The lovely pink and gray bathroom in EarthaKitsch’s 1956 house has a gaping hole in the vintage mosaic ceramic floor tile, courtesy of a previous owner’s need to get to pipes underneath. Eartha K is a longtime reader… remember when I wrote about her delicious knotty pine kitchen? Now, she and DH putting finishing touches ont he bathroom but Drats! They need to fins some tile to match. I volunteered to marshall the Retro Renovation readership forces (and the retro decorating gods) on their behalf. Read on for Eartha K’s story…
Hey Pam,
Thanks SO much for offering to show our tile to see if anyone can help. We’ve scoured your blog and looked into all of the tile manufacturers listed and have also paid a fee for a service to search their warehouses for dead-stock portions of our tile. No luck. We’ve also been watching Craigslist and eBay like hawks to no avail. We just KNOW that somewhere out there, someone has some of our tile sitting in a dusty shed or is about to rip it out of a bathroom. We had a tile person come out to the house, and he said that there is a slight chance that he can harvest some tile out of our bathroom linen closet but that since our tile is laid straight onto concrete, there might be more loss than gain. We found some fragments of our tile in a trash pile in the brambles at the edge or our property but there is no maker or other info on the back of them. We recently saw our tile in an estate sale house so we know that it wasn’t something rare.
So, that’s the scoop on the great (or not so great) tile hunt. The colors are a peppy (and kind of Pepto) pink and a sort of blueish gray. The sizes are 1 x 1, 1 x 2 and 2 x 2. I’m attaching photos and will also attach a photo of the patch job that was done sometime in the past. Our house is on a concrete foundation and we’re guessing that someone had to get to the plumbing through that hole in the floor. Then they slapped some random tiles in haphazardly and called it a day. I never will forget the day that we first walked through this house. We went into that pink bathroom and angels started singing because everything was original…pink…pink…pink.
…glorious. Then the realtor said, “There is something under the rug that you need to see…” When we lifted up that rug, we gasped. Then we bought the house. We’ve worked hard getting the bathroom spiffed up and rejuvenated with repair work and by bringing back some period details … but that hole in the floor keeps us from being able to say that our job is done. It haunts us.On a comical note, when we finally found the perfect color of bath rug to match our bathroom, we drove all over the county from one JC Penney’s to the other, snatching up all of their stock because they were being discontinued. I have this fear of being in this house for 50 years and all of my bath mats getting too ratty to cover the hole in the floor anymore. Thus, I have become a bath rug hoarder. : )
Thanks again!
What do you think, readers? Can you be on the lookout at Re-Stores and craigslist and the like and if you see any New-Old-Stock, post an alert here? Meanwhile, I have a few more sources for new tile today that might do the trick. I will post them tomorrow and Saturday.
52PostnBeam says
That patch is really crazy — but the bathroom is lovely!
You mentioned seeing the same tile at an estate sale. Many houses go on the mkt after estate sales … it’s a long shot, but maybe you can get in touch with the realtor (or send a letter directly to the home). Print or send this blog post and let them know how to contact you in the off chance they’re renovating the bathroom.
Also – agreed with Amy, have a plumber check it out.
Stacy says
Try B&W Tile in Gardenia, CA. They don’t show their color catalog online but they could probably send you a sample of their pink and gray to see if it is the same color. They make a lot of colors from the 40’s and 50’s. Good luck!
Amy Hill says
Had another thought…Before you fix the floor again, better be sure the plumbing repair that was done before was done right.
Ann Nyberg says
“Eartha Kitsch?” How much do I love that name!
Tina says
That is one beautiful bathroom. I love the details–down to the vintage trash can. I hope someone can help you find the tiles. At least the patch is pretty much where you’d put a rug anyway.
What do your rugs from Penneys look like?
Lynn-O-Matic says
Along the lines of what Mark says, you’ve also checked under the toilet? Seems like there might be enough tile under there to steal.
If you can’t find a match, what about removing tiles around the outside edge to patch the middle and putting a border around the outside?
Good luck, and let us see pictures when you’ve found your solution!
MbS says
The kitsch piece could be Trompe-l’œil with these options:
poodle paw prints
water puddle with DIAL soap
rubber ducky toy on side
Perhaps the install can be “lite” so that when you find the right tile, you can replace OR NOT.
Have an identical tile made so that it travels with the house, if you move.
Jimmy says
You have be able to salvage tile from under the toilet. I’m sure the tile goes up to the drain so you should get enough for your needs!
Francesca says
Have you looked into to having some custom made? An art tile maker might be willing to do them for you. Or you might be able to have non matching tiles tinted to match. Good luck, your bathroom is beautiful!
Heidi Swank says
It’s so funny that these pictures just came up. My husband and I were on savethepinkbathrooms.com last night, looking for alternatives for our pink and brown bathroom. We can’t find a replacement for our gorgeous chocolate/cinnamon tile and the shower pan is leaking. I was hesitant about gray and pink (our toilet and sink are pink) until I saw EarthaKitsch’s bathroom pictures on savethepinkbathrooms. Any suggestions on where to find the 4.25″ square wall tiles she has?