We constantly get questions from readers who want help decorating their pink bathroom (Pam estimates there were 10 million built, hence the need), so we’ve set a new, epic goal: to create 99 mood boards to decorate a pink bathroom. And part of this project: For each of six pink bathroom color combinations, we’ll give YOU the basic photo so that you can come up with your own design board and email it to us to consider adding to our list. First up in our pink potty prettification pursuit: Ideas to decorate a pink and black bathroom — a popular color combo especially in the early years of pink bathroom popularity.
Kate got the assignment to create all of our initial design boards. Thank you, Kate! To get started, she chose pink field tile from B&W… a Bahama Pink toilet from Gerber… and black bullnose, generally acquired quite affordably and easily from Big Box stores, Daltile or B&W, etc.
A key takeaway: Pink bathroom tile is pretty darned versatile as a base color!
Several of Kate’s key takeaways after a lot of design board wrangling:
There are two tried and true ways to easily pull together the look of a pink bathroom depending on if you want to use wallpaper or paint.
It’s relatively easy to coordinate pink with most any other color, given the right unifying materials.
Vintage pink bathrooms are pretty darn versatile — depending on the shower curtain, wallpaper or artwork that you choose as inspiration, you can manipulate the look many different ways, from kitschy to modern to elegant to any-decade to bold to graphic to shabby chic to sedate to whimsical to sophisticated to tropical and oh my Kate found a lot of flamingo shower curtains!
Ideas to decorate a pink and black bathroom — inspired by pattern in a wallpaper
First, we will experiment with the wallpaper formula for decorating a pink and black bathroom. (These ideas work for ALL colorful bathrooms!) The key here is to find a wallpaper pattern that you like that includes the tile colors — in this case, pink and black — plus anywhere from one to several other colors to give the bathroom a pulled together, cohesive, and interesting look.
Note: We think that staying away from wallpaper patterns that mimic the grid of the tile walls (and/or floors, too) is a good idea to keep the bathroom from feeling too rigid and grid-like.
Then, you’ll located plain color accessories — shower curtain, towels, etc. — that repeat the colors found in the tile and wallpaper. These will complete the look without adding additional pattern, which could possibly clash with the wallpaper or overwhelm the small space. Let’s look at a few examples using vintage wallpaper I found at Hannah’s Treasures (disclosure: an advertiser on the blog, but this is not part of the deal.)
Sophisticated botanical: For this first look, this 1950s fern wallpaper from Hannah’s Treasures works well. Though it reads as a grey pattern, the ferns are made up of black, white and pink (perfect!) set on a grey background. The texture and low contrast in color and shape in the pattern help make the high contrast between the black and pink tile less stark, helping to blend the whole look together. The simple black and white shower curtain from Ikea and light pink towels finish off the decor without adding any more complexities.
All about texture: For this look, Kate found a vintage wallpaper design from Hannah’s Treasures that reads as more of a texture than a pattern. There is no pink in this wallpaper; however, there is black present in the print as well as grey, white and gold, which are all neutral, easy to work with colors. The green color in the wallpaper is a complementary color of pink — red and green are complementary colors, and pink is technically light red. Since complementary colors ‘play nicely’ together, the green works with the pink. To ensure that the green looks cohesive in the space, Kate repeated it in the green towels and solid green shower curtain, which still has a textural look due to the stitching pattern on the fabric. She then added pink towels to further repeat the pink.
Abstract shapes: For the next look, Kate found this 1950s abstract shape wallpaper that has a fun mix of pink, black, gold, beige and white and gives the room a retro googie feel. Again, she chose a simple black and white solid shower curtain, but this timeshe chose one with three black stripes near the bottom that repeated the three black lines that make up several of the rectangle and square shapes found in the wallpaper design. Finally, pink and gold towels repeat the colors from the wallpaper.
