Sunday, February 27, 2011

Vintage Towels: the Finishing Touch

So you spent all kinds of time and money restoring a 1950s pink bathroom, seeking out vintage pink fixtures and just the right accessories, but something is still missing.

Or, you want to add a touch of vintage style to a modern bathroom. What is left?

Vintage sculptured towels!

I recently read a great article over at retrorenovation.com about how vintage-style towels are making a comeback. Apparently all those sculptured and textured towels from your Grandma's linen closet are hot stuff over at Anthropologie, Pottery Barn and even Kmart. Who woulda thunk it?

Why, you and me, of course.

See, it just so happens that here at the PIT we got hep to that jive long ago. I'm here to show you some of my vintage textured towels from the 50s and beyond! (It helps to be the only one in the family with a genuine 50s pink bathroom- I inherited all of these from Grandmas and Aunts over the years. No icky thrift store towels!)

Two of my favorites, both textured plush Textron towels.


 Close up of the large one- this is my favorite!


A matched pair of bath and hand towels. I have two sets of these, plus wash cloths. They probably are the closest match to my tile. These are Cannon sculptured towels like those mentioned in the article. The only downside to all this fabulousness is that the bath towels are about half the size of modern ones. So just use two!


Three of a kind! The middle one is a light green; I usually use it in the other bath.


This is another of my favorites.


I love the pink trim band!



 I bet I'm not the only one that remembers these.... I think we also had matching sheets back when I was a kid in the 70s. I think my eyes are burning.


And for those who call the 80s "vintage", see ET in that image? LOL


Hope you enjoyed your trip through the Chez QT linen closet! 

8 comments:

  1. My mom had a set like the hot pink ones back in the 60s. :)

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  2. I love that they're making them again! My Mom had the pink and green ones ! I'm making a bee line to the Kmart tomorrow~

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  3. My great-grandma has the Canon sculptured towels in blue. Makes me think of bathing with Zest at her house. It's nice to see something besides just white towels.

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  4. Thats a great selection, i to have vintage hand towels i was lucky to find them still in there amazing box's which were always so funky, dee x

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  5. I remember growing up with towels like that. Is that how it works? We get old and crave the stuff from our moms' houses??? ;-)

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  6. I grew up using some pink towels like those in the late 1980s. I suspect they may have been leftovers from an earlier time. How funny that they are back!

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  7. OMG! Except for the last one...I have every one of those towels...complete sets! I took them all up to my cabin whenever I redid my home bathrooms...funny: I'm Vintage!

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  8. Oh wow. I feel like I've been transported back to my grandmother's house when I was a child....

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