Learning to love pink

Kathleen Lynn

Thursday, March 05, 2015

"As much as the mid-century modern look is back, it's still something that people are not going to find appealing," said real-estate agent Gary Silberstein. "Barbie's not back."

But one lover of 1950s design says pink bathrooms deserve more respect. "Pink bathrooms are emblematic of the design of the period," said Pam Kueber, who started the website Save the Pink Bathrooms (savethepinkbathroom.com) after buying a 1950s ranch.

Kueber said developers started installing pink bathrooms after Mamie Eisenhower popularized the color when she wore a blush ball gown to her husband's presidential inauguration in 1953.

She started Save the Pink Bathrooms after watching people rip them out with "sledgehammer glee" on TV home-improvement shows. "They'd throw the toilets out the window and guffaw. I was appalled. That bath was put in by somebody who loved that color."

Pink was not the only pastel used in postwar homes - bathrooms were yellow, blue or green, often with black trim. "They were exuberant years, and people chose these colors," Kueber said.

Many homebuyers who shun pink will accept the other 1950s pa

"Yellow and black totally work," Lopis said. "You could make it funky and fun. But pink is a little much for me. Pink just wasn't really in my repertory of colors. Pink is like a little girl's room."

Realtor Maryanne Elsaesser said that it is usually the man who reacts. "They're opposed to the fact that it's a female color."

Original post:
Learning to love pink