Take a look back at this collection of 60 vintage ’60s bathrooms for some authentically retro home decorating inspiration!
For discriminating homeowners, the era of stark, colorless bathrooms is gone forever! Today, they insist on planning their own bathrooms as they do the other rooms in the home.
Style-conscious homeowners are looking at bathrooms with the same careful consideration for fashion as their clothes or home furnishings.
Designs which stay new looking for years, ideas that spark imagination and offer new convenience, and glowing colors that are fashion-creators of their own . . . these are the prerequisites for truly modern, high-style bathrooms. (Text from 1962)
The shimmering glow of precious jade . . . Ming Green
Oriental enchantment shines from the glistening, smooth-as-glass surfaces of fixtures in Ming Green. Just as fine Chinese objets d’art are prized and valued, American-Standard fixtures are some of the finest examples of “art in industry.”
Here you see a bathroom designed around this lovely color. Notice the remarkable blend of Ming Green fixtures with a deep shade of blue and an accent of Chinese Red, Because of the spaciousness of this room, an “island” was created with the Contour Bathtub by tiling the back and end.
The handsome 42″ Gracelyn Cabinet-Lavatory provides a large china dressing tabletop … a roomy storage cabinet below. The Norwall off-the-floor toilet is confined in its own recess, offering complete privacy with a convenient sliding door.
Whether you have a flair for the exotic or a contemporary taste for simplicity of line and style, here is a color to fill your requirements. Modern the bathroom must be! Discover how beautiful it can be with Ming Green.
Spice mocha vintage ’60s bathroom decor
Here’s the newest idea in bathroom elegance . . . Spice Mocha! This beautiful new color follows the recent decorator trends in home fashions. Combined with the pace-setting designs of American-Standard bathroom fixtures, Spice Mocha promises exciting flair while intimating a mellow warmth.
This high-fashion bathroom features new, yet practical ideas . . . ones you can adapt to your bathroom. Notice the treatment of the Contour Bathtub.
A wall-to-wall curtain turns the area into a private bathing section and the rest of the room into a powder room when guests are visiting. Twin Circlyn Lavatories with Push-Pull Fittings offer double convenience plus added storage space.
Cheerful as a sunny day. . . Manchu Yellow
The warm glow of sunshine will greet you every time you enter a bathroom furnished with Manchu Yellow fixtures.
Remember: fixtures are usually the only “furniture” in bathrooms . . . and they’re pieces that aren’t replaced every few years like those in a living room! So be sure you choose them with an eye to leading color, skilled workmanship, and designs that will be high- style for years and years.
Designed simply, yet functionally, the bathroom to the right proves that high- style does not depend on large scale. This room occupies minimum space, yet at the same time offers the convenience of a full-size countertop and storage space with the lovely Dresslyn Lavatory.
The soft dignity of Platinum Gray
The harmonious quality of gray with the gleam and sparkle of smooth enamel . . . that’s Platinum Gray. This subtle fashion color blends with any color of the rainbow . . . gives you the chance of creating a new bathroom color scheme each time you change the accessories!
This “second bathroom” is made possible with the Restal Receptor-Bath. Only 38 x 39 x 12″, it is the ideal fixture when space is at a premium.
Especially designed to fit in shower stall space, the Restal provides space for showering and bathing . . . plus a handy seat. The Gracelyn Cabinet-Lavatory and off-the-floor Norwall Toilet add to the convenience of this ultra-modern room.
Notice the simplicity of the color scheme of the room. The Platinum Gray fixtures set a soothing tone of relaxation yet compliment every other surrounding color.
Imagine how easy it would be to have a completely new look merely by changing accent colors. So build in your own fashion show with the soft finesse of lovely Platinum Gray.
Vintage powder room with pink fixtures and black and white wallpaper
Did you ever imagine you’d be a “professional” decorator? Your friends will think so when they see the beautiful colors in your powder room with American-Standard fixtures in fashion colors.
Think it’s difficult? Look at this lovely powder room glowing with Venetian Pink fixtures!
Here the Venetian Pink is set against exciting, yet completely neutral wallpapers. One is a striking design in simple black and white. . . . the other a subtle gray and white stripe. Accent colors are picked up in the towels on the towel tree and in the rug’s border.
