ago.

First, before we go tile and fixture shopping, bear in mind you should replace all the pipes and the shower set up in the walls. If the bldg is 50 years old, you might as well do the risers and branch lines as long as you are going to be doing the work. That is going to add several thousand to the expected costs.

That said, I went with the white subway tiles with a cobalt blue bullnose and cobalt pencil stripe between the base cove and the courses of tile. I got the hexagonal floor tile with cobalt blue as the colored piece in the middle.

I also went with retro art deco fixtures, and I have to state the room looks better than I ever could have hoped. The kick in the head is that when I went to the tile store I had no idea what I wanted, but I spoke with Joan (Jane?) from Scotland at Chelsea Tile on 15th Street, and in 45 minutes we had the whole thing planned out.

Soup to nuts including new fixtures, toilet, tub, pipe, risers, tile ... $17,000, and it looks great.

I'm trying to stay away from subway tiles. Those are really 20 years too early, and they're so trendy right now that I have a feeling that in another decade they'll be out again. There's no way I'm going to be redoing this thing again...

I really, really want to stay more 1940s-60s than 1900s-20s!

Is it just me, or is that sink TOTALLY charming? I love it! I might design the rest of the room around that piece in a vintage modern style (check out sfgirlbybay's blog and Amy Butler's "Found Style" for inspiration). Also, check out frecklwonder.com's blog section to see what they are doing with their home.

We just tiled the floor in the loft I'm renovating/staging - it came out pretty cool and it was fairly inexpensive:

http://flickr.com/photos/71696744@N00/1444008456/

Mid-C modern is tricky for a bathroom. I think you can get the flavor of it with light fixtures and perhaps a shower curtain, while using more contemporary tub, sink, and toilet. Or, check out "Tile as Wallpaper" in this month's Domino magazine - it might inspire you to do up the whole room in a fabulous tile pattern from that era.

I'm really big on using very simple, inexpensive, durable fixtures and materials in the best possible way. Let the pleasure and luxury of a bathroom come from really practical, precise, well thought-out design rather than showy, trendy materials.

For example, one can get basic glazed 4.25" wall tiles for less than a buck a square foot, and while they may not be the fancy Waterworks stuff, they can still look damned good if carefully installed.

Stick with timeless, proven materials. I hate seeing some showhouse bathroom that cost five figures to install that's been done entirely with some faux stone glazed porcelain tile that's barely in style now, and will just look hopelessly dated in a mere decade.

If you have a desire for some special, higher-end materials, use them sparingly, where they'll really count. Instead of doing an entire bathroom in some imported mosaic tile, save it for an end-wall around the sink, or someplace else where it can be showcased.

I love fixtures from Chicago Faucet Company. Practical and handsome, they're a fraction of the price of something from Grohe, and they'll last decades.

Worry about the fundamentals first. The best possible and longest-lasting tub/shower installation. It's the thing that get's the hardest daily use, and it's the thing that's hardest to replace, so it should be built to last and be easy to clean and maintain. By contrast, toilets and vanities can be pretty easily replaced down the road.

If you're just dying for touches of the latest trends and fashions, then incorporate them as special flourishes that can be easily replaced down the road. If you grow weary of some super-arty/trendy wall sconces, they're easily swapped out in a few years. If you're just DYING to have one of those sinks shaped like a bowl set atop the vanity that's all the rage right now, just make sure that replacing it requires no more effort than disconnecting the plumbing.

I know what you mean about too much green. I had this thing about white walls - I used to hate them. I was so happy when my current apartment had beige walls. The problem is, is that with the apartment carpet, the walls, and my dark-wood furniture, everything looks brown, brown, brown. Needless to say, I long for the days of crips white walls and am now in the process of painting the entire place white. Good luck with your bathroom. I could see how it would be charming for the first month or so but after that, I would want a change.

I did some poking around to see if I could find some inspiration photos for you:

http://www.moda.mdx.ac.uk/tellingtales/aids/1950/1950bathrms.htm

Browse these ads and you'll get some more ideas:
http://www.plan59.com/decor/decor_01.htm

I think that a modified version of this (particularly colors) would be kind of cool.
http://www.plan59.com/decor/decor052.htm

Honestly, I think that in 50's bathrooms it's really the colors that stood out. It may be lame, but 4x4 tiles in another color (I myself prefer white) and a cool marmoleum floor would look great.

Good Luck & Have Fun!
J

>Honestly, I think that in 50's bathrooms it's really the colors that stood out.

Yup. And the colors were usually yellow, green, pink, or blue. That's my problem! :-) I just can't do that.

But since the place is 50's *modern*, I'm thinking maybe I can go with the 50s and forget the bathroom. Like maybe I could cue off wall treatments like this:

http://www.plan59.com/decor/decor023.htm

with a wall tile like this:

http://www.porcelanosa-usa.com/productdetails.asp?proddet=1126&srcfrom=Catalog&pageid=6

And perhaps this for the floor:

BRP-3010 on http://www.auc-tile.com/catalog/pennyround.html

This will give it more of a retro-y feel, with the blend of 40s and mid-century modern that's in the rest of the place.

