Reader Angela and her husband were forced to renovate their vintage master bathroom because of a leaky shower. As much as they tried, it was nearly impossible to save and reuse the original pool blue Pomona tiles from their shower because they were cemented in place. We often see this is the case with the old-school “mud set” tiles — they are cemented into the walls or floors or countertops like nobody’s business. Angela has tried to locate matching blue tiles for her master bath for quite a while now — with only a smidgeon of luck. With her bathroom project stalled, she asked for our help to pull her retro bathroom design together together combining what was left of the old with what we could find to coordinate, new. Fortunately, this color of blue is pretty popular right now — so I think we came up with some good ideas.
Hi Pam,
My husband and I have been fans of Retro Renovation for some time. We have a master bathroom remodel in progress, but it has stalled for various reasons. We must get going again, and would like some advice from you and your readers.
We have a large vanity and originally had a stall shower. When we bought our house, we knew the shower pan was leaking and that we’d soon have to tackle that project. When it came time to demo, we discovered that the shower tile was cemented on and were literally only able to save a few of the original 4 1/4’s and some trim/curb pieces.
They are Pomona tile in a what we believe is the color “Pool Blue”, or color number B474, or maybe S553. My husband found a handful of matching ones at our local ReStore, just enough to tease me and add fervor to my search. We have 17 total tiles now (plus 2 cut pieces, 4 baseboard type tiles and 3 with a rounded edge) and about 20 matching matte/mottled ones that could possibly be used as accents on the floor.
About the time we took out the shower, we found a Cinderella tub at a salvage yard in Berkeley and had to have it. We took out a small closet to expand the bathroom and it fits perfectly in the corner!
Some time ago, I contracted a tile place in Southern California who stated they could match our light turquoise tiles. Their first run came very close, but subsequent runs veered further away, becoming too blue or too green. They couldn’t recreate that first attempt.
We finally gave up on that and I contacted Chippy at World of Tile. Unfortunately, they don’t have any Pomona tile or a color that is even close.
I then started looking at colors that could accent the turquoise and contacted B&W Tile. They sent me a really nice grey sample (64W) that I’m considering.
We’re overwhelmed by it all, and have so many questions:
- Should we use grey tile for the tub surround? What other colors would complement the turquoise?
- Should we expand the tub surround and tile most or all of the wall opposite the vanity?
- We decided to drop the ceiling above the tub, matching its outline. We added a curb to accentuate this. The wood you see in the photo will be covered in the appropriate wall board. How far up should the tile go on the tub surround? Just above the shower head, as was common during the 50’s, or farther up, possibly including the drop ceiling and curb?
- We want to carry the color from the vanity to the tub surround. How can we make use the handful of NOS turquoise tile we have?
- What should we do on the floor? Color? Shape? Size? I would love to tile this as well, maybe adding radiant heat in a few places. We considered using Azrock VCT, but then we wouldn’t be able to add radiant heat. Pam, we used Azrock’s Cortina VCT in Autumn Haze in our kitchen too, adding a detailed black border.
- What color should we paint the walls?
- I’ve never been a big fan of shower curtains. Do we have other options? If not, where can we find a fitting curtain rod.
- And lastly…Could it be at all possible that one of your readers has or knows of a cache of NOS or salvaged Pomona tile in the exact color we need? I’m in LOVE with the turquoise tile, which sealed the deal when buying our house. It kills me to think of those that we “lost”.
Our home is a 1953 ranch. We’re trying to keep it as period as possible. Our style is mid century modern… uncluttered with clean lines.
Thank you, Pam!
Most Sincerely,
Angela
Mood board #1 for a turquoise bathroom — “turquoise-tastic”:
Angela has a lot of decisions to make regarding her bathroom. Pam and I chatted about Angela’s tile matching problem and Pam instantly thought that Daltile’s Aqua Glow field tile might be just what Angela has been searching for. Even if it is not quite a perfect match, but close — having it across the room from the original tile vanity might be just enough separation for it to look like it matches. The only way to find out will be for Angela to order some samples. Here are a few ideas for Angela to consider:
- Choosing a wall color that is a lighter shade of the tile will repeat the turquoise throughout the room and make it feel complete.
- I love these starburst bathroom accessories from Rejuvenation, because they really add that retro flair to a bathroom. In fact — I hope to use the towel bar in my own master bath remodel, too.
- Continue to repeat the turquoise with turquoise towels (White or grey towels would also look great).
- They might not be an exact match, but these Aqua Glow 4×4 field tiles from Daltile might just be close enough to work with Angela’s original bathroom tile. I would use them to tile the entire shower surround (including ceiling curb), but leave the rest of the walls untiled to avoid turquoise overload.
