August 12, 2004

5:15 AM

DecoratorEyeFilter: what can I do about my bathroom? The pro is that the house is 50-ish years old and the wall and floor tiles are actual ceramic. The con is that they're PINK. Can anyone suggest some miraculous color for the non-tile walls above waist height that will reduce the atrociousness of PINK? I have considered grey, as one of the worst villains in the Rex Stout detective stories had an underground bunker/office with grey-stained wood panel walls and pink indirect lighting around the ceiling, but for all I know this color combo was chosen to show how warped and evil mr. villain was. Also, the way it's described, mr. villain's pink was a lot more subdued than the PINK I have to face each morning. Plaster and shower curtain are just white now. Should I just grit my teeth and live with it? The preferred solution (ripping everything out and re-doing it) is not a financial option. Hoping for a stroke of genius from of the many geniuses who hang out here. Thanks!
(PS, yes I also considered black, sorry, I'm chicken.)
posted by jfuller to (24 comments total)

You might consider reglazing. This is a great option for turning a pink tub white. I am pretty sure that you can reglaze tiles as well. I do not know how well the floor tiles would wear. Perhaps someone who knows more can chime in.
posted by caddis at 5:26 AM on August 12, 2004

You might be able to reglaze, as caddis suggests. Rout out the grout (Dremel tools are great for this). Then use the enamel product designed for recoloring bathtubs, then regrout.

Alternately, you might try a colored grout to tone down the pink. Your idea of grey isn't bad. Maybe even black.
posted by yesster at 5:40 AM on August 12, 2004

jfuller, knowing what kind of pink would help in giving you an answer... Light or dark? tending towards orange, like a peachy pink? tending towards grey, like a rosy or dusky pink? How about the fixtures and the tub, what color are they and are they as old (c. 1950s, right?) as the tile, or a more recent addition?

Another thought to ponder: you can't "hide" pink tiles, not with wall color or anything else. I'd say your best bet from a design perspective is to embrace your pinkness, as if it were your perfect color choice... That, or, replace them, because there's not going to be any mistaking that they're there. One idea, kitschy though it sounds, would be to look at some womens magazines from the 50s and recreate what you see. If you can't replace that stuff, turn it into a virtue, "And in this bathroom, we've restored it to its original 1950's condition..."

(Oh, and FWIW, I've seen the results of trying to reglaze tile on a floor, and it wasn't pretty. It wore unevenly and in high traffic areas, started to come up, leaving the old color to bleed through. If you're going that route, make sure you seal it with something really strong and really waterproof.)
posted by JollyWanker at 6:46 AM on August 12, 2004

My experience with reglazing is not good either. I wouldn't suggest it.

I take it replaceing the tile is out? Doing tile isn't that difficult, not much more than reglazing and regrouting would be.

If not, the retro thing could look very cool. Think "pink cadilac" and rocket ships with lots of swooping curves and pointy edges. Look for bullet-shaped fixtures. Use crimson accents and lots of chrome.
posted by bonehead at 6:57 AM on August 12, 2004

I hate to say this, but you're going to have to embrace it unless you want to retile.

And that means seagreen walls. I know, I know. But I have a friend whose last house had a pink tiled bathroom, and the edging tiles were sea green (really, bluey-green) and it just worked really well.

Grab paint chips and start imagining the possibilities.
posted by annathea at 7:13 AM on August 12, 2004

You can reglaze, but that's not recommended because your bathroom has a lot of moisture.

Are you sure it's too expensive to put in new tile? I am getting someone to install new tile in my bathroom. When I met with contractors I was surprised to hear them say this was really easy to do. They quoted me at $200.00 for labour.

At Home Depot, they also said it was easy, and said they taught a class on how to do it. I would suggest researching retiling. At least talk with someone at Home Depot.
posted by xammerboy at 7:21 AM on August 12, 2004

Check out what some girlie girl did with tangerine on pink. Of course, you probably don't want to go the giant rubber duck route as she did, but you can see where you could take pink and tangerine in an adult/masculine/"serious" (think rust and mercury glass) direction.
posted by littlegreenlights at 8:03 AM on August 12, 2004

Can we see an example of the color somehow? (Of course a pic of the bathroom would be great....)
posted by taz at 8:28 AM on August 12, 2004

I kind of like the retro pink-Cadillac approach suggested here.

It got me thinking of some very tidy, charming, well-preserved roadside motels I've stayed at, where everything is just as it was in 1950. Pink, yellow, or seafoam green tile and fixtures, lots of chrome.

Maybe you could come up with some Howard-Johnson's logo towels and bathmat... put out little tiny bars of soap and shampoo bottles... set up a coffeemaker and a basket of cups & supplies...

[wanders off to evaluate own bathroom]
posted by Tubes at 8:46 AM on August 12, 2004

sand and tans will work too.

is it this kind of pink?
posted by amberglow at 9:00 AM on August 12, 2004

> jfuller, knowing what kind of pink would help in giving you an answer...
> Light or dark? tending towards orange, like a peachy pink? tending towards
> grey, like a rosy or dusky pink?

Mouse around on the color wheel here and find #ff88aa. The tiles are the color of the last, the very last remaining candy Easter eggs in the basket, that not even the infants of the family will eat.

I too have tried the recolor-glazed-things substance (it's actually epoxy paint, pour in the hardener, mix it up, paint frantically in the time you have before it starts to harden.) That experience was successful but only in a relative sense--the victim, a huge cast-iron bathtub with legs (in a different, much larger house) on which the glazing was very old, rough and porous, with massive rusty-water stains that couldn't be removed without cleaning right down to the metal. The "before" condition was so nasty that the "after" version, though not great, was an improvement. Major problem: the epoxy set so fast that it wasn't completely self-levelling. Brush-marks remained, and so it looked like paint, not re-glazing. Also, killer fumes while you're painting.


