Another retro trend renaissance: hello pink bathrooms

Pink bathrooms are a trend a-brewing, I'm telling you, and I've been eyeing them longingly for a while. 

I thought it might just be me, but then these much maligned blasts from the past started popping up all over Pinterest. (Though not especially looking like this one, below, even though it's incredible.)

Then I visited the beautifully designed Bill Granger restaurant in Clerkenwell (read about it here) and was delighted to be greeted by a wall of muted bubble gum pink wall tiles (but alas no gold taps, though there was some gold trim). See it below.

And THEN I stumbled across an even bigger sign that love for pink bathrooms was big right now. There is a website campaign devoted to the revival of these divisive mid-century set-pieces. But before we get to that, let's have a look at some good ones.

Images: Retro Renovation (more of which below)

Images: Apartment Therapy

Above: images above from a rather slinky home in Melbourne, via Dustjacket-attic 

Above: this is the bathroom in Jo Woods' home. Love the matching giant 80s perfume bottles. See the rest of it here on the Daily Mail website

Images: Apartment Therapy

So the campaign, a brilliant, brilliant idea, is run by Retro Renovation. I'm incredibly late to it (it launched several years ago but since I obsess over interiors websites more than most, you may also not have come across it). The idea, as you might guess by the name of the website, is to preserve the classic 1950s/60s originals, to inspire new owners not to rip out the original bathroom suite simply because it's not white.

And Retro Renovation weren't messing about. Fuelled by wilful destruction on interiors DIY shows on TV, they launched a proper campaign, complete with Flickr group and pastel bathroom messiah merch (above). Yes.

If you love the originals, check out this incredibly well preserved 1962 house I wrote about a couple of years ago. You'll love it. And if you're hankering after a blush bath, look no further than HM James, who own the patents to some of the original avocado, rose and lemon suites and now reproduce them. I'm all for it, just trying to work out how I could incorporate some pink into the freshly painted all white bathroom...

But what do you think – could you perform your ablutions comfortably with a candyfloss backdrop, or is white the only way to go in the 21st century?

Retro style radio

My dad has just very generously got me a belated birthday present of a digital radio / iPod dock (my old, not very good, nor very beautiful one was on its last legs already before the roof leaked and finished it off a few months ago).

Having had a bit of an ugly beast of a predecessor, and one that was badly made, I wanted to get something beautiful that would last for many years. Here it is...

It is a Revo Heritage, and I fell for its walnut/aluminium charms, reminiscent of the 1970s and retro-looking without a whiff of twee. It also goes quite well with my kitchen cupboards, I thought. The radio is pretty large and sounds incredible, and has an iPod dock as well as internet radio too. It should have been nearly double what was paid for it (Tesco sell it for around the average RRP of £229). But I checked eBay, to find a few shops selling manufacturer-approved, under-warranty, refurbished ones – for around £100 less than that. We got mine from the Revo Outlet Store for around £130. But it took a lot of searching to find it. Here are some of the ones I nearly chose...

I have written here before about my love of old-school technology, aesthetically, at least – and love the way radios used to look. So I started researching the obvious contenders such as Roberts, who do DAB versions of their classic, leather-clad beauties. But my kitchen is more 70s than Cath Kidston and none of them were quite right – until I found this...

Roberts Vintage Portable RRP £130 – or from around £96 on Amazon. I love the look of this and like the carry strap and battery charge, but realised I would probably never move it from the same spot in the kitchen so didn't need that. Also, there is no iPod dock (but you can plug one in, or any other MP3 type device, with a mini jack lead).

On the iPod dock front, the Roberts versions of those don't look very Roberts-y, and are all a much more futuristic shape, although the Roberts Sound 100 (above) has the look of an old-school radio alarm clock, which I like. And it isn't cheap (£249 from John Lewis); besides, I wanted something that looked like a radio.

A friend was hankering after a radio she'd seen in another friend's house, by a company called Viewquest, which I also checked out and nearly went for. I like how the iPod dock pops out at the front, and it has a hint of Roberts-y styling about it, and comes in lots of different colours. If I hadn't found the Revo, I may have gone for one of these. They have been well-reviewed, too. You can find them on Amazon starting at around £67.

