Gransnet forums

House and home

Coloured sanitary ware

(130 Posts)
RosiesMaw Mon 06-May-24 15:12:18

Goodness knows why but I found myself thinking of bathroom suites we have had inflicted on us since we married in 1970.
Our first (rented) flat in Greenwich had a pink suite - pretty yukky but I don’t remember being too bothered, probably because that bathroom (it was an attic flat) was so bliddy freezing you’d make a point of being in and out at the speed of light.
Then a flat in a Thirties block in Richmond, blessedly unmodernised with a huge white bath but rather public lavatory style white and black tiles round the walls.
Another pink suite in the first flat we bought , cheap and flimsy like everything the developers had done in the conversion. Our first house had a yellow bath and sink - what was it about coloured suites in those days? Then when we moved out of London, we had to live with Sun King (I think it was called) and avocado in the downstairs loo. The current house had a white suite in the en suite but a pale peach (complete with gold taps!) in the family bathroom until the day we could afford to redo both and replace everything with WHITE.
My old school friend had a dark red/wine coloured suite which was dreadful for showing tide marks and an aunt simply had the pale blue suite dumped on her front lawn and a new bathroom fitted before she would even move into her new house.
What was your worst colour?

Mt61 Wed 08-May-24 16:55:49

We had dark green bathroom & guest loo, hideous.
Every bungalow we looked at recently, six out of the ten had coloured bathroom suites 😩

Oreo Wed 08-May-24 16:28:18

You know what? This thread is making me want a colourful bathroom suite.

MissAdventure Wed 08-May-24 16:05:05

I bet that really was pretty groovy, though smile

grandmac Wed 08-May-24 15:43:25

I remember thinking my aunt was amazingly modern as she had a mauve suite with purple loo paper. I thought that was the height of sophistication as we only ever had white suites and paper at home.

Callistemon21 Wed 08-May-24 10:34:04

'dead budgie' wall tiles
I love budgies but that made me laugh 🦜 (yes, I know that's a parrot!)

mamaa Wed 08-May-24 10:33:46

I grew up with a lemon bathroom suite. First house when newly married had a lilac sink and loo, with blue bath! Next house had a pink suite- and when we moved into present house in early 90’s it still had an avocado suite, with green and white tiled walls. Very quickly replaced with a white suite which has now been totally removed and a grey and white shower room is now in situ.

Callistemon21 Wed 08-May-24 10:32:32

LovesBach

Our second house had a deep blue bathroom. It was instantly christened 'Miserable Blue' as it was an awful shade, but a quite new expensive suite with a cast iron bath. We changed the 'dead budgie' wall tiles for something that looked better, but couldn't afford to change the suite for some years. How wonderful when it was replaced with sparkling white - the bathroom was transformed.

One house we bought had a blue bedroom; I like blue but this had a deep to mid blue carpet, walls, ceiling and paintwork. It was like walking underwater!

cornergran Wed 08-May-24 10:16:06

I truly can’t recall the colours in our first five homes. Number six was bought from a builder, as it was completed with no choices for kitchen and bathroom fittings there was a substantial reduction. Our en suite was white. Our sons were less impressed with being directed to the main bathroom which was a gentle shade of pink. We changed it to white - once they had both moved out. grin. The cloakroom a very pleasant blue which remained for the 27 years we lived there. The folk who purchased the house from us also liked it and I’m told, 11 years later, it’s still there. It’s certainly lasted.

Our current home had a pale grey bathroom when we arrived. The agent details had made it look white, a surprise on viewing. Did we change it? You bet, grey just looked grubby so white it is. I did like some of the colours, sort of miss our blue cloakroom.

MissAdventure Wed 08-May-24 10:00:34

The corner baths that you step down into, always remind me of days gone by on tv.
Couples up to their shoulders in bubbles, sipping champagne, surrounded by potted palms. smile

LovesBach Wed 08-May-24 09:56:00

Our second house had a deep blue bathroom. It was instantly christened 'Miserable Blue' as it was an awful shade, but a quite new expensive suite with a cast iron bath. We changed the 'dead budgie' wall tiles for something that looked better, but couldn't afford to change the suite for some years. How wonderful when it was replaced with sparkling white - the bathroom was transformed.

