A vintage-style bathroom can be relaxed and welcoming, with classic fittings, traditional style tiles and eclectic, period-style accessories. Vintage-style bathrooms tend to have a more laid-back feel – rather different from the crisp, regimented looks of a contemporary-style bathroom interior. Here’s some ideas and tips for creating a fabulous vintage look in your new bathroom…
Green & Clean
Get back to nature with a wash and brush up with Green Reboot Soap from Anemone & Basilic. It provides an uplifting boost, with peppermint and tea tree essential oils, as well as rosemary and avocado. Get a similar vintage look in the bathroom with a old-fashioned basin from the Hudson Traditional Pedestal Basin with Double Tap Holes from Bathroom Mountain and go for traditional square white tiles, such as our Prismatics White Satin Wall Tiles. If you’re looking for a more emphatic vintage look for tiles, our Craquele White Wall Tiles have a crackle-glazed rustic finish and also come in Grey, Bone, Cream, Mint, Olive, Fresco and Dove – all subtle, antique-style colours.
Floor Patterns
There are two elements that immediately encapsulate ‘vintage style’ in a bathroom. The first is a traditional roll-top tub (try the Highbury Roll Top Slipper Bath from Bathroom Mountain for a similar look). The second is a patterned, tiled floor. These are our Brighton Blue Pattern Porcelain Floor Tiles with a matt finish, also available in a Grey colourway, and designed to look like traditional encaustic tiles – the type often seen in Victorian hallways and porches too. Super-hardwearing these elegant tiles feature faux grout lines so that each tile, which measures 450mm x 450mm, has the appearance of four smaller tiles – cutting down on the installation work required.
In The Pink
As a bath is usually the focal point of a vintage-style bathroom, why not go full-on with a pink bath! This is the fabulous Casini Bath by BC Designs. It’s made from Cian® which retains heat for longer, and is available in a brilliant range of ColourKast shades, which include Gunmetal, Powder Blue, Khaki Green and Satin Rose. If you want to set it all off with marble-style floor tiles, try our Marble Effect Tiles in Carrara White Gloss.
On the Wall
These Polished Brass Pillar Wall Lights by Davey Lighting from Original BTC add a glamorous vintage air to the bathroom, with a strong element of Art Deco styling, combined with touches of gold/brass and a chic cabinet. For marble tiles for walls and floors, try our Place White Marble Effect wall and floor tiles, available in large 600mm x 335mm format.
Rustic Vibes
Faenza Rustic Blue Patterned Matt tiles from our collections have an authentically worn and aged look – each tile is 330mm x 330mm and has the appearance of a 3 x 3 set of smaller tiles. Suited for walls and floors – combine with our plain Faenza Rustic Ivory Matt tiles for a contrasting look.
Encaustic Influence
Reclaimed vintage tiles rarely come in big enough quantities for a large project, so if you’re at the planning stage and want a convincing Victorian look, try our Victorian Centro Viena Decor tiles, also available in a grey pattern variant.
Showering Blues
Go for a single-colour tile throughout in a shower enclosure or walk-in shower – a single all-over colour can define the space and add a very positive vibe. Our Fulham Light Blue vintage-style ceramic tiles have a burnt-edge finish to emphasise the old-fashioned feel, and also come in Aqua and White. Each tile measures 150mm x 400mm. Naturally, old-school brass shower fittings absolutely hit the nail on the head for a great vintage look. Try Aston Matthews for Acme scuffed brass fittings.
Practically Perfect
Clean, simple vintage-style from Bathroom Mountain, with the Grosvenor 1700mm Roll Top Bath with Chrome Ball Feet. Some simple lighting, a neat tray table, dark wall panelling, and an intricately patterned floor tile (which naturally, are our Mr Jones Grey Pattern porcelain tiles). They also come in Azure Blue and Cream colourways and fit into a vintage-style room perfectly.
Old-Fashioned Blooms
Go for a vintage garden theme in the bathroom with this beautiful wallpaper from Elizabeth Ockford. This is the Sadie design in Indigo, named after Elizabeth’s mother, Sadie, and her watercolours of orchids. A beautiful design, which needs little more than a roll-top bath and some classic floor tiles (such as, once again, our Place White Marble Effect Floor Tiles in porcelain).
Intense Pattern & Vivid Colours
An old-fashioned washstand, a chequered tiled floor, heritage colours, and intensely patterned wallpaper create a ‘modern vintage’ look here. The wallpaper is the riveting Zellandine Aqua from The Curious Department, find black and white tiles from our Chess range, in black and white of course…
Simple Vintage
Vintage style doesn’t have to mean elaborate (although it often does, especially when we’re talking about Victorian-style vintage looks), it can also mean chic and simple, almost vintage in the original Shaker sense of things simply made and simply designed. We rather like the plain, understated looks of the Purity range of bathroom towels and accessories from Dorma at Dunelm, reminiscent of simple cottage style – pared down to the minimum rather than over-stuffed and over-decorated.
Star Signs
A modern bathroom can be given an element of vintage style by choosing tiles with a worn or reclaimed look. Try our Metropolis Star Silver tiles – also in Laurel, Sienna, and Indigo for a gently ‘worn-in’ look that will add soft, subtle style to a new vintage bathroom scheme.
We love seeing your projects, so if you’re in the midst of creating a vintage-style bathroom then do share your pics with us over on Twitter tagging @TileMountainUK or on Instagram!
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Linda has worked as a freelance interiors writer and blogger for many years; she has written for most of the major home and design magazines, including KBB Magazine, Grand Designs, Homes & Gardens, House Beautiful, Period Homes and Good Homes. She made the break and moved from London back to her home town of Shrewsbury three years ago and has just finished renovating her house. She also works in an interior design studio, produces copy for brochures and website, tries to tame her garden, aims to finish all the home furnishing projects she has on the go … and loves walking.