I don't know, though. I'm just not quite feeling it.

The rest of the place will soon have wood floors, so I don't want to do wood-look tile on the floors--on the walls, though, might be cool.

Oh and the loft remodel is really cool! I like the floor. :-)

I rented this 1950s house in southern california..and it too had the same green bathrooms! Green sink, green toilet, green tub! The worst part was the wicker/rattan/wood toilet seat and toilet seat cover... ugh.

I liked the green otherwise tho :)

I did find the whole bathroom too darkly lit, so my suggestion would be to go clean and white (with some color accents of course)

Can I buy some of the top molding tiles when you take them down? I am just to the point of replacing a medicine cabinet in my bath (we have the same colors!) and the old cabinet was recessed into the trim.

I also though I remembered a place AT listed a long time ago that would match a tile sample - does anyone have their contact info?

I know the fun is on the ddesign, but you need to know some infrastructure issues first. What to expect, and budget for:

Walls:
If you take off tile, does it have a thick mortar bed? If so, as my apt did, you might want to pull those off and reclaim an inch on the walls. If it's a prewar - chances are it's a floating mortar wall on metal lath. lots of dust, demo, and garbage.

Shower:
insist on cement backerboard in the shower. don't let contractor talk you into greenboard. that is nasty mold-harboring stuff which is no longer building code as of 2007.

Floor:
right way is to take up the hex tiles. fast way is to put tiles over it. If you take up the hex tiles, be ready to re-pour concrete. If you don't have wood joists, don't be afraid. If do you have wood joists, pull up that toilet fast and get to it.

Fixtures:
know what the toilet rough-in is. Definitely swap out old pipes and get new valves. You DO NOT want a future leak after the fancy tiles get put in.
It's a good idea to put in an access panel behind shower bodies to make future problems easier to solve. put it on the wall in the next room.

I honestly don't know how much of the tile is going to survive. It'll be a good six months, at least, until I'm elbow-deep in this remodel. Most probably will, since it looks like I can pop them off by hand. *crosses eyes* I'll try to save what I can, though--I'll post on an open thread with what I've got, okay?

The walls weren't floated out--no horribly thick mud bed to deal with. It was built in 1965. The floor was put on directly to the slab with, I think, just a very thin layer of thinset. The wall tile appears to be--I kid you not--GLUED to the gypsum. Goodness knows how it's held up for 40 years, but there you go.

This is going to be my 5th bathroom remodel. :-) I have a rule that I only want to remodel a given bathroom ONCE ever, but I guess no rule about how many bathrooms total I'll remodel. I've done a lot of the work in the past and probably will with this one, too, since the slab is beautifully level. My guess on this bathroom was five days of plumbing work, and a plumber who wanted to do T&M estimated 3-5 days, so I'm guessing that I'm getting pretty good at estimating time and costs. (I'm not going to go with him, though. Among other things, he uses CPVC for waterlines in remodels, and I much prefer PEX. Also, I seem to know more about a couple of the other plumbing issues I want resolved, which doesn't give me much confidence here.)

I'm going to be putting hardiboard up even on the non-shower walls. I know I'm really silly, BUT there's something about adhering tile to a paper backing that I can't wrap my mind around.

I love the wall tile and the floor. If it's in good shape, I'd keep that, and add new fixtures. I don't love the green toilet & sink (is the tub green too?). I have a similar vintage bathroom in the pink version that is going to need to be gutted as soon as I scrape together the loose change...it has not unfortunately held up well, but the pink is somehow worse in my eyes than the green.

Bruised - your comments make so much sense - I'm trying to find a designer who "gets" the points you make - you're not one, are you :-)? Creativity and knowing what you can fake and where you need to spend money are things that are hard to find in a world that values pricetags and trendiness.

Dorsalfin - thanks for the hard won tips!

Since you're doing a total bathroom remodel. I would suggest installing a pocket entry door. This will save you so much hassle with space planning and living with the finished bathroom will be easier.

There's no place for a pocket door--it would stick out into the adjoining rooms! I'm actually stealing hall space and a 38"x70" section of the adjoining room to add the tub, so it's not going to get more crowded. You can't tell there, but the room is actually 7' deep, so there isn't a problem with door swing, anyway.

Bruised--You're quite right. My previous remodels were deliberately "quiet" and very understated, but I don't want to throw away tons of money and have it look like crap because I went ooooo-see-the-pretty-coooooolors or jumped at the nearest trend.

I think I've decided on pebbles for the floor and possibly the shower surround, but I may end up going with 4x4" white tiles for the walls. I haven't yet decided.

Thanks, everybody!

Try using pebble tile to enchance the look of your floor or walls!

A similar product is also available fromNatural Pebble Tile

Good luck!

I recently had this same problem when renovating my loft in Tribeca, when a real estate agent friend of mine gave me the number of a contractor he knew. It was difficult for me to believe that a "20 something" had the experience to handle the job, but now I'm a believer. He's excellent and has excellent references. He gave me a fair price and did perfect work. I've given his name to all of my friend. I recommend anyone in need calls him. His name is John Wilson and his number is 610-509-2794. Tell him Tovah sent you. Good luck!