Imagine how a beautiful powder room will greet your guests with a colorful welcome of hospitality. Think of the steps you’ll save and of the extra convenience for your whole family this simple addition offers … to say nothing of the added value to your home!
Your family will be proud of their “decorator in residence” . . . your friends will be envious of your talent for color planning.
ALSO SEE: 28 vintage pink bathrooms: See some wild bubblegum-era midcentury home decor of the 1950s & 1960s
’60s bathroom decor with the subtle elegance of Fawn Beige
Soft, sophisticated, versatile . . . that’s the way to describe this beautiful new color from American-Standard. Fawn Beige harmonizes with a multitude of colors and compliments any decor from a period look to ultra-modern.
The bathroom shown here has a decidedly French feeling. The designer chose a French Provincial writing desk, added a handsome marble top and installed the graceful Sherrilyn Lavatory with a Single Lever Fitting . . . and, voila, a luxurious lavatory dressing table was born.
The off-center Contour Bathtub and low Carlyle Toilet are both placed in their own recesses for added privacy. Notice how the crystal lamps, gilt moldings and accessories pick up the French motif in this distinctive bathroom.
Fawn Beige lends a feeling of relaxation to any size bathroom yet without sacrificing the glow that only colored fixtures present. This new color is perfect if you want versatility in decorating. Your entire bathroom can have a different new look by merely changing the color of your towels, soaps and accessories.
The ultimate touch of femininity for m’lady: Venetian Pink
The excitement that is Venice . . . the sparkling tone of a beautiful new color that sings out “high fashion”. . . that’s Venetian Pink. A compliment to any room, this lovely new color glows with entrancing, sparkling beauty.
Elegant and luxurious, the bathroom seen here features Venetian Pink fixtures in a setting rich in harmonizing colors. Reminiscent of colorful villas, the corner Contour Bathtub is enhanced by complimenting pinks and oranges.
Notice the recessed arcade which forms a separate, private niche for the Carlyle Toilet and Margate Bidet.
The scenic wallpaper here gives an illusion of spaciousness to a small area. The Gracelyn Cabinet-Lavatory completes the ensemble and offers a one-piece china countertop and roomy storage cabinet in one unit.
Versatile, rich, glowing . . . Regency Blue
Here’s a color that brings the blue of the sky to your fingertips. Regency Blue harmonizes with almost any color.
This high-style bathroom features new, yet practical fashion ideas . . . ones you can adapt for your own. The twin Dresslyn Lavatories in a custom countertop take up little room when you think of the extra convenience … to say nothing of the added storage space beneath!
A beautiful Contour Bathtub with its new, unique shape offers a shelf for toiletries, a convenient seat ledge, and a roomier bathing area . . . invites you to endless hours of pure soaking enjoyment. Think how much easier cleaning floors becomes with a Norwall off-the-floor toilet. The snap-off seat permits fast fixture cleaning.
Here you see the versatility of this lovely color. Combined with your ideas, or ideas and color schemes, Regency Blue may be just the color to suit you in your dream bathroom.
Airy atrium with sunken marble bathtub
Purple accents in a greenhouse-style sixties bathroom
Elegant red bathroom with rich fabric walls & drapes
Small marble bath with a mirrored wall
Colored bathtub styles from 1965
Decorator inserts for fashion tubs complete your bath theme
Walnut wall paneling and yellow accents
Bathroom sink island with two bowls
A ’60s bathroom with a built-in semi-sunken bathtub (1967)
Modernist ’60s bathroom decor here with aqua angled cabinetry and bright yellow Formica countertops
ALSO SEE: Tour the ultimate mid-century modern house: The Scholz Mark 58 Home of the Year
Mosaic tile wall around the bathtub
A sixties bathroom before and after – updated with paint and colorful accessories
Golden/yellow striped wallpaper and gold accessories add elegance to this ’60s bathroom
Stars of this bathroom are the beautifully-designed Contour bathtub, Sherrilyn lavatory, and Carlyle toilet. All are quality products, in white and colors, by American Standard.
Blue bathroom suite combined with neutral colors
The big one-piece, easy-to-keep-clean china tops of the twin Gracelyns are in decorator colors or white… the roomy storage cabinets are a neutral beige.
