Our 1950s Tile Bathroom Makeover

A low budget led to a creative glow up of our original 1950s tile bathroom.

When we moved into our home, which was built in the late 1950s and had not received much attention since the 70s, the combination of aqua and oxblood tile in our master bathroom was a non negotiable for me— it absolutely had to go. But as glazing the bathroom white fell lower and lower on the priority list (as other house projects became much more pressing) I began to get creative about a solution. In the end, not only am I happy with the outcome, but am thrilled that we’ve been able to preserve the original look of our 1950s tile bathroom.

Our original situation

This was what the bathroom looked like when we moved in. To say it was in need of a makeover is an understatement. It took us about a month after moving in to even open the door and assess the situation. Not only did it look like it had not been used since the 70s, it was so dirty that probably hadn’t been. Grime aside, please note the oppressive tan paint on the walls, the heavy glass shower door and an original toilet (the age of which impressed our plumber when we had it replaced a few months later).

Some fresh paint and many deep cleans later

Within the first year, we made some simple changes to give the bathroom a quick update. We took down the heavy shower door, replaced the toilet, and freshened it up with a coat of leftover white paint. At this time I also decided to embrace the busy colors with a patterned shower curtain and towel set from Crate & Barrel Outlet. It was a bare minimum fix up, which left me still very conflicted about the colors of the original 1950s tile.

Towels, shower curtain, and towel hooks all from Crate and Barrel Outlet.

The final product (for the most part)

I can’t take credit for the pink walls, but they completely transformed the space. My instinct was to either match the oxblood or find a lighter turquoise, but I polled Instagram friends, and those more design-savvy than myself recommended trying a rose colored shade of pink. The shade we ended up using is Benjamin Moore Monticello Rose.

(Side note: I experimented with a sample pot of Farrow and Ball Sulking Room Pink, which I absolutely loved, but opted for the rose color for budget reasons).

To fully embrace our 1950s tile, I played with Hollywood regency elements - adding warm brass hardware to complement the sumptuous rich colors. The black bottles and picture frame add a bit of a contemporary edge. The Matisse cutout print was from an exhibit at the MoMa that I purchased years ago.

Pictured: a framed postcard of Matisse’s Le Bonheur de Vivre, and a brass switch plate from EBay.

Replacing the entire vanity mirror wasn’t an option, so I used Rub N Buff over the chrome frame to match it match the other gold hardware. It was a little strange to work with (it’s basically a wax that had to coat the super slick metal), but it did do the job without too much hassle.

This cafe curtain was repurposed from a bed skirt. I was determined to not spend $40 or more on a window treatment to replace our old mini blinds, so I really scrounged around for a suitable cheap fix. The rod was purchased from Amazon.

In the spirit of transparency and real life, we do have one final step to our small bathroom update: the vanity sink. We’ll be replacing outdated wood piece with a ceramic pedestal sink in the next few months. I’ll update this article once that is done- because that will make a whole lot of difference and make our space complete!

Conclusion

Our master bathroom tile is actually in really great condition— the best condition out of the three bathrooms in our house. I think that perhaps as we reconciled the fact that we’d eventually have to demo our main bathroom, (which is a much easier to reconcile shade of green), we realized that we might want to honor what original elements of the house that we could. And I’m so glad we did.

This space is much more richly colored than the rest of our home, but it doesn’t bother me. Tucked away in a remote corner of our house, it feels like a bit of a luxurious, tiny speakeasy of a space. Honestly I think that’s one of the many beauties of bathroom decorating- they’re so separate from the rest of the house I feel like you can break the rules a bit. Just like I imagine Matisse’s reclining nudes are doing in this painting.