If I could have found any of the Genus Type R radios (above), which allow iPods and other MP3s to be attached with a mini-jack, for sale anywhere I would have gone for it. Isn't it a stunner? However, I was too impatient to pursue it after half an hour's Googling offered me nothing... It is around £150 – if you can find one.

The other nearly-bought, was this Sony (above), which again starts at around £67. You can trust a Sony to last long and sound good, I figured. And this one looked the part (though I'm happier with my moody walnut over this sunny birch). But there is no facility – even with a mini-jack – to plug in an iPod and though I rarely do that, it's the sort of thing I know I'd suddenly want to do all the time if I got one that didn't let me. One should always be ready for a kitchen disco...

Old-school sound systems

This weekend, my youthful lodger looked at my music corner (below) and commented: "Stuff for playing music was big in the olden days, wasn't it?" 

And he wasn't even looking at the admittedly chunky record player, which really is quite olden-days (read more below) but the amp and CD player above. "Yes," I thought, smoothing a wrinkle in my face, "and that's what makes it so brilliant." The equipment was once a prominent and important part of music enjoyment.

The record player, which has flashing lights that go on and off in time to the music, is possibly one of my favourite possessions, though it has a troubled past, but the ex-boyfriend involved in that story probably wouldn't thank me for airing it here (it should have been his, you see). I found it in a charity shop in Penzance and amazingly it worked. I took it to an enterprising repair man who cunningly wired it away from its internal speakers (very tinny, as you'd imagine) and gave it the facility to be plugged into my amp (bought, along with the CD player, bought in a ritual ceremony at Richer Sounds).

So when I saw these new music playing gadgets at Urban Outfitters, I came over all nostalgic...

Crosley Stereoluxe speakers, £190
Isn't this iPhone/iPod dock and AM/FM analogue radio a beauty? Perfect shade of 1950s pistachio green (which would go well with my newly painted stairs). Shame there's no digital hidden amid the old-school stylings (I need my BBC6 fix) but then you can always listen online via your phone, if you have a good tariff of course.

Boombox, £260
This has a nice bit of function hidden inside its 80s New York hip hop stylings: the flap where you'd once have stuck a cassette will take your iPod, and it also has a remote control. Most importantly, it has two 15-watt speakers. If only it really would play old tapes though... I have two big drawers full of the things that I haven't listened to in years. If, like me, you could do with the real thing – try the Vintage Cassette online store.

Crosley portable Tweed turntable, £160
This gorgeously boxy, totally portable turntable is a bit more modern beneath the 1960s exterior: it has USP capabilities, meaning you can spruce up the sound of your vinyl by plugging this baby into your Mac or PC. Though that warm, vinyl crackle is a big part of a record's charm so I'd be tempted to leave it unplugged for playback – but it will revive dusty old records if, of course, you're old enough to have any dusty old records...

My Cool Campervan

If I had to live in a van... it'd be a van like this.

I've been poring over the lusciously retro pictures in My Cool Campervan (Anova, £14.99) since it arrived through my door a couple of weeks ago. (It's by the same people behind the equally por-able My Cool Caravan book.)

Regular readers will know I have a bit of an obsession with small spaces – so seeing these compact little interiors, everything in its place, fold-away-able and snug – well, heaven. Just look at those lovely shelves in the doors, above.

The photography and styling are captivating; a book to look at again and again... and it's not just the classic VW vans featured, there are some crazy-looking lovelies in there. I rather like the all-American, very 70s and very brown Ford Mk 4 Zodiac with Ginetta base – but not quite as much as the swively seats in the GMC motorhome, above.

Read more about the book and its authors at their blog.

Retro lunchbox

It's a bit silly, but this 'I Love London' lunchbox is very sweet. It might make a nice cake or biscuit tin for the kitchen, or just spruce up your Tuppaware collection with it.

The illustration is very cute and reminds me of hand-me-down picture books I was read as a child, and makes me wish I lived in 1960s London and could commute alongside men in trilby hats and wear smart, swish outfits all the time. Which of course would be most tiresome really... but that's my romantic vision and I'm sticking to it. 

Anyway - this comes from Bouf, which is a spectacular website if you're not familiar (it's essentially a storefront for all sorts of interesting small-scale designers). And it comes from I Love Retro and costs £7.16 (random price, but it's on sale right now, so get in quick).