An ode to retro pink bathrooms

I dream of pink tile bathrooms and knotty pine basements.

But not always.

My late great-aunt owned a mid-century modern home in the Washington Heights neighborhood near the 95th Street Red Line. The house pretty much looked the same as in years past — plastic furniture covers on couches, with the only touch-ups being pictures of the Obama family and Harold Washington in the kitchen — and needed a lot of work.

Before the house, a one-level ranch, sold, I considered living there and rehabbing it. Although that scenario didn’t work out, the process forced me to rethink design, preservation and modernity.

The interior included a pink bathroom and a classic South Side paneled basement. I originally thought of gutting both in favor of drywall and a sleek look. When my architect-trained husband suggested keeping the pink, I side-eyed his taste. I grew up with a salmon-peachy-colored bathroom and had childhood flashbacks of scrubbing grout. Naturally, Aunt Martha’s bathroom beckoned, “Please demolish me.”

But my husband argued a pink bathroom is worthy of a stylish upgrade. Then an artist friend recommended the basement could transform into “knotty pine chic” and pop like a Mickalene Thomas collage with jewel-toned furniture and rugs.

I trusted both of their design acumen and realized they were right. So I went berserk on Pinterest, saving posts on my new pink bathroom board. New paint and soft lighting do wonders. Now I’m a pink bathroom evangelist.

Hear me out, dear reader, as I tell my friends, pulling up my Pinterest account. Black and white wallpaper, brass spa shower heads and floating vanities marry the retro and the modern into a magazine-worthy spread. New floors and trim enhance the pink beyond a throwback. I’m sure no real estate agent will agree with me, because the demand is to gut the derided Pepto-Bismol pink.

Not every bathroom is in good condition for a restoration, but pink ceramic tends to be high quality. Plus, preserving the pink is cheaper, averting a demolition and therefore preventing waste.

I’m not a pink outlier. As I scoured the web for pink inspiration, numerous pictures with homeowners extolling the virtues of pink showed up. Pink was so long ago that it’s vintage instead of unfashionable.

I found a website, savethepinkbathrooms.com, that even the network HGTV, king of home renovation shows, highlighted. Vintage home enthusiast Pam Kueber created the blog in 2009 out of concern that pink bathrooms in post-World War II homes were being ripped out too hastily.

Kueber closed the comments last year, but the site is still up, with more than 1,000 pink pledges from homeowners. The site also teaches the history of the iconic color, which goes back to the 1950s with first lady Mamie Eisenhower, who wore a pink gown to the 1953 presidential inauguration. She outfitted her bathroom with so much pink — down to the cotton balls — that “Mamie pink” became a palette.

Alas, Aunt Martha’s pink bathroom is gone. Her house sold this summer. I saw the listing online. An investor had bought the home to flip. Pictures depicted a solid rehab but with nothing special and all the character stripped away like tattered wallpaper. The basement wood — gone, too.

Another trend in American homeownership: Neutrals replaced the pink, and the white has now replaced the neutrals.

I tell myself the cookie cutter of today may be the vintage of the future.

Natalie Moore is a reporter for WBEZ.

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