Plans to Add Vintage Charm To A 1970s Bathroom Makeover

A 1970s bathroom can have this classy and timeless retro vibe if it was tastefully designed in the first place, and well-maintained over time.

I wish I could say yes to both of those criteria for this particular bathroom makeover, but if I did, then it wouldn’t need a makeover, nor would it be a part of this Spring’s One Room Challenge® event either.

I invite you to join me and some very talented DIYers and bloggers as we pick up the challenge to recreate one room in our house and feature it for the next 8 weeks!

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It has been a couple of years since I joined the One Room Challenge®, but this long-awaited bathroom makeover is a great opportunity to share this vintage bathroom design plan for a black and white bathroom.

This bathroom was originally designed for a young boy’s bathroom and has the deep black fixtures that were part of the colorful plumbing trend of the 1970s.

Two other bathrooms in my house also have vintage blue fixtures, but those makeovers are for future posts.

The background story on this very dated and sad-looking bathroom.

My daughter wanted blue walls when she was a preteen.  She picked a color and we painted it.

But one day she decided to borrow my paint samples and randomly painted orange and yellow color swatches all over the room because she wanted a new wall color. 

She never did decide to change the wall color to either one of those colors. Since then the room has this colorful patchwork of paintstrokes all around the room. 

This bathroom has black trim and black closet doors.  The adjoining bedroom will have the same challenge of repainting or replacing damaged faded black trim pieces and doors. 

When we purchased our home nearly 17 years ago, this black-inspired bathroom was one of two bathrooms in the home with carpet installed.   

Based on other renovation projects in this house, before the current carpet was installed, the original flooring was probably shag carpet!

I have never thought that carpet in a bathroom is a good idea, but no judging.

In her teenage years, my daughter liked to add vibrant colors in her hair.  The carpet was a casualty of this obsession with random and colorful stains spotted all over the carpet like confetti. 

No wonder for us that she is a very successful hairstylist these days. 

Her pet rabbit decided the carpet fibers were better suited in her cage as bedding.  So a bright blue area rug is weirdly placed over the hole the resourceful little carpet thief chewed through. 

So are you wondering why this bathroom still has carpet flooring after all this time?

Because this bathroom belonged to my preteen/teenage daughter AND her pet rabbit for many years.  We figured it was best to leave the damage to only one type of floor.

She moved out nearly five years ago and the rabbit is long gone. However, this bathroom hasn’t been used enough since then to make it a top priority for a makeover.

With other renovation projects in the works, it was easier to close the doors and ignore it for a little longer.

I know that probably seems crazy and a little gross considering the pet rabbit’s adventures.

When you are slowly renovating and updating your home one room or project at a time, and this is just one bathroom out of four that needs your attention, you have to make choices.  For us, it was to wait to work on this bathroom until we couldn’t stand it anymore and the room needed to be used again.

The time to finally tackle  Some of this bathroom makeover came around last Fall. 

I wanted this bathroom to be a nicer place for our son, daughter-in-law, and their two kids to use when they travel home to visit. 

My dream last Fall was to have it completely done before the holidays.

And we got started on that dream.  We just couldn’t reach the finish line at the time.

What we did accomplish last Fall was to install a new tile floor, a new mirror installed to replace the old medicine cabinet mirror, and the walls repaired and prepped for paint. 

Even unfinished it was a nicer bathroom for them than before the holidays.

Although we accomplished getting the first few items for this project off of the to-do list back in the Fall of last year, this bathroom is far from finished.

Since I never shared any of the details of this project on the blog before now, I decided that the Spring 2024 One Room Challenge® was the perfect opportunity to share this bathroom makeover.  And to motivate us to reach the final finish line for this project.

here is the full list of we have planned to create a timeless and charming vintage-style black and white bathroom:

• New vintage style black and white hexagon tile flooring
• The colorful fixtures are staying so the design plan will work with the existing black fixtures
• New light fixtures at the vanity
• New lighted mirror to replace old medicine cabinet
• Remove the popcorn ceiling
• Replace the old-style exhaust fan and light fixture in the ceiling
• Remove the old wooden bench 
• Repair and paint the bathroom walls in a gray color
• Paint all the black trim in a white paint color
• Paint the black closet doors in a white paint color
• New towel bars and hooks that work well with the existing bathroom fixtures
• Repair and paint the vanity cabinet
• Vinyl wrap on the current black laminate top
• New sink faucet
• New wall decor, bath accessories, decorative items, and hopefully some vintage treasures will be added
• Repurpose and revamp the storage space in the double-door closet
• A new upholstered bench in a trendy color will be placed in front of the long wall for a needed pop of color
• Take advantage of the available natural light through the frosted window to provide ambient light throughout the space during the day
• Repair the shower door so it stays closed

The window in this bathroom was replaced around four years ago when we had all of our windows replaced. So I guess you can state that this makeover started years ago and has been very slow and a long time coming to its full potential.  

And that is okay.  Long ago I embraced the inevitability that real-life DIY is nothing like a TV show.

So next week I will share what we encountered when we finally pulled up that old carpet.

Hugs,

Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.”

Other posts in this One Room Challenge Series:

Best Choice For Vintage Style Bathroom Tile

Struggling with Bathroom Ceiling Ideas After Removing the Popcorn Texture

Checklist Update for our 1970s Vintage Bath Remodel

New Lighting and Mirror in our Vintage Bath Remodel

Easy DIY Bath Vanity Makeover

1970s Bathroom Makeover – The Reveal