A ’60s bathroom with a picture-perfect view
Elegant large marble bathtub as part of master bedroom suite
Unique corner sunken bathtub in black
Master bathroom tiled in blue, including a sunken tub
MASTER BATH is tiled in a wonderfully inviting shade of blue.
The plants, the large cutleaf philodendron in the back, the ferns over and on the ledge of the delightful sunken tub, the Dieffenbachia, add to the almost outdoor look of the room.
Here indeed is a room that invites leisurely, lingering, luxurious bathing.
Wood-paneled ’60s bathroom with blue accents
Blue carpeted retro bathroom with a sunken tub and greenhouse window
Pink bathroom suite from 1961
ALSO SEE: 20 elegant antique bathrooms from the 1900s: Sinks, tubs, tile & decor
Adorable retro shell theme in a pink and white bathroom
Bright robin’s egg blue tub and sink contrasted with red accents and pale pink walls
DON’T MISS: Remember retro toilet paper that had colors & patterns?
Pink & gray retro bathroom decor
A soft, warm gray such as this opens a limitless range of color combinations, from simple, quiet decor to an exciting, bold contemporary treatment.
The successful use of this color depends upon your individual taste, for it blends equally well with colors ranging from red to violet.
A combination of pastel blues and white will create a simple sophisticated effect, while the use of bright accents of turquoise and purple will add an exciting touch.
Coral bathroom suite with brown wall paneling
Soft and subtle, radiating the beauty of timeless tropical reefs, this color will add warmth to your bathroom. It blends beautifully with warm grays and shades of brown for a glowing warm effect.
For a more startling effect, it may be used with tints of pink and deeper shades of coral. Whatever your choice of companion colors may be, they should be warm to properly harmonize with this most popular compatible color.
ALSO SEE: Colorful Kohler bathroom suites from the ’60s & ’70s
Bathroom with stone tile countertop and private garden window
Sandstone shade plumbing fixtures from the sixties
Subtle and sophisticated, Beautyware Sandstone calls on the beauty of nature for its versatility.
This color affords limitless combinations of companion colors. Rich browns, yellows, orange, wood tones and olive greens, create a wonderful feeling of richness and charm.
Combined with blues, cool greens and white in various mixtures and hues, this color will become gay and bright — lending to an atmosphere of casual living.
Light and airy sky blue ’60s bathroom decor
As bright and clear as a summer sky, this color is perfect for creating a variety of fascinating effects. Careful blending of white and various light blues and purples will produce a cool, sophisticated mood.
While the bold use of color accents of turquoise, blue green, and orange will create an exciting, gay effect. Remember, too, the rich appeal of texture and wood tones will lend contrast to the glossy, smooth surfaces.
Brings a sunny day inside
Autumn Yellow brightens your personal world, brings a sunny day inside. You can give the smallest bathroom the true warmth of sunlight and illusion of space by blending it with orange and a variety of yellows in pastel tints.
Its lively, bright character adds richness to various shades of browns and warm grays, and it provides a refreshing contrast to such cool colors as blues and greens. Consider Autumn Yellow if your setting gets little natural sunlight.
ALSO SEE: 35 vintage 1950s bathroom tile design ideas
Sea Green reflects the restful beauty of a tropic shore
Blended with cool greens and blue greens, it creates a calm, relaxed atmosphere. In a sunny bathroom, tints of yellow, ochre and beige will enhance a feeling of warmth and comfort, while bright accents of tangerine and iridescent greens will generate an exciting, dramatic effect.
Whatever feeling you may wish to achieve, this color offers endless possibilities.
One ’60s bathroom, decorated with four different color/decor schemes
A yellow bathtub and sink with neutral tile & red accents
MORE: Remember retro toilet paper that had colors & patterns?
Tiny pink bathroom with a city view
Gray-blue matching sinks are paired opposite each other, with an oval mirror between
A curved cabinet for two sinks makes sharing a bathroom easy
Look at this striking, custom installation of twin lavatories in a marble countertop!
Especially designed as a “wash-up”, “make-up” area for two, a roomy storage area is also handy for extra toiletries and towels. For a little extra space, you get a lot of extra convenience with twin lavatories.
