• Older bathroom styles are back in vogue as homebuyers and renters gravitate toward nostalgia.
• Even younger people are opting for patterned tiles, matching sinks and toilets, and pastel colors.
• One 24-year-old Florida homeowner paid $900 for a baby blue toilet and vanity from the 1950s.

In August, Miami interior designer Dani Klaric shocked her boyfriend with the new centerpiece of her guest bathroom: a secondhand toilet.

The preowned throne, in a baby blue hue reminiscent of the 1950s, was part of Klaric's plan to "de-modernize" the three-bedroom Miami home she bought in May.

Klaric, a 24-year-old content creator with 2.1 million followers on TikTok as of November 27, fought hard for her used toilet. When she couldn't find the exact shade of blue she wanted in stores, she tracked down a seller on Facebook Marketplace who specialized in saving vintage bathroom fixtures from tear-down projects.

Klaric drove a rented U-Haul five hours across Florida to pick up both the toilet and a vanity for $900.

"It's way more warm and cozy and has so much more personality," Klaric told Business Insider.

Neutral bathrooms have dominated the pages of design and architecture magazines for years, but old-fashioned looks are coming back. A new Zillow report on home trends based on key terms and phrases that crop up more frequently in for-sale listings said, "2025 is set to go full granny." Mentions of "nostalgia" in listings were up 14% from 2023, while the word "vintage" showed up in 9% more listings.

Los Angeles-based interior designer Shannon Ggem told BI that "grandma bathrooms" typically feature pastel pinks and greens, elaborate tile designs, and frilly decorations. Once considered dated, they are driving trends in homebuying and interior design — even among millennials and Gen Zers.

"People are so bored of all white and gray houses," Ggem told BI. "They're so hungry for character."

Even manufacturers are observing the uptick in interest.

In 2023, kitchen and bath manufacturer Kohler reissued two "heritage" colors from its archive, a rose blush called peachblow and minty spring green. It released a limited-edition line of toilets, sinks, and tubs in the hues.

"People are gravitating toward things that pull at those nostalgic heartstrings," Alex Yacavone, head of Kohler's design studio, told BI.

Homeowners are paying to get the look

Interior designers told BI that younger homeowners are turning their bathrooms into time machines.

"I'm really seeing it grow with the younger audiences," said San Diego-based interior designer Rachel Moriarty. "They're taking that grandma aesthetic and running with it. They're making it cool again."

Moriarty recently said a San Diego client spent $5,000 restoring her bathroom's aquamarine tiles with black trim and 1930s Art Deco arches. Previous homeowners had ignored the tiles altogether or tried to paint over them. She and the client shopped for black glass knobs for the cabinets and vintage lights of the era to make the tiles stand out even more.

Ggem, an interior designer in Los Angeles, said a client is spending $85,000 on a total bathroom re-do to achieve a vintage look. The couple's home came with all-white, builder-grade fixtures they considered passé, so they're adding a floor with a tile pattern and a mosaic design on the walls, Ggem said.

"The basic finishes didn't feel like they met the luxury level of the community," Ggem said.

A landlord with 30 LA buildings preserves their vintage bathrooms

Forty years ago, real-estate developer Gene Bramson saw historic apartment buildings in Los Angeles being ripped up for the sleek, modern aesthetics of the 1980s. Bramson, who loved the intricate tile work and bold colors found in many of those properties, bought some with the intent of preservation.

"I wanted to take these places and elevate them, bring them back to their original glamour," Bramson told BI. "I just had a great feeling that these locations can't be replicated."

Today, Bramson's company, GLB Properties, manages 30 properties throughout Los Angeles, with rents ranging from $3,250 for a one-bedroom to $11,000 for a four-bedroom.

In 2020, Bramson's daughter Ivana, who also works for GLB, noticed Angelenos clamoring for colorful bathrooms. So she started posting photos of ones in the company's buildings on its Instagram account, which exploded from 6,000 to 40,000 followers between then and mid-2024. Potential tenants started reaching out through direct messages on Instagram, Bramson said.

Keeping up these vintage rooms isn't cheap. GLB spent $25,000 to preserve and upgrade a pink bathroom in a one-bedroom apartment in one of their properties, sourcing vintage tiles, installing a princess tub, and hanging salvaged mirrors. Bramson estimated a renovation with stick-on tiles from Home Depot would have cost about $9,000.

