19 Vintage Bathroom Ideas for Retro Style

Pizzazz with a Purpose

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

Textiles are a significant vintage bathroom idea in this space. The fuzzy area rug, fluffy white towels, and flirty ruffled curtain enclosing the footed tub add pattern and color, take the chill off the white fixtures and act as cushy counterpoints to the straight lines of beaded-board walls.

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Old Friends

Outfit your bathroom with old things for a new purpose. Here, a handcrafted ladder doubles as a towel rack. 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.

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Tile Works

Enhance a bathroom's period character by installing tile treatments with vintage bathroom ideas inspired by early lavatories. These homeowners created a fresh take 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 primarily white bathroom.

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Stylish Shower Tile Ideas

Showcase your personal style with these simple shower tile ideas.

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Architectural Additions

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 in modern profiles and materials.

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Personality Plus

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

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Beautiful in Blue

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

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

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Retro Reflections

Who needs a double-sink vanity when you can opt for expansive pedestal sinks that provide era-apt profiles and ample counter space? Sea-glass-green paint on horizontally set boards creates a beachy backdrop highlighting mirrored sconces and faucets with retro silhouettes. A prism chandelier contributes flashes of sparkle.

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Fashionable Fittings

Salvage yards, secondhand centers, and specialty retailers offer a wealth of vintage or reproduction fixtures. Some are ready to use, and others can be retrofitted to bring bygone spirit to your bathroom. Slightly industrial in feel, the vintage bathroom ideas in this bathroom include a porthole as a mirror frame and a caged pendant light to illuminate the shower area. A wide, wall-mount sink accommodates two faucets, while a factory stool with an aged patina is repurposed.

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Airy Elegance

Vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, white-painted rafters, and blue-gray walls detailed with trim create a clean-lined backdrop 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

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

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Chic Construction

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

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Warm and Welcoming

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 is used for 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

Look to tag sales for antique pieces with handsome forms and hardworking functions. 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 above the tiled backsplash, deep enough to exhibit colorful canvases and hold toiletries within reach of the sink.

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Style Defined

Penny floor tiles, substantial woodwork, and a subway-tile backsplash are classic vintage bathroom ideas. 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

Much like long-ago lavatories, this small bathroom optimizes every inch of space. A pedestal sink below a pair of casement windows establishes a vintage feel 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

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

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