Finding the just-right paint color can be such an arduous process. Margie struggled for a solid year to find the perfect pink paint (or would she go for wallpaper??) for her original Mamie pink bathroom. Would she ever find it? (Hint: In the end, she took matters into her own hands.)
I’ve actually been in contact with Margie for the better part of a year, as she continued a tenacious quest to find just-the-right wall treatment for her vintage pink half bathroom.
After considering everything from vintage wallpaper to several different colors of paint, Margie found inspiration from Jane’s pink and green bathroom. Margie liked the idea of Jane’s ‘Apricot Fluff’ walls… but she had found another pink she also liked. So, she combined the two ideas….
Margie documented her saga for us — we suspect this is similar to what many of us do on the path to finding “perfect” wall treatments:
Hi Kate and Pam,
Just over a year ago, I told you about a paint color that almost exactly matches my 1957/58 pink half bath tile. It’s PPG Porter Paints’ “Sonia Rose.” I looked through a LOT of pinks to find it!
I used it to paint a metal shelf (above) in my bathroom but felt the paint color was too intense to use on the walls in such a small (4’3″ x 4’3″) room. I looked into wallpaper since I know the kitchen, full bath, and this half bath had been papered originally, and I’d even found a sliver of a tropical green and pink paper that I suspect might be original to the half bath. But I wasn’t happy with any paper I saw, either vintage or new.
Then I tried a grey paint for a while, and that wasn’t working, either. I removed the original interior window shutters to have them stripped and when I did that, the trim paint was ruined, so I needed to strip and repaint the trim. I tested for lead (none) and stripped the window frame and sill completely. When I started looking closer at all the trim and door paint, it was so lackluster and even seemed to be a sort of grey-white. I cleaned it and cleaned it and it never got whiter, so now I’ve repainted all the trim in the room and will (eventually) do a lot of trim repainting throughout the house. I had my original red oak floors refinished (Early American stain–it looks fabulous) in November, new shoe molding went down, and I have to touch up all the baseboards in the house, so this is a long-term job.
Jane’s pink and green bathroom with Apricot Fluff wall paint was the inspiration for Margie’s custom mixed pink paint.
After seeing and loving Jane’s pink and green bathroom, I was inspired and thought maybe “Apricot Fluff” would work in my room, but it’s just a little too peachy for my pink tile.
To create her paint color, Margie used a tried-and-true trick: Find a paint color that matches your tile exactly, then tint it — add white — til you get the effect you want. This also ensures good “visual gravity” — one of the concepts we explore in our guide, A Foolproof Guide to Choosing Bathroom Colors — Five Secrets to Success.
So I decided to buckle down and mix up my own shade, which turned out to be about 25 parts white to 1 part Sonia Rose. I am so happy with it and wanted to show it off to you.
The bathroom still has its original floor tile, a dapple-finish hex tile similar to this square tile on King of Thrones.
Thought you’d also like to know that the medicine cabinet is the original Miami-Carey, and the light switch glows when turned off. They installed the switch box too low, so I’ve had to cut the plate to make it fit above the tile. The only plug in the room is on the light fixture. If I did anything to remodel the room, it would be to move the switch box up and enlarge it to fit a switch+plug set.
The vintage lamp on the tank lid has a pink glass cup, perfect for storing cotton balls. I got the original lingerie sketches from a seller at Atlanta’s Scott Antique Market a couple of years ago. And I just installed a new, old-style light fixture to replace the single-bulb light that was in there. One day, I’ll find a more decorative shade for it on eBay.
I made the valence to match the vanity curtain, but when I held up the fabric to look at making a matching window curtain, the room just looked like an old-tyme soda shoppe. So I got some whiter fabric that looks nicer with the whiter-white trim paint and made a new curtain. It’s clearly easy to overdo such a small space, which is why I was concerned about pink wall paint when this all started, and why I wasn’t happy with most wallpapers.
Margie, your pink bathroom looks fantastic — we love the pinks together, along with simple elegance of the pink paired with black and white decor — classique. In a small space like our bathrooms, sometimes the best bet is to use colors that have high Light Reflective Values (LRVs) to bounce light around the room and make it feel lighter, brighter and more spacious. Also, you know what Pam says about pink: It’s Retro Botox — it takes 10 years off, what with the rosy glow — great place to take portrait shots!
Thanks for sharing your fun paint-journey story!
More stories about pink bathrooms:
- Our series, 99 ways to decorate a pink bathroom
- Nanette and Jim’s pink bathroom – built from scratch
- Kate’s resource list for building a pink bathroom
- All of our stories about pink bathrooms
The post Adventures in decorating: Will Margie ever find the perfect Mamie pink paint? appeared first on Retro Renovation.
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