This morning, I showed a vintage bathroom featuring small, ceramic, mosaic tiles in pink and metallic gold — and promised to reveal my source in this next blog post. Yes, this was too easy, and longtime readers would surely have guessed: You can still get small, ceramic color-and-metallic mosaics similar to the bathroom that Paul spotted — new old stock from the 1960s! — with metallic finish! — from Chippy at World of Tile. These tiles are mind-blowing gorgeous.
One of the reason I neeeeeeeed to get a Sarasota beach bungalow is so I can use Chippy’s beauties in my kitchen or bathroom. If any are left. Boo hoo, I want it all right NOW:
I don’t think these tiles come cheap. But, they are rare — vintage — the real deal. And, I did some googling and could not find anything like them. Even if I did find them — likely from very high-end tile makers — I bet they’d still cost more than what Chippy is asking.
At World of Tile, there are a few walls tiled with this style of tile. Above: The hall…. leading to the bathroom. Stunning.
Pam, pick your fav and buy them out! Chippy is so nice she’d probably keep them stored til you need them and maybe work out some sort of payment plan. This may be time to cash in your ‘I owe you one’ since you have promoted their store so much over the years! Deciding which tile though…. That will be tough! They are all sooo cool!
Pam;
Those tiles are beautiful. I want the ones just below where you say “I want it all right now.” I think I see aqua, gold and pink in those ones. My bathroom at home has the small tiles on the floor in what I call sand and cream colors. Just because I love the beach.
On a totally different topic. I was watching “Enlightened” a series on TV which I have watched before. However, this morning when watching the first episode I realized how the main characters Moms house is totally a time capsule. You probably already are aware of this, but just in case. LOL thanks Joan
These are so fabulous! You really have to wonder how and where they find all of this tile. I am getting ready to retile my bathroom vanity and am looking for some blue sinks to match my vintage mid century modern tile, but it seems if I want blue sinks in my price range I will have buy wall hung sinks. Can you tile in a wall hung sink into a vanity???
Jacki,
If you are looking at vintage sinks, some were meant to be either tiled-in or wall hung. I know that both Briggs and American Standard had these varieties (I have a Briggs Beautyware sink I intend to use as a tile-in). It’s been my experience that American Standard is the easiest to match and the easiest to locate. Good luck!
Blue Jay,
Thank you so much. I will google your information and try to find which sinks are interchangeable.
Jacki,
Here are a couple of examples from Ebay. If you have a salvage yard, you should also try there, as they will likely be cheaper. These can be wall-mounted with brackets or tiled in with the front exposed (which is a nice look).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Vintage-American-Standard-Ming-Green-Bathroom-Sink-Tile-In-1960s-/330692212705?pt=Architectural_Garden&hash=item4cfecab7e1
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-retro-sink-american-standard-new-old-stock-/180931529917?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a205c0cbd
I had two round blue sinks in my time capsule house. Unfortunately, one was rusted out and the other got broken trying to take it out and put it where the rusted one was. We located some new round sinks in a very similar color, I think they are Kohler. If you don’t find the right vintage sinks, maybe you can match your old ones at a good plumbing supply house.
Pam —
Greetings from Appleton, WI !
You know? Sara G. is right! My
Dear Huzz & I know if we don’t buy
it when we see it, then go back to
get it when “the time is right”, it’s
gone. So go for it! I’ll bet hose
“bitty beauties” will bring a smile to
your face every single day!
Thank you for your blog! I read it
at least twice a day!
When’s the earliest you can justify metallic tiles, of any size? I must admit my love for ’20s-’40s over ’60s-’70s… but the metallics are sweet. I love shiny as much as I love colour!
Imagine how delicious black/white/silver could look with Deco, or blue/gold Greek key… I can find modern metallic mosaic tile, (solid metallic though, not pink-with-gold on individual tiles or anything crazy-wonderful like that) but I don’t know when it really started being used.
This is perfect! We bought a 1959 ranch this summer and the master bath is done in white tile with a metallic gold tile border. Some of the gold has rubbed off in places and we were stuck wondering what to do about it. I should have known World of Tile would probably have it
We have the brushed gold on mosaic tile in both bathrooms in our 1965 ranch. Problem is a lot of the gold has been worn off over almost 40 years. Tile is still in great shape so dont want to replace. Is there a way to apply new gold? Or remove the gold on the spots that still exist??
One bathroom is solid white mosaic and the other is a mix of white, pink, brown and tan
Where you say “boohoo, I want it now”, I have the tile in the upper left; it’s the original backsplash in our 1959 ranch. I’m formulating a remodel plan around it!