I’ve featured this mosaic bathroom floor tile before on the blog via S.J. Masters in Connecticut but it was kind of buried within another post. But Kate also spotted it on the Nemo Tile website, and this may be a more accessible place for most folks to buy it. I LOVE this stuff, especially for a modern 60s bathroom.
Update 2-4-13: Reader Barbara writes:
I was hoping to use the gray Nemo tile mosaic “text” pattern. Alas it is no longer available. According to Janice, they have lots of green and about 200 square foot of yellow.
Readers, see all our Tile Resources here, there are alternatives, including likely New Old Stock from World of Tile –> https://retrorenovation.com/category/bathroom-categories/tile/
Gelcys Nielsen says
Hi – I just posted soemthing under the general questions, but worth writing here – I’ve uncovered tile like this just off my kitchen – but it’s all loose (like a floating crunchy floor) and no longer attached to the concrete underneath – I think I will lose my mind if I have to take up each piece to re-adhere one at a time – any ideas of how to do otherwise? They are sticking together loosly with grout, so I can get underneath a good portion of them at a time, but once handled, the grout doesn’t hold and the ‘sheet” starts bending and coming apart. The original mesh just cracks and breaks.
I’m doing my best not to just take it all up and start over with something else… help!
pam kueber says
Gelcys – I responded to your other comment, but will repeat here: It’s impossible to diagnose such issues online. Moreover: PLEASE know that there can be vintage nastiness — like asbestos and lead — in old materials like the ones you are uncovering. Including in tiles of all sorts, and in their adhesives and backings. CONSULT WITH A PRO regarding what you have, and are uncovering, so that you use safe environmental and safety procedures!
Kate says
I just heard from Jenine at Nemo, and she said that unglazed whites tend to look beige. It seems like that pattern is available only in unglazed, but I’m not clear on that.
Kate says
Just got a sample of the white, but I was disappointed. It’s more of a “natural”, and bordering on beige-ish-ness…Too bad, because they were very friendly and had it in stock.
Elisabeth says
That’s almost exactly what our dorm bathrooms have. Gotta love the 1950s kitsch! There are 32 rooms in the dorm, which was originally built as hospital housing. Each has an attached walk in closet and bathroom. The main room and closet are tiled in variated tan/main color tile and the bathroom is all done in ceramics that match the color of the main floor. EVERYTHING is still original except the toilets (sob!) and the ceiling lights in the main room. Windows, radiators, all of it, still intact. It’s absolutely awesome and I just wish I could afford to do it mid century style. But alas, the college budget and dorm room furniture don’t mesh so well.
Janice says
I so badly wanted the Text Grey floor to go with the pink and grey bathroom I’m renovating, but sadly it’s been discontinued. Warning…do not fall in love with that option!
pam kueber says
Drats! Sorry, Tina. No “last remaining stock”?
James says
We’ve got the “Text Beige” tile floor in the master bath of our 1963 colonial. Never knew it had a name. No problems with slipping. Original bathroom fixtures are American Standard fawn beige. Walls are painted chocolate brown [Benjamin Moore’s Taupetone]. Vanity and wood trim are painted “Swiss Coffee” [Behr]. We love it.
Nancy C. says
James,
Thanks for the input. How about the cleaning issues? I have heard that unglazed is challenging to clean. I have teen-age boys so cleaning is definitely an issue!
James says
Nancy, the tile is easy enough to clean but the grout is very dark. The bathroom is 47 years old- we like to pretend the original grout was black, but who knows.
Our teen boys share a bathroom that originally had the “Text Pink” pattern. We ripped-out that floor and put in a new floor with 12 x 12 glazed ceramic tiles- a mix of gray & aqua- not vintage but we like it. The tile walls had random pink square tiles among mostly white tiles, which we painted aqua for a vintage feel. The pink tub was re-glazed white. New sink & toilet are white.
Tammy Boyle says
We had the tile floor in our 1957 house pressure washed using a special floor pressure washer that was contained under a dome. My mother in law came to visit and couldn’t get over how new the floors looked. The floors were all unglazed in the text pattern. I just spray with a little clorox clean up and wipe up with a wet rag.
pam kueber says
wow, thanks for the tip. i wonder if this is something to do just on unglazed?
Tammy Boyle says
Just to clarify, the pressure washing cleaned the grout back to it’s original white. The grout and tiles were in good shape, but the grout was nasty (50 years of dirt) when we purchased our home.
Nancy C. says
It seems that all of this type of tile is unglazed (albeit fabulous looking!). How is that working for everyone? I am concerned about the feel underfoot in the bathroom and the ease of cleaning. Let me know!
Kate says
The tile people I keep talking to say that’s what you should have for a bathroom, to avoid slips and falls, but I’ve been in plenty of bathrooms with what seems like glazed tiles. Good question.
Nancy C. says
Kate,
I have matte glazed in one bathroom and no problems with slipping or cleaning. As I told James, I have teen-age boys so I want something that is easy to clean.
Kate says
That was my suspicion, Nancy, thank you. You’d probably only have to have unglazed in a shower stall.
Shane Walp says
I tried registering at Nemo to get a few color samples…I’m hopefull about that Pistachio color. Anyhow, while registering, there was no place to setup a password w/your email! So, I’m “registered” but have no password to log in with!
DOH!!!
Kate says
I just emailed them through the “contact us”, and got a quick response from an actual human, Jenine. She offered to send me a sample and gave me a quote. The price for the plain white Text was $6.90 sq/ft for a quantity of 25-30 sq ft.