Silly and fun: For her final vintage wallpaper look, Kate found this silly and fun 1970s black and white wallpaper from Hannah’s Treasures. It depicts cartoon character people using a Victorian-revival bathroom. While black-and-white wallpaper in a pink bathroom could feel a little boring, the subject matter of the illustrations in this wallpaper is so entertaining that it is okay that there are no other colors in the pattern. Keeping the playful feeling going throughout the space is this quirky black and white shower illustration shower curtain at Ikea. Finish the room off with some pink towels and the look is complete.
Ideas to decorate a pink and black bathroom — starting with pattern in a shower curtain
The formula for using paint in a pink and black bathroom is very similar to the wallpaper method. But instead of finding your pattern inspiration in wallpaper, you find it in your shower curtain — this will be the first item you look for, and it’s where the pattern in your bathroom will “live.”
For a pink and black bathroom, you want to look for a shower curtain with you like in tile-coordinating pink, black or both — plus, it should have a few other colors. Your paint color then will come from one of the color coordinates in the shower curtain.
Kate found that right now, there is a lack of vintage and vintage style shower curtains available, so many of the designs she found and featured for these design boards feel more modern than the wallpaper designs. If you want a vintage shower curtain, start watching ebay and etsy like a hawk. You could also have one made from vintage or vintage-style fabric, although you will likely need to seam it, since most fabrics today do not come in 72″ shower curtain widths. Tip: If you make your own shower curtain, we’d recommend running the full (typically 54″ wide) pattern down the center then seaming panels that have been cut to 12″ each on to the right and left … you could even contrasting welting along the seams and then band the whole thing in that contrast color, or, use contrasting narrow bands along this outside; this, rather than seaming two 54″ panels together down the center.
Purple power: This bathroom design feels very modern and colorful. By starting with this bold flower patterned shower curtain, which like the black tile, highly contrasts the light pink tile and contains other saturated hues like red and purple, we set the stage for a bold space. Turn up the pink power some more by getting hot pink towels that match the hot pink flowers in the shower curtain and by choosing a bold reddish purple for the walls, which gives the bathroom an energetic feel. Who needs coffee after showering in this bathroom?
Funky flamingos: It is no secret that we love flamingos for their historic fun factor, so expect to see a flamboyance of flamingo shower curtains in this series. For this design Kate used a white shower curtain with hot pink and orange flamingos from The Company Store. A very light grey wall paint keeps the room from feeling too stark, while hot pink and orange towels repeat the hot hues from the flamingos. This one is fun in the sun!
Flamingo day-glo: The second flamingo curtain — a black curtain with light and hot pink flamingos and neon green palm trees — feels wild, so for the wall color choice, Kate turned up the intensity and chose an almost neon light lime green. This color helps repeat the green from the palm trees. And again, we see the complementary color scheme of pink and green. Light pink and hot pink towels — colors taken straight from the shower curtain — finish off the room.
Now it’s your turn to be the designer!
Want to help us create design board ideas for a pink and black tile bathroom? Here’s how:
Use the image Kate created above as the basis for your design board.
Pam uses Powerpoint to create her design boards – it’s good for putting photos side-by-side – but use whatever program you like to arrange your design board. We’ve also created this image page to start with, if you’d like – just save it and insert into Powerpoint to get started fast.
It’s okay if your board is messy: Kate will take what you send us and reformat it just like she has done for hers. We’ll then add the reader design boards to this story, and likely, in a big followup story.
Find your wall treatment and add it — be sure to include the hotlink info to your source material
Find your shower curtain and add it — be sure to include the hotlink info
Find your bath towels and add them — be sure to include the hotlink info
Give your design a title (include your own name if you like)
Save as a PDF and email to us at retrodesigndilemma@gmail.com. Please put all info in one email.
All terms of use apply, be sure to read them
7 down, 92 to go! Coming up next: Ideas for a pink-and-white tile bathroom.
To see our complete series of 99 ideas to decorate a pink bathroom, click here
The post 99 ideas to decorate a pink bathroom: 7 designs for a pink and black bathroom appeared first on Retro Renovation.