Stuck in the 60s? Trends & Changes in Bath Design

Avente Tile celebrates Bathroom Blogfest 2010 with two posts this week. Today's post is from me, Bill Buyok. Our guest contributor and Tile Maven, Sunny McLean, will post later this week. Avente Tile is excited and honored to participate in this fun and perfectly planned blogfest orchestrated by Christine Whittemore of Simple Marketing Now LLC.

"Stuck in the 60s?" is the theme of this year's Bathroom Blogfest. It is inspired by the TV shows, Mad Men, that, according to Christine, captured our imaginations for its portrayal of life in the 60s when social and cultural taboos meant that many critical aspects of life – like bathrooms – were ignored, glossed over and treated dreadfully." Interestingly, I found out yesterday that Christine doesn't watch TV and only attempted to watch an episode as homework for this assignment. That makes her OK in my book, because I'm in the same boat. So missing the Mad Men tie-in, let's see if bathroom design is stuck in the 60s and what critical aspects are missing.

1960's Kitchen (scary).
Image from uglyhousephotos.com.

When I think of the 60s an image appears in my head similar to the one above. Let's face it. Nobody wants to be stuck there. Also, I think of pale peach bath tiles, white Formica with marble swirls and gold flakes, avocado green refrigerators, brown and gold mirrored wallpaper, and cheap cabinets made out of particle board with a badly-done faux wood grain plastic finish. My description is filled with negative connotations and implies there was certainly some lackluster design.

A typical 1960's bathroom might look like this:

1960's Bath.
Image from uglyhousephotos.com.

Did the designers of those days gloss over the details and make a mess of it? Are these more contemporary bathrooms that much better?

2008 Spa Bath with Cement Tile

 

2003 Spanish-Inspired CA Bungalow Remodel

I say no. We forget that a 1960's bathroom was designed by and for someone living exactly at that time. It is easy to poke fun of something and find its flaws after 50 years have passed. Values and styles change and so do our needs. There's a generation gap, so to speak. We like the more contemporary bathrooms because we relate to them better. They are more familiar. In the 60s, the choice to use plastic (even for wood) was a 'hip idea', colored tubs and toilets where a thankful change after years of sanitary white, and bold statements with color were all about defining yourself as 'not part of the establishment'. Bathrooms were smaller and very utilitarian - folks didn't linger there. The concept of the urban spa didn't exist, so we didn't even know we could luxuriate in our home bath/spa. To help understand the 'generation gap' and how baths were viewed, take a look at the 1960 Kohler ad. The focus is on the housewife bathing her kids.

1960 Kohler Ad (with ubiquitous pink tile)
Image from uglyhousephotos.com.

A 1960's bath was darn nice if you were of course living in it during the 1960's. We are not stuck in the 60s. Here's some examples of how things have changed. Everyone is better at defining needs at the beginning of the project. People are better at understanding that what I want isn't going to be the same as what you want. Thank God, we don't all have to have the same peach-colored bath tiles. Our recent post, Discover Your Dream Bath, is a great tool for defining your bath goals.

There is a definite appreciation for customization. People want to express themselves through their home and use a large mosaic or decorative tile mural for a tub backsplash. Homes are built and remodeled with more bathrooms to accommodate kids, pets or guests. Bathrooms are larger and include storage, adequate space for personal items and guest towels, and plenty of hooks for towels and robes. Niches create space and add convenience for beauty products in the tub. Most folks (even in these tight times) include an allowance and incorporate some mini-home-spa features: an artisan tile backsplash, brushed nickel robe hooks or a spa tub. Finally, try to use more natural light, larger windows, and good ventilation. See, a lot has changed since the 60s. Now you can sit back and relax. Fix yourself an extra dry martini - shaken, not stirred!

This post is part of Bathroom Blogfest 2010, an annual blogging event in its fifth year. This is Avente Tile's first time to be a part of this event. Comments and feedback are always welcome. Don't be shy, feel free to chime in on this blog, Twitter, or Facebook pages and tell us what you think. Cheers to all the dedicated bloggers that make the event possible and fun. Thanks to our loyal readers who make our efforts appreciated. Accolades and a heart-felt thanks to Christine for producing the event. The participants in this year's Bathroom Blogfest are:

Blogger	Blog Name	Blog URL
Susan Abbott	Customer Experience Crossroads	http://www.customercrossroads.com/customercrossroads/
Paul Anater	Kitchen and Residential Design	http://www.KitchenAndResidentialDesign.com
Shannon Bilby	Big Bob's Outlet	http://blog.bigbobsoutlet.com/
Shannon Bilby	Carpets N More Blog	http://blog.carpetsnmore.com/
Shannon Bilby	Dolphin Carpet Blog	http://blog.dolphincarpet.com/
Shannon Bilby	From The Floors Up	http://fromthefloorsup.com/
Shannon Bilby	My Big Bob's Blog	http://blog.mybigbobs.com/
Toby Bloomberg	Diva Marketing	http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/
Laurence Borel	Blog Till You Drop	http://www.laurenceborel.com/
Bill Buyok	Avente Tile Talk Blog	http://tiletalk.blogspot.com/
Jeanne Byington	The Importance of Earnest Service	http://blog.jmbyington.com/
Becky Carroll	Customers Rock!	http://customersrock.net/
Marianna Chapman	Results Revolution	http://www.resultsrevolution.com
Katie Clark	Practial Katie	http://practicalkatie.blogspot.com/
Nora DePalma	American Standard's Professor Toilet	http://www.professortoilet.com/
Nora DePalma	O'Reilly DePalma: The Blog	http://www.oreilly-depalma.com/blog/
Leigh Durst	LivePath Experience Architect Weblog	http://livepath.blogspot.com/
Valerie Fritz	The AwarepointBlog	http://www.awarepointblog.com/
Iris Garrott	Checking In and Checking Out	http://circulating.wordpress.com/
Tish Grier	The Constant Observer	http://spap-oop.blogspot.com
Renee LeCroy	Your Fifth Wall	http://yourfifthwall.com/
Joseph Michelli	Dr. Joseph Michelli's Blog	www.josephmichelli.com/blog
Veronika Miller	Modenus Blog	http://www.modenus.com/blog
Arpi Nalbandian	TILE Magazine Editor Blog	http://www.tilemagonline.com/Articles/Blog_Nalbandian
Maria Palma	People 2 People Service	http://www.people2peopleservice.com/
Reshma Bachwani Paritosh	The Qualitative Research Blog	http://www.onqualitativeresearch.blogspot.com/
David Polinchock	Polinchock's Ponderings	http://blog.polinchock.com/
Victoria Redshaw & Shelley Pond	Scarlet Opus Trends Blog	http://trendsblog.co.uk/
David Reich	My 2 Cents	http://reichcomm.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Sandy Renshaw	Around Des Moines	http://www.arounddesmoines.com/
Sandy Renshaw	Purple Wren	http://www.purplewren.com/
Bethany Richmond	Carpet and Rug Institute Blog	http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com/
Bruce Sanders	RIMtailing Blog	http://rimtailing.blogspot.com/
Steve Tokar	Please Be Seated	http://stevetokar.wordpress.com/
Carolyn Townes	Becoming a Woman of Purpose	http://spiritwomen.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Weaver	Experienceology	http://experienceology.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore	Flooring The Consumer	http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore	Simple Marketing Blog	http://www.simplemarketingblog.com/
Christine & Ted Whittemore	Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog	http://smokerise-nj.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore	The Carpetology Blog	http://carpetology.blogspot.com/
Linda Wright	LindaLoo Build Business With Better Bathrooms	http://lindaloo.com/