1940s Bathroom Style

bathroom

Vintage bathroom styles range from cottage-cozy to chic and sophisticated. Discover our favorite spaces that combine weathered patinas, nostalgic style, and meaningful mementos with breezy color schemes.

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Pizzazz with a Purpose

bathroom

Pedestal sinks come in all shapes and sizes, and this model packs a lot of style into its petite form. A tapered leg and crystal foot give the circular sink a fashion-forward feel. A metal chandelier and antique mirror weave in old-world forms and finishes. Wood floors, woven baskets, and breezy curtains introduce informal textures to the lush blend.

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Mixed Textures

Vintage Baths

With the fuzzy area rug, fluffy white towels, and flirty ruffled curtain enclosing the footed tub, textiles play an important role in this vintage bathroom's appeal. They add pattern and color, take the chill off the white fixtures, and act as cushy counterpoints to the straight lines of beaded-board walls.

Beautiful Black and White Baths

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Old Friends

bathroom

Outfit your bathroom with old things that bring new purpose. Here, a handcrafted ladder doubles as a towel rack, and a rusty table and worn bench provide display and resting spots for bathing necessities. Check out the wooden tray that spans the tub; the handy solution keeps lotions and scrubs in easy reach.

Rustic Bathroom Inspiration

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Tile Works

Vintage Baths

Enhance a bathroom's period character by installing tile treatments that take their cue from early lavatories. These homeowners created a fresh take on vintage by incorporating green penny tiles in the black-and-white borders on the shower and bathroom floor. Retro daisy motifs on the floor and black horizontal accent tiles in the shower energize the mostly white bathroom.

Pretty Pastel Baths

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Stylish Shower Tile Ideas

Showcase your personal style with these simple shower tile ideas.

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Architectural Additions

white bathroom

Marble-tiled floors and finely paneled wainscoting formalize this charismatic bathroom. The classic details anchor the bathroom in the past, as do columns that tower as window-framing sculptures. The pedestal tub and capiz-shell light fixture present equally sophisticated silhouettes but in modern profiles and materials.

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Personality Plus

Bathroom decorating ideas

Bright hues and quirky collectibles create vintage bathroom designs that appear to have been assembled through the ages. Here, tall beaded-board references early-20th-century beach houses and showcases green and gold accessories. Make use of the oft-forgotten wall above the commode with artwork, foliage, and a scallop-edge shelf replete with a towel bar.

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Beautiful in Blue

Vintage Baths

Vintage bathrooms often take a charming cottage turn. This one features a pretty vanity built from a repurposed dresser, a surf-and-sky palette, and crisp white surfaces. Gilded touches add chic shimmer, which underscores the room's collected appeal.

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Dramatic Flair

black and white bathroom

An eclectic attitude and retro influences combine for a one-of-a-kind bathroom that remains harmonious while paying tribute to multiple design periods. By sharing the same monochromatic color scheme, all the essential elements -- including the vintage-style floor tiles, footed tub, fabrics, and wallcovering -- collaborate in complementary fashion. Splashes of bright green and shimmering silvers break up the sea of black and white.

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Retro Reflections

teal bathroom

Who needs a double-sink vanity when you can opt for expansive pedestal sinks that provide era-apt profiles and ample counter space? In addition to elegant sinks, this bathroom presents vintage design ideas in fresh ways. Sea-glass-green paint on horizontally set boards creates a beachy backdrop that highlights mirrored sconces and faucets with vintage silhouettes. A prismatic chandelier contributes flashes of sparkle.

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Easy Vanity Upgrades

Turn even the simplest of vanities into a custom creation with these eye-catching add-ons.

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Fashionable Fittings

white tile

Salvage yards, secondhand centers, and specialty retailers offer a wealth of vintage or reproduction fixtures that are ready to use or that can be retrofitted to bring bygone spirit to your bathroom. Slightly industrial in feel, this bathroom design puts a porthole to use as a mirror frame and employs a caged pendant light to illuminate the shower area. A wide, wall-mount sink accommodates two faucets, while a factory stool brings new purpose and patina.

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Airy Elegance

Vintage Baths

Vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, white-painted rafters, and blue-gray walls detailed with trim create a clean-lined stage that subtly references a barn's interior. A custom configuration of a marble-capped vanity and dressing table partner with a plush vanity bench, breezy sheer curtains, and a claw-foot tub to create a finely furnished space.

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Sensational Accents

Vintage Baths

Everybody needs more storage in their bathrooms. An antique cupboard, like the one pictured here, contributes a nostalgic form that conveniently houses towels, toilet paper, and extra toiletries. Ancient relics, such as the framed tin ceiling tiles displayed on the far wall and industrial stool set in the shower, round out this room's vintage style.

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Chic Construction

Vintage Baths

A dresser, cleverly converted to a vanity, lends vintage appeal to any style of bathroom. Cutouts in the top make way for undermount sinks; a little sanding removes the surface's finish to differentiate the countertop from the dresser frame. Beaded-board wainscoting, a small wall-hung cabinet, and a timeworn mirror blast the bathroom back to eras past.

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Warm and Welcoming

Vintage Baths

Blue walls create a peaceful perimeter that accentuates this bathroom's vintage components. The soothing hue showcases glossy white woodwork, classic black-and-white floor tiles, and a silver-adorned footed tub. A leaf-pattern fabric appears as cafe curtains, upholstery on a footstool, and as insets in the French doors to continue the bathroom's blue-and-white scheme.

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Modern Revival

Bathroom Furnishings

Look to tag sales for antique pieces with handsome forms and hardworking function. An old hutch on wood-clad upper walls, a painted table, and a dining chair supplement storage in this vintage bathroom. Another storage-smart solution? A shallow shelf installed above the tiled backsplash, deep enough to exhibit colorful canvases and hold toiletries within reach of the sink.

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Style Defined

blue bathroom

Penny floor tiles, substantial woodwork, and a subway-tile backsplash identify this bathroom as vintage. An old-fashioned light fixture and made-over mirror above the pedestal sink reinforce the style. A beat-up metal table takes the place of a vanity countertop; a wood crate below contributes distressed texture.

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Striking Scale

Vintage Baths

Much like long-ago lavatories, this bathroom optimizes every inch of space. A pedestal sink set below a pair of casement windows establishes a vintage feel that is furthered by a bamboo table, weathered stool, and dresser. The old-fashioned furnishings provide storage and display space that enhances the bathroom's utility. Marble floor tiles and subway tub and shower tiles contribute time-honored forms to the design.

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Chic and Shimmering

Porthole Window and Mirror

Every bathroom can benefit from a touches of glitz. This silver-footed tub sounds a vivacious, vintage note, as does the silver-frame mirror and candelabralike pendant light. Ledgelike moldings and a shelf align midway up the wall to supply spots for showing off sea-inspired collectibles. Mirrors arranged behind the shelf amplify light, set glass canisters sparkling, and make the room appear larger.

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1940s Bathroom Style

Source: https://www.bhg.com/bathroom/decorating/bathrooms-with-vintage-style/

1940s Bathroom Style