- Angela’s great find: Her vintage white princess bath tub.Daltile also has a fabulous custom tile tool on their website — which Pam has written about before and has been used by our readers like Lauren — to create a specially made retro tile bathroom floor. For this variation, I used the same Aqua Glow color from the wall tile, Pepper White (a white tile with a light speckle) and Desert Grey Speckle to create the perfect custom mix for Angela’s floor.
- Complete the room with a bright and cheery turquoise bath mat.
Mood board #2 — a blue and yellow “sun and surf” bathroom design:
If Angela is yearning for more color in her bathroom, yellow looks great with aqua. Using the same basic plan from above and just swapping out the aqua walls for a pale yellow and remixing the custom floor tile mix to include a bit of pale yellow (crisp linen) Angela’s bath gets a whole different look.
However, if Angela determines that the Daltile Aqua Glow is not a close enough match to her original tiles — fear not. I have a backup plan.
Mood board #3 — “salt ‘n pepper” tile viva la retro!
- Lighter shade of the aqua wall tile for the wall color.
- Instead of making the shower surround aqua, the Pepper white 4×4 wall tiles from Daltile are an authentic retro choice. (I have the original version of these tiles in my minty green hall bathroom).
- Depending on the area that needs to be tiled, Angela could make a stripe with her leftover and salvaged original tiles, or create a random pattern similar to how my mint green bathroom is tiled. If Angela used the Pepper white tiles, she could surely tile the whole bathroom wall without getting aqua overload.
- Same starburst bathroom accessories from Rejuvenation.
- Turquoise towels (white or grey towels would also look great).
- Angela’s great find: Her vintage white princess bath tub.
- Add a bright and cheery turquoise bath mat.
- For a different twist on a retro floor, Angela could make a custom mix of hex and dot tile using American Universal Corp.’s Brittany Octagon Series. The grey “dots” pick up the “pepper” in the wall tile and the white octagon tile makes for a crisp clean feeling throughout the bathroom.
A shower rod for a neo angle tub:
These idea boards leave us with only two remaining questions: What other options does Angela have besides a shower curtain? I’ll defer to Pam and the readers on this one, as I am not well versed in shower doors. Pam suggests:
She needs to look for a “neo angle” shower rod. Since her tub is so old, and the size is not made anymore, she needs to measure carefully and ensure she gets a neo angle rod that fits properly. Typically, these also had a rod coming down from the ceiling to hold the center. you would then need two curtains, one right, one left
We checked with John at deabath.com (an advertiser) who always seems to know to answer to questions about vintage products like this. Sure enough, he quickly answered:
Hi Pam,Ah yes, the Neo-angle version. We just sold one in Ming Green. Our 79-P0533 rod will fit just fine. You actually cut the extra long center bar down to fit, the 36″ sides are perfect. It can be found on this webpage — http://deabath.com/SHWR/showerrods/showerrods.html
Pam found neo angle shower rods on other websites, as well.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure that shower doors would be an option for your tub. What do you think readers?
The last question Angela has for us is, do any readers out there have the specific tile that Angela is trying to match?
Angela, I hope that these idea boards help you figure out what is right for your bathroom.
Readers — as usual — please feel free to chime in
with helpful advice to answer Angela’s questions, listed above.
Fred Wallin says
I grew up w/ torquise fixtures., black w/boomoorang Formica counters, and black and white checkerboard floors.
Can’t remember, but it seems the walls were some…. Nope can’t remember. White plaster and knotty pine in the rest of the house.
BungalowBILL says
You can use the tiles you already have that match. Find a decorative accent panel and frame it with those tiles, either whole, cut into triangles or split as a border. That will bring your color over to the tub and not have to worry about matching.
Angela says
I’m starting to like the idea of splitting the original tile into swizzles to run a border through the Pepper White!
Lynne says
I think I would let the counter tile stand alone. You’ve tried to match it, and can’t, so don’t. Let it be the focal point of the room. IF, big if , you can incorporate the few stray tiles you have found in the shower in an attractive way, great, if not, I wouldn’t use them. I would, however, take the tile and have it color matched for your paint. Paint the ceiling the aqua blue color, and perhaps an adjacent accent wall across from the sink. Or maybe a wallpaper to bring in a bit of the blue. That will carry the tile color across the room and make the counter ‘belong”. Choose another tile for the rest of the job.
Angela says
Thank you Lynne. I was toying with the idea of painting the niche above the tub turquoise if we don’t tile it.
