Remember Chris’ gorgeous black and white bathroom renovation? Not only did he do most all the work himself — he was amazing researcher, too. One of his tips I wanted to jump right back on to spotlight: Chris came up with a great way to save seriously big money on liner tiles — also known as flash strips or pencil liner tiles — that can be used so effectively to complement the affordable and period-appropriate 4″x4″ ceramic tiles or 3″x6″ subway tiles we love so much for our bathroom remodels.
Basically, the genius idea is this:
- While liner tiles are a fabulous and period-appropriate way to dress up otherwise simple field tiles, you need a lot of them for a whole bathroom.
- Bought one at a time, liner tiles can really dial up an otherwise quite “affordable” bill for the old school squares and subways. For example, an American Olean 1/2″ x 6″ liner tile in black, costs $1 at Lowe’s. (Later update: This product came and went. But now you have the idea!)
- Frankly, it was this extra cost that stopped me from using liner tiles in my bathroom renovations… the costs build up, so you just decide “enough, I can give that up, even though I’d like to have it.”
- But now, Chris has discovered this trick: Look for liner-sized ceramic tiles in mosaic sheets intended for kitchen backsplashes. Detach these long narrow tiles from the mosaic mounting sheet, and instead, use them as liner tiles in your bathroom or kitchen.
- This style of thin pencil strip mosaic (more often seen in glass) is very popular for backsplashes today. But Chris has found that manufacturers are also making the design in ceramic.
- Chris said one sheet cost him $11 on sale. Full price was $16 sheet. That compares to $32 he would have needed to spend to buy the liner tiles individually. So math-Pam calculates: On sale, Chris saved two-thirds the cost; full price was still a 50% savings.
- Attached is a photo of the last of the tile sheets. Sadly there are no markings of any kind on the back of the tile – not even a sku. I know I paid $10.99 for each sheet on sale from 15.99 regular price. There are 32 tiles per sheet (16 linear feet) — so less than half the cost of buying individual tiles. Rona Home and Garden is one of our three big box home centers. Really there’s no real difference between Lowes, Rona, and Home Depot. Different stores but all basically the same size and format selling essentially the same stuff.
Thank you, Chris: Brilliant. If I had been able to buy liner tiles at this price back when, I would have for sure used them.
Other readers who have purchased affordable mosaic sheet tiles, so they can use the pieces in different ways: