Comments on: Lawrence Bill asks for more ideas for his 50s bathroom floor

By: Dave Wright

Dave Wright — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:17:43 +0000

We’re doing a bathroom job in central NJ and I couldn’t believe the -get this- lavender tub, sink and john. Oh, and the lavender matching 4×4 wall tile. Betcha that stuff would move on ebay.
Dave Wright

By: kt

kt — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 18:06:31 +0000

Lawrence Bill, you ended up going with those cirlcle tiles right? Do you still like them? I’m worried they may be a pain to clean on a bathroom floor. I’m doing white subway on the wall of my 50’s house but thought the very light blue cirlcles on the floor might be fun. Otherwise, I’ll go with a simple b/w basketweave or something similarly retro. Hope to hear from you soon. If you’re in (Lawrence) KS, sorry about the Hawks last night – I’m an alumn so I feel your pain.

By: Ellen T

Ellen T — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:55:35 +0000

Bill,

If you want to be really true to the period, you should probably go with the streaky tile that Pam has posted; my home, built in 1950 had that type of flooring (asbestos & very expensive to remove). I used 1″ hexagonal ceramic tile when I had to redo the floor, but it would probably be hard for you to find anything other than white that would go with your wall tile.

I have found Daltile very hard to work with; they used to be great (I’m in the same area as Palm Springs Stephen). Some of the local tile suppliers are much friendlier, so I’d try tile wholesale/retail to look through samples. Any classic ceramic tile floor is going to look better than the carpet!

Ellen T

By: Femme1

Femme1 — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:20:27 +0000

I think that cocoa brown tile is really cool.

By: wbondsteele

wbondsteele — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:31:40 +0000

Palm Springs Stephan:

Thanks for your suggestions, especially regarding the paper forms. That sounds like the way to go. I’ll also check out the wholesaler you mentioned (150 miles–they’re probably in Witchita) and see if I can’t arrange a trip. I do wish, however, that Daltile were more responsive to my inquiries. They are a difficult company to reach. But I do like the product and will seriously consider them for our flooring.

Chriss: The carpet, which is indeed unsavory, covers the original flooring, which is vinyl I believe. It needs replacement.

This bathroom is interesting, as bathrooms go. It has a porcelain shower basin (not a tub), which looks to be an earlier example of this kind of stall. And yes, the vanity is really compact and quite nice to use. Just need to fix the drain plug mechanism, which has a missing part I have looked everywhere for but haven’t found yet. The sconces you mentioned provide superb lighting. I love these! They’re in both of our bathrooms. You might be able to find these on Ebay, who knows.

By: chriss

chriss — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:45:48 +0000

Dag, those are some sweet looking sconces! I so want one! And what a cool looking little bathroom. I love the corner vanity setup! That is so unique. I wish I had something like that in my bathroom as it is also very small and this would make it look so much roomier. At least the sink cabinet I put in is smaller that what I removed and that freed up some visual space. Wow, carpet. In a bathroom. Hmmm. That seem unsavory. Was it ever tiled or anything?

By: Palm Springs Stephan

Palm Springs Stephan — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:39:06 +0000

Regarding Dal-Tile and custom patterns … I’ve had some experience with this, as Pam said, so I will make a few suggestions. My first is that you discard their software. It is too limiting and difficult to use, as you’ve discovered. Instead, see if you can find the nearest Dal-Tile wholesale distributor. Not a retail flooring store that carries Dal-Tile but an actual Dal-Tile warehouse, the middle man that the stores get their goods from. I did a quick search and it looks like you would have to drive more than 150 miles from Lawrence, which is probably not good news at today’s gas prices! So that may not be a viable option.
But if it is, you can usually buy direct from the wholesaler at a much cheaper price. I got my tile direct from Dal-Tile for 35% less than what the local retail flooring store was charging, and that discount might cover your added cost of gas to get back and forth.
And if you can get to a wholesaler, they have these nifty little “old-fashioned” paper order forms for ordering custom laid tile in patterns. They are done with grid squares, like graph paper, and you just color in the squares in any pattern that you want. You can design your own quite easily, the old fashioned way, without mucking about with computers and software. Dal-Tile will then take that colored-in grid sheet and glue the tiles to nylon webbing that can be laid quickly in sheets. It takes about 6 weeks to get the order shipped from the plant to the warehouse, then you have to either pick it up at the warehouse or pay for second shipping to your site.
If the nearest Dal-Tile warehouse is too far away, perhaps you can go to a local big flooring store, as Pam suggested, that carries the Dal-Tile line and take with you a sheet of graph paper (buy it at the local office supply store) that you have already colored in with your tile pattern. If your local flooring store is any good, I bet they can fax that pattern to Dal-Tile and get it made for you.
My own experience with Dal-Tile lately is that business is down, thanks to all the mortgage crisis stuff and the mini-recession. And because business is down, they are bending over backwards to help make it easier for people to buy from them (at least they are here in Southern California). They are doing just about anything they can to make a sale, so they should be willing to work with you.

I agree with Pam that the current trend toward glass tile will be a rapidly passing one. And it is a very non-authentic look. Avoid it.