Avocado is for toast…

Firstly, I absolutely love all things retro. If this bathroom had been done up properly, I would have happily kept the avocado sink and matching chartreuse green walls. I would have hung some carved wooden owls, pulled in a splash of complimentary 70’s orange, found the shaggiest bathmat possible, and hung some macrame planters.

The “before” photo used a flash, so you can’t tell just how dark and dank this bathroom was. Any plants would have died a dark lonely death in here. The vanity was painted with lead paint in a light shade of almond (just not white enough to not match the toilet or tub). The “cultured” marble countertop was in a darker shade of (Yes, you guessed it!) beige and swirled “spoilt milk” white. At some point someone had decided to add an oiled bronze faucet (because why match the tub hardware?) which would wobble at every attempt to use it. The cheap panel mirror had significant water damage bleeding up from the bottom of the glass and was only suitable for playing bloody Mary with, not for taking selfies. Underneath the sink was an underground highway of thin copper pipe ends…one running alllllll the way up to the roof to the evaporative cooler; the other running up through the ceiling, down the hall and into a kitchen wall behind where the refrigerator water line would be. Not turning these on if I was paid to do it. NEVER run water lines where you can’t get to them if they leak, unless of course you have an endless budget and you enjoy tearing out drywall and wasting water.

Moving along the tour to the tub…the faucet in the tub was leaking…and it looked to have been leaking for years (minimum of give or take 5 years). I was going to have to take out tile to be able to access the leak. The inside of the tub looked like a small posse of ferrel cats or raccoons had jumped in and had a scratching match. While I would have loved to rip it all out and take everything down to the studs, this wasn’t in the cards for several reasons:

1 —

Budget

2 —

The cast iron tub was built into the wall, the bathroom floor tiles match the same “rare, never to be found again” beige floor tiles that run through the house.

3 —

Opening up walls presented us with the danger of not passing inspection due to the bubblegum and duct tape that may have been used to build the house, etc.

4 —

We were going to be living here and needed to have a functional bathroom STAT.

After -

Here’s what I did for the after:

1. Atomic Starburst towel ring by Vintage Revival Art Co on Etsy

2. Mermaid painting by El Gato Gomez. You can get a similar art print at her online store for $20

3. Sherman-Williams paint in Sea Salt. Available at Lowes

4. Vintage porcelain chalkware - Various vintage shapes and sizes can be found on eBay or Etsy. My pocket fish planters were $50 for the pair on eBay.

5. Project 62 round decorative wall mirror in brass $60 at Target

6. Rustoleum tub and tile refinishing kit (you’ll need two kits) $42 at Home Depot

7. Airstream Dreams fabric shower curtain from SinLinen $30

8. Quartz vanity countertop in White Diamond

9. Style Selections vanity in ebony

10. Swiss Madison toilet

11. Delta modern single handle faucet

I’m quite pleased with how the after turned out. The little flecks of glass in the engineered quartz vanity counter top pick up the green hues in the sea foam paint color perfectly. Reglazing the tub and shower made it look brand spanking new and the atomic starburst robe and towel hangers give this space a pop of 50’s flair.