Vintage ’60s bathrooms: Harvest gold sunken tub and rounded sink area
A small bathroom with built-in bookshelves
MORE IDEAS: Look back at these vintage bookshelves, book nooks & other beautiful old-fashioned home libraries
Pink bathroom fixtures plus wallpaper and paneling
Note the circular porthole-style shelving in the wooden paneling area
Vintage ’60s bathrooms: Makeover ideas from 1968
The best approach to bathrooms, like the best approach to kitchens, is neither clinical nor sterile. Taking hygienic efficiency for granted, baths now stress the pleasures rather than the practical functions for which they are designed. Yesterday’s baths were strictly puritanical in-and-out-fast rooms.
Today’s are permissive, beautiful backgrounds for beauty rituals, pleasant retreats for lingering and lounging. Materials are getting more luxurious, accessories more imaginative by the minute.
Wallpaper, paneling, carpeting, prints, fabrics, plants, paintings, bibelots make bathrooms come alive — as colorful and nonconformist as the rest of the house.
They also help integrate the bathroom visually into the overall decorative scheme, so that there are no separate fashion or design trends for bathrooms anymore. They echo the mood, the look, theme of the house.
MORE: Fancy decorated vintage bathroom sinks like these were popular in the ’60s
A pretty house will have flowery bathrooms; a modern one, architectural; a traditional one, cozy bathrooms. Privacy, always a prime requisite in bathrooms, is served well by the new compartmented floor plans that also separate various areas.
Bathrooms have become health centers, some complete with saunas and adjoining sunbathing gardens. And the new pool-size tubs are the most luxurious things since the days of the Romans.
Flowers everywhere!
One brilliant wallpaper bouquet splashed on walls, ceilings, and of all places, the floor in the Chicago apartment of columnist Maggie Daly. Matching fabric is used for shower curtain and to cover wastebasket.
Sunny bathroom with plants
The sun pours into this spacious bathroom through a window wall, curtained for privacy with drifts of sheer white fabric.
Natural slate, Bristol blue fixtures, potted plants, a collection of crystal paperweights all add up to luxury.
Bright accessories
This odd-shaped bathroom suite used to be all mottled pistachio and mauve tile until it was transformed into a modern beauty of slick white tile and chrome. Part of the magic: colorful towels, bright accessories.
Bathroom with shoji-screened deck
Borrowed from the Japanese, this indoor-outdoor bath in Berkeley, California, has a giant-tiled tub big enough for a shower without the usual doors or curtains. Sliding door opens up to shoji-screened deck.
Indoors meets outdoors
It’s hard to tell the outdoors from the indoors in this bathroom. Indoors, there’s a spacious shower area with a massive stone bench for sunbathing.
Outdoors, a walled garden, entered only through the master bedroom. The dividing point is a wall of glass.
Mountainside bathroom
Carved into the side of a mountain, privacy is no problem. Sumptuous bathroom with a view to an enclosed garden has a sunken tub with brass fittings.
Crystal chandelier and thick pile carpeting add to the general feeling of opulence.
Sunken tub and fuzzy rug for a nap
Large oval sunken tub is part of a spacious dressing room and bath area. In the foreground, a furry lounge for after-bath napping. (?!)
Old-fashioned country-style bathroom with open shelves
In this appealingly old-fashioned country bathroom, open storage shelves display colorful bathroom sundries like the shelves of an old country store.
Striped window shade is used instead of curtains. Cotton carpet is an attractive way to cope with a difficult bathroom floor.
Photographed in the country home of designer Win Anderson.
Harvest gold bathroom fixtures against a metallic copper and gold wallpaper
ALSO SEE: 40+ mid-century 1960s wallpaper styles & samples
Wood paneling plus wallpaper, with vintage ’60s bathtub
The big skylights let in a lot of filtered natural light
Dark wood paneling, curtains and carpet, with a decorative clawfoot tub
Decorative paintwork accents on walls, shutters and countertop
Vintage ’60s bathrooms: A pretty sunken garden bath with mosaic tiles
DON’T MISS THIS: A mid-century modern show home: See H&G’s Hallmark house for 1963
