This End Up: Saving The Pink Bathroom

One of the joys of living in an older home is all of the quirky character...laundry chutes, pocket doors, original tile. Consequently, one of the challenges of living in an older home is working with what you have...like original tile that happens to be pink.

When we started, the boys' bathroom was a whole lot of pink and sweetness. Pink sinks, pink tiles, pink toilet, pink tub. And to carry on the theme, the previous owners had left behind their pink gingham shower curtain and pink gingham bath mats. The white walls and white frilly curtains added to the sweetness.

My boys did not appreciate the sweetness.

As you may have gathered from our yellow bathroom remodel, we are not the kind of owners that rip out something that functions perfectly. Namely, because we are cheap and we are paying exhorbitant amounts of money every semester for our son's private engineering college tuition.

But I digress.

The tiles and fixtures in this bathroom are in pristine condition...not a crack or chip to be seen.

The problem was all that pink in a boys' bathroom. How could we neutralize that pink? I decided that the solution was to add a new color. The always exciting, goes-with-everything taupe.

Okay, taupe may not be all that exciting, but it does have the power of neutralizing...like having the perfect combination of acid to base. That was for the engineers out there. :)

If you are thinking of painting a room taupe, you better make sure to grab a LOT of samples from the paint department. Taupe can have so many different undertones. We found some to be too pink (which we were avoiding), some to be too grey, some to be too green or yellow. In the end, we picked a nice tone from Lowe's Historic Preservation colors...Cincinnatian Hotel Beige.

Aaah...lovely!

Thank you, Target, for your Threshold collection! If this shower curtain looks vaguely familiar, that's because I have the same shower curtain in our yellow bathroom...in a perfect yellow and gray combination. When I saw this shower curtain in shades of taupe with just a hint of coral pink, I knew that it would be the perfect thing to tie the taupe in with the pink bathroom.

I think that the taupe has accomplsihed its mission. It says "Sure, I'm a bathroom that happens to feature a lot of pink. But didn't you hear? Pink is the new neutral!"

This is a pretty big bathroom! Double sinks and big linen closet in the first room, separated by a pocket door leading to the shower and toilet.

Gone are the frilly curtains, replaced with a simple white.

I purchased new silver accessories for the bathroom to match the silver fixtures at the sink and the silver hardware on the cabinets. A rockin' dog for some whimsy, and the accessories were complete.

I love living with vintage items, but I try not to make my home a museum. There has to be a happy medium...a mixture of charming old with cool contemporary. I think that was accomplished here.

Now, when I walk past this bathroom, it makes me smile. Not in a "Ha! Ha! The boys have a pink bathroom!" sort of way. Now I smile because the room is soft and serene....and not so pink.

Another vintage bathroom saved from the demolition crew!

(Have you ever visited the website 'Save The Pink Bathrooms!' Yep, there are other folks just like me out there!)