Mixing Old + New In Our Vintage Pink Bathroom

This post is sponsored by The Tile Shop. We’re sharing how we’re incorporating the vintage pink fixtures in our bathroom with new tile and chrome finishes!

Unit 1’s vintage pink bathroom is the little gem of our Two Flat. It must seem like I say that about every room, but this room? This room has a pink bathtub! It has a pink sink! Those are two big reasons that had me falling in love with our Two Flat, and throughout the entire renovation, I babied those fixtures and guarded them with my life. (Well, those and my hutch; you all know how I feel about my hutch!)

Those pink fixtures are now installed – along with our tile! We shared our tile plans in this post, but today I want to talk about how we blended the old with the new, in a way that honors the history of our home. As a refresher, this bathroom is in Unit 1, straddled between the kitchen and the staircase that leads down to the den.

Note: As you can see, we still need to add a stair railing, plumb and clean the sink, and reglaze and caulk the tub. After which, we’ll be adding lighting, artwork and all the finishing touches! This is very much a ‘progress’ post.

When planning our design for this room, we knew we wanted to work with classic elements. But with each choice comes a myriad of other decisions – matte or gloss, stacked or running bond, chrome or nickel? Let’s break it all down.

Choosing Finish + Size

The Tile Shop has a massive selection of subway tile in any color your heart desires, but wait, there’s more! The color range is not only vast, but many colors have finish and size options, too. Matte? Gloss? Glass? 3″ x 6″? 4″ x 12″? We initially toyed with the idea of a creamy-colored tile, but I’ve long admired Sarah’s guest bathroom, and we knew we might regret not staying with the most classic color scheme of them all – black and white (and pink)!

We really had to step back and think about what would work best for this home. We found that we continually came back to a glossy finish, which would not only help to reflect light in this small room, but I’ve always loved how glossy tile just feels clean. And while we considered gloss subway tile in every size from 4″ x 12″ to 4″ x 24″, we knew that in this case, less was more. In the end, we landed on the most traditional combination possible: Imperial Bianco gloss subway 3″ x 6″ with this cap and this black marble pencil tile.

Deciding On a Tile Pattern

The next step was deciding on the tile pattern! We didn’t feel that this was the room to reinvent the wheel, and running bond – which is when tiles are staggered by half – was a clear cut choice for us. But let’s narrow in on those finishing pieces:

Subway tile – even when traditional in size and pattern – can still be far from boring! The addition of black marble pencil adds contrast and dimension to the room, and this cap keeps things looking polished.

We waffled on whether or not we should tile the sloped ceiling (a result of being tucked under the staircase between Units 1 and 2), but after sharing our dilemma with Sarah, she encouraged us to go for it! Not only are we happy we took that plunge, but we think it makes the room.

Adding Natural Stone

Another way we kicked up the subway tile was by pairing it with marble. There’s a non-operable frosted glass window in the shower, and we added this Carrara marble curb as the sill (also in a polished finish). Marble has been around for centuries, and while we’ve heard concern and hesitation over using it (with outcries over the maintenance), I present to you the other side: Marble will only continue to get more beautiful as it patinas. Aged marble, I think, is the most beautiful.

We continued the marble onto the floor by using this black Marquina polished marble skirting as a baseboard and this marble mosaic basketweave tile. If the basketweave tile looks familiar, it might be because it’s the same tile we’ve had in our entryway for years!

The Jewelry of the Room

The metal finishes you choose for wet rooms are akin to jewelry, don’t you think? It’s the added oomph! to your tee and jeans, and it should come as no surprise that we went with polished chrome. We continue to use polished chrome throughout most of the bathrooms we design because it’s timeless, cleans up beautifully and will never, ever go out of style. (And for what it’s worth, we are Team Mixed Metals, so don’t be afraid to try more than one in the same space!)

Our Old + New Bathroom

There’s a reason why subway tile is used over and over again. It’s classic. It’s nostalgic. You simply can’t go wrong! And while the choices we used throughout are certainly a nod to the history of our 130-year-old Two Flat, we think that it’s the power of mixing old + new that bring all of the elements together harmoniously.

Unit 1 first floor bath selections | Hampton Niles marble mosaic 12″ x 12″ | Imperial Bianco gloss subway 3″ x 6″ | Black Marquina polished marble skirting | Black Marquina pencil tile | Imperial Bianco Barnes (cap) | charcoal grout | shower trim kit + handle | Sarasota toilet | chrome sink base

PS: We shared our tile choices throughout the entire Two Flat in this post, and here’s a mood board of this bathroom!