’80s Bathrooms So Good, We Hope No One Ever Remodels Them

Eighties design seems poised on the verge of a comeback—but since it hasn’t come back just yet, it still has some of that appealing strangeness that vintage designs have before they get recycled by Urban Outfitters.

One aspect of ’80s design I find especially strange and especially appealing is ’80s bathrooms, places where the extravagance typical of the decade takes on delightfully absurd proportions. If sunken tubs, wall-to-wall carpet, and bathrooms the size of a loft apartment sound good to you, you’ll find plenty to love here.

Above: Even Barbie might deem this bathroom, with its open fireplace, greenhouse windows, and pink soaking tub over the top. I love it. From The International Collection of Interior Design (1985), via Elegant Dirtbag.

This sunken tub even has built-in benches around its perimeter, so you can soak with friends. Ultimate luxury. Image from Sunset’s Planning & Remodeling Kitchens & Bathrooms (1988).

Like something you would see on a luxury spaceship. From The International Collection of Interior Design, via Apartment Therapy.

I never thought I would love something so unashamedly teal, but that elegant sunken tub (almost like a reflecting pool!) has captured my heart. Image from The Decorating Book (1981), via The Style Con.

In the ’80s, there was no such thing as a bathroom that was too big. Case in point: this elegant example from Sunset’s Planning & Remodeling Kitchens & Bathrooms (1988), via Mirror80.

A truly enormous soaking tub, surrounded by plants, in an ’80s bathroom spotted on AnOther Mag.

If you’ve always dreamed of submerging yourself in a tub shaped like an ameoba…well, this it it. From Renovation Style (1986), via Apartment Therapy.

And finally, from Sight Unseen, an ’80s bathroom from Memphis, the design group that defined the look of the era. Totally rad.