Fun bathroom challenge around a pink bath

last year

last modified: last year

Looking to do a bathroom update, keeping the original 50s pink drop-in bath. The house is a coastal weatherboard beach house.

I am first and foremostly stuck on what tiles would work on the bath itself.

Thinking modern Mediterranean look or Grey tiled (with white tapware)- open to any other ideas however.

Would a matching pink basin tie it in nicely, or too predictable?

Grey

modern Mediterranean

Featured Answer

bigreader

last year

Definitely not grey. That would be very dated. I’d use a mainly white Matt tile on surfaces adjoining the bath. A timber vanity with a pink basin. If you can find suitable pink tiles then use them as a feature. I tried to keep a custard coloured very similar bath in a bathroom renovation once. I had great plans. In reality when it was done it looked like a half baked renovation where I ran out of money. I ended up pulling it out and adding a white one.

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Comments (22)

PRO
CHRISTINE HALL ARCHITECTS LTD
last year
It might be hard to get a basin to match the old pink bath but if you did some pink tiles on a wall away from the bath, because tiles are a different material to the bath, it wont matter if the colour is slightly different. White and grey will go with the pink, even if it sounds a bit '80's'!!!

I'm not normally a pink person but some of the hand made look tiles with several tones look really lovely.

C.
jen876
last year
My childhood bathroom was tiled in that exact shade of pink (built 1956) and from memory it was a blue based pink. The pink that's in fashion now seems to be coral/ orange based and would clash.

I'm not sure what modern colour scheme would match the Barbie pink tub.

The bath tub in my old bathroom was a bright sky blue, and the accent tiles were pure black with the pink floor to ceiling tiles, a feast for the senses 😆 but probably not what you're going for.
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The house looks very livable. I love that you have concentrated on creating one nice bath with separate walk in shower and a windowed tub! Since you have already thought of it, I'm going to assume that the attic is for future expansion and cannot be adapted for use as the current "away room." We are also in the process of designing a small house, and we've designated our study as the "away room." Ours will open off the dining room. If you switched the locations of the Study and Bed 1 on the same side, you could put french doors or an extra wide door with etched or decorative glass from the hallway into the right hand corner of the study. This would give you a really long diagonal view through the lounge and out the french doors, and from the lounge through the study to the window at the far end... The study window should be increased in width to match the neighboring window in Bed 1, and it then becomes ripe for a small window seat, either a clip on bay bumping out, or a "built-in" bay using narrow built ins on either side. Or both: build "in" for now, putting file cabinet drawers under the window seat, and angled corner units in for storage, and add the bump out bay later when you know whether your offspring would prefer a really cute desk, or a window seat, or a bed nook. You would, alas, lose the door from Bed 1 into the bath.... but honestly, there are lot of doors into that bathroom already, and that one has substantial collision potential. It might be best to make the single access point that door from the laundry. Either a glass panel set high in the bath room doors or a transome would make it easy to tell when someone is in the loo. Other ideas would be to split the nook under the stairs, so that half the depth opens to the lounge, and the other half to Bed2... with the wall thickness, you probably get close to 600mm or 2' on each side. Add a deep bookcase or other built in, and you're easily at a depth that makes both spaces very tucked in. Lastly, if funds allow a shallow bay window over the kitchen sink would visually expand the kitchen, particularly if you could arrange it so that the counter runs right into the bay.
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Kate
last year
Some ethos of the colour elsewhere in bathroom would be good. If u can match the basin to bath go for it.
Kate
last year
Oops ignore the kitchen image
ineka gow
Original Author
last year
Thanks everyone, this has all been incredibly useful advice, it’s most definitely a challenge and I want to think carefully to make it potentially work for another few decades.

@bigreader your point about the half-baked reno is my biggest fear- although I wanted to try and pay homage to the original bath I’m concerned it will just look cheap

I’ll work a bit longer on your (great) ideas. I am thinking matt white/off white Kit Kat/finger tiles around the bath, wet room shower area at least or potentially the whole bathroom like the picture I posted above. If I can’t find an exact match on a basin, I will have a pink splashback behind a white basin on timber vanity. I’ve found some nice zellige ones that have variation but still fit within the pink bath colour range. With tonal/natural flooring to bring down the pink/white.

Do you have any thoughts on tapware? White, brushed brass or brushed nickel?
Kate
last year
Sounds great. You will need to look at how the taps tone in with the bath and tiles they are against. The white might be too blah and the brass could be too warm. But you will need to consider all options. Even black.
siriuskey
last year
This by melaniejadedesigne.com
bigreader
last year
Aged or brushed brass for the tsp ware. Looks great with pink.
Julie Herbert
last year
Love the brushed brass tap ware, terrazzo tiles would look beautiful, maybe a pink tiled wall or all white for a stylish look, love the pink bath. Finding a pink basin to compliment it would look stunning, look at Abi interiors for inspiration.
User
last year
I hate grey , but even ignoring that , what style are you doing the rest of the house , and how much space do you have in the bathroom , and are you doing a renovation there , or just tiles ? Are you keeping the shower over the bath ? A seperate shower in the room ? A seperate shower somewhere else ?

The reason I ask is because your inspiration pic is quite modern in style , whereas the bath style and colour aren't . Like you , I dread it would look thrown together .