> I take it replacing the tile is out? Doing tile isn't that difficult, not
> much more than reglazing and regrouting would be.

It's not exactly out, it's just so far down on the household priority list that it certainly isn't going to get done (by me, anyway) for two or three years. I'm desperate for additional space, and an add-on room would pretty much have to be sweat equity also.


> Are you sure it's too expensive to put in new tile? I am getting someone to install
> new tile in my bathroom. When I met with contractors I was surprised to hear them
> say this was really easy to do. They quoted me at $200.00 for labour.

Wow, no, I had no idea. I'll certainly ask about it, at least.


> Check out what some girlie girl did with tangerine on pink. Of course, you
> probably don't want to go the giant rubber duck route as she did,

That does work pretty well, doesn't it? Though my pink is a bit more poisonous than hers. I blush to say my bathroom already contains several rubber duckies that I'm not allowed to remove, although all but one of the owners (children of various vintages) have grown up and gone. And of course one duckie is mine.
posted by jfuller at 9:13 AM on August 12, 2004

>is it this kind of pink?

Yes, very close.
posted by jfuller at 9:23 AM on August 12, 2004

I would second amberglow's vote on tan or sand (think 1950s beach, I guess), especially if you're using the mirrors in there to actually check out your appearance. Our current bathroom is orange-y, and it makes me look jaundiced to the point of being unable to really do my make-up in there because the light in there gets a so awfully unnatural color to it. Neutrals might therefore be good.

One tip -- think about natural objects and go with those color combinations. So pink flowers have green stems, pink shells have sand-colored interiors, etc. Those combos tend to work the best, I think.
posted by occhiblu at 9:24 AM on August 12, 2004

a chocolate might work too.
posted by amberglow at 9:24 AM on August 12, 2004

Did anyone ready Judy Blume's "Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself"? I'm pretty sure that's the Blume book where their bathroom is pink and black and she hears an adult say "it looks like a bordello." So she goes around and repeats that to everyone, not knowing what a bordello is.
posted by GaelFC at 9:35 AM on August 12, 2004

You might try going to the Behr paint Color Explorer, finding a color similar to your pink, and then letting it suggest coordinating colors.

The closest Behr color I found on a quick search was Island Coral - there was a nice sagey green suggested that I liked a lot. If you played around, you could find something that makes you happy.
posted by donnagirl at 9:59 AM on August 12, 2004

Wow. That's... PINK, isn't it?!

I wouldn't think any other shade that's as saturated as that pink (or darker) would work. Go for something light - really light. Or, go for some kind of texture that breaks it up - roller the walls with paint several shades darker than the tile (like #a6586e) then sponge or ragwipe one or more lighter shades over top. It's simple to do - just match the tile to a four- or five-color paint chip, then buy up and down the chip.

Most bathrooms are small spaces. Save the contrasting colors for accents; painting the walls a hue other than the same as the tile or a neutral will make the whole thing close in on you. Using lighter, textured treatments should open it up, make it feel airier, and add some visual interest to the walls.
posted by JollyWanker at 10:43 AM on August 12, 2004

> the Behr paint Color Explorer

That's a neat little app! Thanks.
posted by jfuller at 10:45 AM on August 12, 2004

Faith, the girlie girl with the orange, had professionals come in and do "something" to make everything orange (I read her blog). Her whole apartment is orange and retro. There are more pictures but you might have to dig around her site to find them. She may be amenable to an email requesting info, but that's up to you.
posted by deborah at 10:58 AM on August 12, 2004

Yes, Deborah, Faith would be happy to share decorating tips & tricks for retro pink/orange goodness. And even where to buy a giant rubber duck. You can reach me at faithie at gmail dot com
posted by faith at 12:48 PM on August 12, 2004

Oh, and looking of that picture, you'd probably want to go with a minty green that was very common in the 50s - I can track down an exact if you want.
posted by faith at 1:01 PM on August 12, 2004

I have a book called "The Moveable Nest" with a chapter entitled "What To Do With Pink Tile". The choices are: ignore it, relight it, or paint it, or cover it with panels made from water-repellant fabric.*

The author ended up painting the non-tiled areas with a carefuly chosen rusty red color, which made the baby pink look dusty salmon. He used some compatible peach color paint in some areas to lighten it up as well.

He gets into making strange lighting contraptions, and in this case suggested making a 3-bulb (red, green, and blue) fixture with separate dimmers. You can make a room appear any color you want with the right combination and intensity of colored lights.

Pick up some colored light bulbs and paint chips based on some of the suggestions above. These situations require looking at colors in the room itself under various lighting conditions.

*Actually, the first suggestion in the book is "Deny it", illustrated with a drawing of a man standing on the toilet, hanging a sign reading "This Is Not A Pink Bathroom".
posted by obloquy at 3:21 PM on August 12, 2004

My grandmother's Omaha apartment, built around the late 1920's or early 30's, had an amazing bathroom, and it was pinky/lavendar and black. The toilet, sink and tub were black and my mother reminds me that there was lavender tile on the wall. It was the most stunning bathroom I ever remember seeing.
posted by Lynsey at 4:44 PM on August 12, 2004

*reads*

*thinks*

Dad? Is that you?

The bathroom in my Dad's house also has pink tile. And had slowly-faded-to-lavender purple walls. But it has an authentic near-perfect 1920s' hexagonal tile floor, so it's not like we wanted to change anything about it.

Either paint the walls white and try to ignore it, or completely and utterly kitsch it up with the seagreen walls mentioned and maybe a doily or two.
posted by Katemonkey at 12:31 AM on August 13, 2004