"The bathrooms are the crown jewels of the apartments. I think people can sense it's not a quick vinyl tile cover," Ivana told Insider.

Tenants seem to agree. In 2021, esthetician Biba de Sousa moved into a GLB apartment in LA's Miracle Mile neighborhood. She pays $4,000 monthly for a two-bedroom apartment with a bathroom covered in green tiles and decorative black accents.

"It's just cheerful," she told Business Insider. "It feels like my grandmother left me the apartment."

• I planned ahead and consulted with experts but still made mistakes while renovating my bathroom.
• My floor looks dirty quickly because the grout is too light and I chose the wrong vanity lightning.
• The shower niches look nice but don't drain properly because they're not angled.

As a writer with kids, I'd long ago abandoned the dream of a bathroom remodel. Instead, I'd learned to live with perpetually loose floor tiles and a tub that was as shallow as it was short.

Then, one day, the shower wall caved in, exposing a gaping hole of black mold. Outwardly, I cursed our bad fortune. Inwardly, I threw back my head and silently screamed, "We're renovating!"

With the help of a small inheritance, we transformed our tiny, dilapidated bathroom into a clean and airy space that sparks joy whenever I use it.

The renovation required a full gut down to the studs. We moved the door, opened the ceiling, and splurged on a double vanity and high-end fixtures.

I made good calls and a few bad ones and probably spent 50,000 Canadian dollars (about $36,000) total.

Although I consulted with a designer and sought help from my design-savvy sister, there are a few things I'd definitely do differently next time.

I should've done my shower-niche homework.

I added shower niches for storage and was thrilled with my design choices until I had my first shower and noticed water pooling in both shelves.

After a quick Google search, I realized the tiling at the bottom of a niche should be angled to let the water drain. I hadn't thought of this, and my contractor apparently hadn't either.

The niches aren't angled at all. Worse, they're in a part of the shower that gets especially wet.

They don't always dry between showers so, over time, water could seep through the tile and into the framing behind — which might eventually cause another mold problem.

A darker grout would've helped my floor tiles look cleaner.

During the design process, I had to select a grout to accompany my beautiful white-gray Carrara marble tiles.

At the time, I chose a light color thinking it would seamlessly match the tiles — it did. Unfortunately, it's also a dirt magnet in the high-foot-traffic area around the sink.

No amount of scrubbing has helped thus far and comparing it to the pristine tile under the vanity hurts my heart a bit. Next time, I'll go at least two shades darker with floor grout to help mask the unavoidable grime of this busy zone.

I didn't appreciate the importance of specs.

It took forever to find the perfect floating vanity with drawers and space for two sinks. At last, I imported a beautiful fluted piece from Italy.

While awaiting its arrival, my contractor roughed in the plumbing based on the standard height for vanities. It turns out my piece was not standard — its cutouts for pipes didn't match up with the now-installed plumbing lines.

Fortunately, we were able to cut out a notch in the back of each of the drawers to accommodate pipes. This was better than buying a new piece, but it added another 400 Canadian dollars to my budget.

Next time, I'd ensure my contractor had all the specs before mounting or installing anything.

The lighting for my vanity area isn't great.

Although I'd put a lot of thought into the placement of pot lights in the ceiling, I neglected to do the same with vanity lighting.

Instead of, say, three lights placed at eye level or two over the mirrors, I settled on just one placed between the two mirrors. This was, in part, to save money.

But one light doesn't provide nearly enough illumination when you're using the mirrors. (Just ask my teens!)

I don't really have enough room for three sconces, but I wish I 'd at least placed one above each mirror. I'm now sourcing new (hopefully cheap) sconces, which I'll also have to pay an electrician to install. Ouch.

I wish I'd paid more attention when ordering my custom window.

When I discovered my existing window had to go, I knew I wanted to replace it with an industrial-style one complete with grilles running in a grid on the outside.

I could already picture the adorable piles of snow that would collect in the corners come December. Since I was so certain and so busy I ordered my window over the phone.

When the window arrived, I was shocked to find the grilles were between the sheets of glass. I'd never seen this design before, and it was definitely not my intended vibe.

It was a custom piece, so I couldn't return it. Instead, I focused on the positives: This was much cheaper and way easier to clean than the ones with grilles on the outside.

Since it's a small window, I've gotten used to it and even come to like it. But if ever I'm in a position to add windows to another room in my house, I'll spend more time and money to ensure I order the grilles on the outside.