• 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."