In all honesty , unless you are completely stripping and redoing the room , if most or all of it is okay at present , all I'd do is change the grout to black , and probably the taps to a gloss black too , or maybe go a brushed rose gold on the tapware if you want to give a modern vibe . A thousand dollars and minimal work . Geez I'm cheap AND lazy !
ineka gow
Original Author
last year
Yes im redoing the whole bathroom. The (rough) sizes can be seen in the plan above. And yes the shower will be moved as in the plans. The house is a coastal weatherboard house so I am going a natural look; and im seeing a lot of pinks with natural looking tiles as in Julie Herbert’s post above. I would consider changing the grout (and tapware and vanity) but the dark blue tiles on the floor just irk me and have to go!
PRO
Lauren Shiels Interior Design
last year
Hello,

Oh yey! I love you are keeping the bath! :) This is very fun. Consider the style of the rest of your home and how you want your bathroom to feel but just going from the information given,

here are a couple of configurations:

1. Go for a simple pale pink tile to compliment the bath, on the vanity wall and white everywhere else with a timber vanity

2. Go for copper fittings with a soft grey tile everywhere else and timber vanity, pink bowl.

3. Terrazo bathroom with a pink or white tap.
Stacey Olszewski
last year
The white tiles look great I would keep them and go with a pink basin
siriuskey
last year
After looking at your floorplan I would move the vanity to allow better space for the shower/bath and to keep it from getting wet. This will give you a longer vanity if wanted with open shelves beside the WC and a longer space for towel rail and hooks to hang things on.
Pamela Banks
last year
I too am looking to do up a bathroom with a pink bath with the most delicious porcelain spout. I have looked for pearlescent tiles hopefully subway type and found some that I think would look great. They are not all the same colour which should work more easily with existing tiles. I hope that the basin in the ABI ad might work and also their type of tapware. I would consider the black or brushed matt brass. I am adding a new shower and have to remove the mosaic tiled vanity and have yet to decide what top to use. The floor is amazing pale blue, white, grey and pink small mosaics which are in great condition so they will stay. I am very keen to see how your room ends up. I won't start mine till after November so will post pics then. Thanks for sharing everyone.
PRO
CHRISTINE HALL ARCHITECTS LTD
last year
Hi,

Just a couple of final comments. I don't think it will look cheap if you keep the bath, if it is done well. There have been some great suggestions for you to consider.

The herringbone floor tile you originally posted looks quite peach in tone and that would not work with the tone of the bath. If you are adding any pink to the room, try to keep on neutral to blue side of pink rather than neutral to yellow. Essentially I think by keeping the bath, whilst modernising the room, you need to have a 'nod' the the art deco origins of the bath. The terrazzo or small mosaic Bisazza like tiles will help with that. The Zellige wall tiles can have a similar impact and although there may be a few peacher tones in the mix of those tiles, you cabn select those out if you order more than you need. Use them somewhere else, like a laundry splashback! The coloured tiles could be a feature wall or the floor and then balance the cost of those with a simple white tile elsewhere. Be careful of using a brick bond tile pattern as that is reminisent of times pre dating the bath and you want to bring the room forward in time.

Tapware is a bit tricky. I'm not a fan of black as I think it is a fashion that will fade and generally black will mark in a wet area that may have calcification or with cleaning products over time. Copper would look cool if you can afford it and brushed brass would work nicely too. It depends on what other metals you have around. What door handles are you having? You can make the bathroom different to the rest of the house if you want but don't mix and match in the one room.

Good luck and post photos when done.

Christine.
Kath
last year
Unless your can find a pink basin that matches the bath really closely, I wouldn't use a pink basin. It will look like you tried to match but didn't quite! Agree completely about white tiles near the bath and most other walls. Some pink tiles as a feature - could be a pale pink as in Lauren's first photo, or else tiles that are in a variety of pinks, as in the photo below. (Sorry the photo looks really large as I post it. Hopefully it will reduce when posted.)
Kath
last year
I was just reading the latest Houzz magazine and I came across this link to pink bathrooms. Might inspire you.

https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/pink-australia-bathroom-design-ideas-phbr2-bp~t_10591~a_88-0~r_2077456
Pamela Banks
last year
Artisan have a range of gorgeous iridescent pink tiles in squares and subway shapes. I will certainly be looking at these as they are not uniform in colour and should help blend in with the existing pink shade in the bathroom I am moving to. It may help to contact them as I spoke with them I asked if I could hand pick the tiles and that would not be a problem. I am not sure where all their showrooms are but Havelock North is where the person I spoke with was from. There is a lovely PDF brochure on the site. I am looking forward to my challenge and if I can't recycle the basin I will look at the pink vessel that is in an ABI interior shot. It is made in Australia.
Jimb Omm
last year
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55a6db15e4b0e1dc20a88e7e/1546167389811-SMNUS8B64MB5U5PS51ZL/DAP00035Rev2_3000pxl72.jpg?format=1000w

Just something a bit different
All Surface Renew
last year
Omg! This looks great and the look of bathroom is just great and beautiful. As a professional remodeler, I really like this. If someone wants to learn more about bathroom/bathtub refinishing, remodeling, and resurfacing then see this.

https://allsurfacerenew.com/