Update: World of Tile has now closed. See our story on the liquidation sale going on through about Nov. 15 here.
Remember that famous closing scene in the first Indiana Jones movie — the Arc of the Covenant has been found and saved from evil Nazi hands, and where does it end up? In the cavernous basement of a U.S. government storage facility salted away in a box among millions. Well, that’s the movie moment I recalled the minute I entered the Most Truly Amazing part of World of Tile yet: The basement warehouse storage area where all the priceless NOS tile booty is kept just waiting for us to liberate it. To conclude our Retro Renovation World of Tile Week, let me take you on a short tour…
Photos likely can’t begin to capture the awesomeness of this space. And I mean ‘awesome’ as in ‘magnificent and beyond belief.’ Chippy could not tell me for sure, but I’ll swag-estimate and say there was 15,000 s.f. of storage space, all jammed with tile. And in many places, it was 30′ high. Or more. And while we all know the U.S. Government has long forgotten where it stashed Indy’s priceless treasure, Chippy seems to know where every stinkin’ rotten piece of tile stocked at World of Tile since 1957 (when it opened) and especially since 1968 (when she started) is located.
I think this was the area where World of Tile stocked all its vintage pastel colored tile, especially for replacement tile requests. I recall Chippy telling me that they have at least 20 different shades of 1950s and 1960s pink bathroom tile.
Gary was my guide. In this aisle I spotted tile that I had not seen upstairs. The basement stockpiles also include multitudes of small lots of leftover boxes of tile. Perhaps enough to do a foyer or other small room? Or, maybe put the remnant pieces together into one great big crazy quilt floor design? I would, very very happily.
Oh, just some fantabulous Persian style 1970s floor tile. Kind of cavalierly propped there and there. I wanted to stop and go through every aisle, every shelf, every pile…
That was a sliver of the first big storage area. Now, a whole second, separate basement warehouse. Down more stairs. Deeper. Higher. If I don’t come out in a few days, send in the Coast Guard.
Down in Jerry’s Room, tile is piled …. what? … 30 feet high?
I am pretty sure these guys were amused and perplexed by my jaw-dropping fascination.
Not only does the basement warehouse contain thousands (tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?) of pieces of vintage floor tile, but there also are areas like this that house other New Old Stock NOS like mid century modern table legs.
I think I need to doctor, then sell, this photo as a poster.
Vintage Romany Spartan tile. “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow.” Yup. Well, sort of.
Thanks for coming out to play with me all this week. Hope you enjoyed. 🙂
Ann-Marie Meyers says
I am thinking the 1st Annual Retro Renovation Field Trip. Who’s in?
Max says
YES! I want to go to there
Uncle Atom says
This is such a great find! I don’t have a need for tile but it’s so good to know there’s a large supply available. But I’m salivating over those vintage legs. Wow!
52PostNBeam says
O …. M …… G …..
I hope more people will place large orders from Chippy and Co. and not just use them as a resource for small replacement jobs. They do (obviously) have enough stock to do whole rooms. I’ve just placed the order for my bathroom floor mosaic, they had the perfect color combo to tie together a turquoise sink and mint green toilet. Thanks Pam!
pam kueber says
i need to edit the video that i took, too, although i think it would just make everyone dizzy. in a good way.
Buzzbot235 says
Expletive, bad language, *!#?!! Just…WOW
Melanie says
WOW!
Lisa says
Wowee! I’m just about to move into a place built in 1950 that has pink tile in the kitchen (along with a turquoise wall oven and cooktop!). The tile has some chips so we need to replace a few of them. There is also a different shade of pink in the bathroom and one tile has a large chip. I was wondering how I was going to match those pinks, but now I don’t think I need to wonder any more. Thanks!
Gene Brake says
OK, you really need to stop. I’ve been trying, really hard to resist the temptation to drive from Fairfax, to Tile World in NJ. This isn’t helping. 🙂
BlueJay says
We’re in NE Maryland and the trek was definitely worth it (we didn’t have to contend with the DC Beltway, so I can understand)! 🙂
If you know what you’re after, I believe they’ll ship it to you. They offered to ship ours, but we wanted to be sure the color was right, as sea foam green is a ridiculously difficult color to match.
BlueJay says
Oh wow! We didn’t get to the see the basement, and I’m almost glad. That is mind blowing! 🙂
Marion Powell says
This place sounds like an amusement park for retro lovers. Thanks for the fun, Pam.
Nancy says
Just amazing!! And you didn’t buy anything? What temptation! It blows your mind so that you don’t even really know what you need, it is all so incredible!