The Atomic Mom says
To answer your question about how far up to put the tile … all the way to the celing. I grew up in a MCM house and the tiles in all the bathrooms only ever went up five feet. It was a mess. Eventually we had to rip the walls out to repair the water damage from tall people showering in a 5 foot shower. As for the color … good luck, I love turquoise. 🙂
lynda says
Unless she is lucky in locating the exact tile shade, option 3 will be the easiest to work with. Since this is a shower/tub, pretty sure both walls will need to be tiled, not just the wall with the shower head. The starburst towel rack is pretty, but a grab bar will be much more practical. Perhaps the starburst towel rack can be placed another place in the bath. I think the neo-angle rod and curtain would be much easier to keep up in the long run. Not sure, but depending on how the rods attach, she may need two shower curtains that will hang on both sides of the tub/shower. I think I would tile the dropped area on the ceiling. That is far enough away so a tile that doesn’t quite match may not be as obvious. She may even get lucky and find enough for that area. Also, I would put in some recessed shelf areas for shampoo, etc. That may be another place to put the accent tiles. The Cinderella tub is great and I think the turquoise is a great color. I wonder if she checked with American Universal Tile in Hayward? That is not too far from Berkeley.
Maybe a glass tile in the right blue would blend in for an accent tile. Then it wouldn’t look like she tried to match and missed it.
pam kueber says
Yes, Lynda, I just checked my big list of 12 places – and American Universal looks to have turquoise’s.
Angela says
Thank you! I have a call in to American Universal for a sample board.
pam kueber says
I like the drop ceiling thingie over the Cinderella tub — a nice framing device. My question is: Why the electric outlet (or switch) next to the plumbing. Where I live that is a real electric code no-no – ? But: Consult with a properly licensed professional; I am sure the electrical inspector will be your arbiter!
Steven says
What about coloured glass on the walls surrounding the bath/shower?
You can get glass coloured in any shade you want and could match the tiles perfectly. The turquoise says “retro’ and the glass is streamlined, simple and timeless.
pam kueber says
Angela, I hope you have also seen my big story: 12 companies that sell basic 4″x4″ (or 4.25″x) bathroom tile — https://retrorenovation.com/2012/07/16/12-places-to-find-4-x-4-ceramic-bathroom-tile-in-vintage-colors/
I just scanned again — and I think that your color *may* still be in here somewhere. Try Nemo…. and go through all the others very carefully. It’s a needle in a haystack sometimes, but it sounds like you are up to the task!
Andi says
Angela, do check out Daltile’s Aqua Glow as Pam suggests. My 1952 bathroom looks SO similar in color to yours (& I know photos can “lie”) and we discovered that Aqua Glow is “almost” a match for our tiles. Like 99% the same.
Discovered this after a year-long, extensive search that included two trips to World of Tile, sample boards from B&W Tiles, searches in several Re-Stores, etc.
Due to water damage we also are replacing a tub surround (and the tub is being converted into a shower). As my (wonderful) contractor explained, with the area being recessed, light strikes it differently than other areas in the same room, making the “almost” close enough not to be noticed. After holding up some sample tiles in the area, I decided he is right. HUGE sigh of relief.
We are still awaiting scheduling issues so the job hasn’t been done yet, but don’t overlook those tiles, which are readily available at almost any tile dealer and not expensive. Somehow, checking out a non-expensive, readily available option didn’t occur to me until desperation set in!
I LOVE that tub you found, too!
Angela says
Thank you Andi. Your search sounds so similar to mine. I will definitely revisit Aqua Glow. Maybe I’ll try to get several to create a small section to see how it looks in natural light through the day as well as artifical. Good luck to you with your bathroom remodel!
Sarah g says
Im a super fan of aqua and yellow so I clearly love the 2nd option (all options are lovely though).
My mother-in-law has a princess tub in her masterbath and it never gets used because of the no shower door or curtain rod issue. I’m so happy I can now refer her to dea bath.
I have to agree with the comment above… Why the drop ceiling thingy?
Nancy says
Love, love, love version 1! I think the key here is to forget matching exactly the existing tile and going w/ an aqua that compliments instead. Since the two tiles are across the room from each other, it will look intended and not an afterthought.
Or – do the shower field tile in a basic white and use your salvaged original tiles in some sort of accent pattern. A floor in a white or gray solid (or white/gray speckled) hex or pattern like shown would complement the white and original aqua and keep the number of different tiles used in the room to a minimum.
There are companies that can create glass shower doors for any type of space, so that would be an expensive option if they would rather not do a rod and curtain. I’m not sure I understand the drop ceiling over the tub, and would personally prefer having the higher space over my head. But that’s just me and my claustrophobia speaking.
This will be a wonderful room to watch as it is transformed. Hope they keep us posted as they go!
Kate says
Great ideas Nancy — I hadn’t thought about a custom shower door. It would likely be pricey, but if that’s what she really has her heart set on, it it a good option to explore.