MaggsMcG Wed 08-May-24 09:33:04

I cant remember ever having anything but white in my homes. I do remember other colours in homes I've visited but not for a long time. Coloured toilet rolls yes but not the suite itself

netflixfan Tue 07-May-24 22:55:17

My downstairs loo is peach! Not my choice but I love it!

SuperTinny Tue 07-May-24 22:20:12

We had a grey suite in our first and new build home. We then moved to an old stone cottage where the suite was turquoise. It was only when I acquainted myself with the inside of the toilet bowl during morning sickness that I realised the inside was white.
On closer inspection the previous owners had painted the outside of the white toilet with turquoise paint to match the bath and sink. There was a matching toilet seat as well so the demarcation line was not immediately noticeable. I hadn't even clocked it when cleaning the toilet!
All credit to them I suppose that the paint job was so good it went unnoticed for quite some time.

Oreo Tue 07-May-24 21:41:48

RosiesMaw

^from title I thought it mean't sanitary pads which I do believe you can get coloured these days and where I feel the term sanitary belongs^

I can’t imagine how anybody could think this is anything to do with something you wear.
Ware/wear
Bare/bear
Lose/loose - here we go again. hmm

RosiesMaw this is the best thread ever😁 have enjoyed reading all the tales of coloured bathware ( there! Avoided any hint of sanitary pads.)😅A trip down memory lane is always fun.

crazyH Tue 07-May-24 21:33:30

lilypollen - got it now - ours was not avocado, it was pampas.

flappergirl Tue 07-May-24 21:28:08

My first married home was a little one bed cottage that had a wonderfully large bathroom at the sunny rear of the house. The bathroom suite was primrose coloured and was actually rather nice. It accentuated the room's natural warmth and light.

Catterygirl Tue 07-May-24 21:21:52

I guess we had an avocado suite in Luton which we changed to black and gold with a jacuzzi but it still took over 5 years to sell.

Deedaa Tue 07-May-24 21:15:46

When we added a bathroom to our cottage (we only had a shower before) I desperately wanted an avocado suite. However when I chose the wallpaper for it I realised it really needed a pale parchment colour. It was a much better choice as avocado was totally out of fashion within a couple of years.

A coloured friend of mine had a dark brown suite. She bought it as a joke "My husband can't find me in it!" but soon found that she had to spend hours scrubbing white water marks off it.

Lucyd Tue 07-May-24 21:04:53

I have only had white bathroom suites but my old house had a massive clawfoot bath in a huge bathroom. It was lovely but took ages to fill. Sometime late dh and I would fill it up, light the church candles in the huge cast iron candle stand, open a bottle of fizz and enjoy a romantic bath. When the children were little they would wear their flippers and snorkels. The people who bought the house from us ripped the who bathroom out and turned the room in to a third sitting room. Such a shame as it was lovely.
My mil had a gorgeous green bathroom suite. It wasn't avocado and I have never seen another suite the same colour. Can remember viewing a house with a brown bathroom suite, complete with a huge corner bath. The worst bit was the dark brown shag pile carpet that went up the outside of the bath! It was hideous.

tictacnana Tue 07-May-24 20:18:59

I’ve always had a white suite but , in the 70s , was told by a house valued that I would need to put a coloured suite in to get a better price for my house.

RosiesMaw Tue 07-May-24 19:10:25

from title I thought it mean't sanitary pads which I do believe you can get coloured these days and where I feel the term sanitary belongs

I can’t imagine how anybody could think this is anything to do with something you wear.
Ware/wear
Bare/bear
Lose/loose - here we go again. hmm

TerriT Tue 07-May-24 18:55:25

Our first , bought on a newly built estate in 1968 offered a list of extras you could have put in. At extra cost of course. So we splashed out and had a coloured bathroom suite which I think was the avocado colour. Makes me shudder when I think of it now but at the time I felt we were going places!! Which turned out to be Into the red at the bank where we spent a lot of time back then…. Then we grew up!

Georgesgran Tue 07-May-24 18:49:06

How about this?
Bumps and felt comes to mind.

Milest0ne Tue 07-May-24 18:42:44

Our tan coloured bath is now a "pond" in the veg garden.

Callistemon21 Tue 07-May-24 18:18:33

lemsip

can't stand that word 'sanitary' for bathrooms though I know it's correct term.

from title I thought it mean't sanitary pads which I do believe you can get coloured these days and where I feel the term sanitary belongs. odd aren't I

It's better than insanitary ware lemsip 😁