• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Blog
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Decorate
  • The “Museum”
  • Be Safe/Renovate Safe
Retro Renovation
Retro Renovation

Retro Renovation

Remodel & decorate in Mid Century Style

  • Home
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Blog
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Decorate
  • The “Museum”
  • Be Safe/Renovate Safe
Home / Bathroom / Tile

2 new porcelain hex tile floor options for your vintage pastel bathroom

Kate - August 21, 2014, Updated: August 17, 2021

Pastel-hex-tile-mosaicAs the retro decor revival continues, more and more options for period appropriate tile are becoming available. This is great news for anyone trying to repair, restore or build a midcentury bathroom. My latest discovery — two new options for tile flooring that would feel right at home in a pastel vintage bathroom. Merola Tile has added two new color options to their Metro Hex line of porcelain tile — light green and light blue. The tile is $7.95 per square foot — and available to order through the Home Depot website.

merola-vintage-hex-tile-colorsAs soon as I discovered the existence of these pastel hex tiles, I contacted Maggie McBride, our contact at Merola Tile who promptly sent some samples my way — Thanks Maggie!

blue-hex-tileOnce I received the samples, I was excited to compare them to my B&W Tile sample board to see how they measured up. I started by examining the Merola Tile Metro Hex mosaic in light blue.

blue-ceramic-tile-vintageIt was not a 100% perfect match for any of the B&W Tile colors, but the hex tile was not far off the B&W 20W blue and 20F blue duraglaze. Even though it wasn’t a perfect match, I think it would still be a great choice for someone wanting to create a vintage blue bathroom — or possibly repair an existing blue midcentury bathroom floor.

blue-hex-ceramic-tileThe Merola light blue hex tiles looked even better with the B&W 121 blue aztec and 29R blue ripple tiles, mostly because of the addition of white into the pairing — which acts to break up the blue a little. Another great idea for using the Merola light blue hex tiles to make a midcentury style bathroom — use the blue hex with white 4.25″ tile walls and blue (or white) fixtures.

blue-floor-tiles-vintage-ceramicThe light blue hex tile sample was a very similar blue to the Merola University blue tiles we’ve written about before. Either of these two blue tile selections could be great options to consider for anyone trying to repair, replace or build  a vintage blue bathroom.

Merola-light-green-hex-mosaic-tileNext I studied the Merola Metro Hex porcelain mosaic tiles in light green — secretly hoping it would be the same green as my vintage mint green bathroom, which desperately needs a new floor.

hex-mosiac-vintage-green-bathroomI held my breath, turned on the lights, crossed my fingers and compared the Merola hex tile sample to my original green bathroom tiles. Holy moley, its a pretty good match!

mosaic-hex-vintage-green-bathroom-floor

mint-green-ceramic-tilesAnother bit of great news — if you don’t currently have a vintage mint green bathroom, but were hoping to build one — B&W Tile’s 40W green matches the Merola Metro Hex light green tile quite well, too.

mint-green-ceramic-tile vintage-green-bathroomIt would seem then, that I’ve finally decided upon the perfect replacement flooring for my mint green 1962 bathroom, right? Well — almost.

vintage-green-bathroom-green-hexI decided to use the power of PhotoShop to mock up an all green hex tile floor. Looks pretty good, right?

black-and-white-hex-tileThen I realized that Merola Metro Hex tile comes in black and white patterns, that could — with just a little more effort — become green and white by swapping out the black tiles with light green. (Note — if you plan on doing any tile mixing with the light blue or light green and the black and white patterns from Merola, make sure to order the patterned tile in matte finish so that it matches the matte finish of the blue and green hex tiles.)

Green-and-white-mosaic-hex-tileSuddenly, another option has presented itself. Hmmm.

vintage-green-bathroom-white-and-green-hex-tileCalling on the power of PhotoShop once more, I ‘installed’ my custom floor tile creation — which I also really like. Drat. What’s a girl to do?

flower-black-hex-tileMerola also offers a fun retro black and white flower hex pattern that could be swapped out with the green (or blue) tiles.

flower-green-hex-tileAs much as I like the green flowers, I don’t think my sleek 1962 house wants to be quite this cute — though I think this flower pattern would look adorable in a slightly older or more ‘Coolonial’ style midcentury home.

UPDATE: Since my Photoshop mock ups don’t accurately depict the green and white in the metro hex versus my vintage tile, I’ve added these two closeups below so readers can better see how the tiles match the vintage bathroom tiles.

merola-hex-with-salt-and-pepper-tile merola-hex-with-salt-and-pepper-tile

vintage pastel green bathroomSo now I could really use your advice, dear readers:
Which flooring option do you like best in my vintage minty green and white vintage bathroom?

Link love:

  • Merola Tile Metro Hex collection at Home Depot

See our other stories about retro Merola Tile:

  • 26 bathroom tile designs for a vintage or antique bathroom — Merola Tile
  • Bathroom floor tile in production since the 1970s — 6 colors — and you can order from Home Depot

CATEGORIES:
Bathroom Tile

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

  • retro bathroom tile
    Tile in retro colors for your mid century bathroom -- 36 places to find them
  • starburst-shower-door
    Sterling 'Starscape' -- still the funnest shower door for a midcentury bathroom
  • be safe renovate safe graphic
    Make a resolution to: Be Safe and Renovate Safe!
  • vintage-style-bathroom-faucet-crystal-knob
    Where to find parts for your vintage bathroom faucets and toilets
  • kohler triton bathroom faucet
    76 years of Kohler Triton bathroom faucets -- introduced in 1941 and still going strong

Reader Interactions

Comments are closed. 

85 comments

Comments

  1. Suzanne Moe says

    April 15, 2020 at 11:58 am

    I was planning to use both these colors for an upcoming bathroom project. As luck would have it, they were discontinued in February 2020 – JUST BEFORE I was ready to order. The person I emailed at Merola Tile said that the tariffs placed within the last several years on certain Chinese goods has forced them to discontinue some of their styles, due to huge cost increases (up to 400% on some tiles.) I am so bummed!!! Mosaic Tile Supplies has some great alternatives, but unfortunately, the pricing on those is way above my budget, especially since they are special order with a minimum quantity of 100 sq ft on many of the colors that are potential contenders – and I only need about 120 sq ft total. Back to the drawing board!

    • Pam Kueber says

      April 15, 2020 at 12:06 pm

      This is sad to hear. Have you tried Classic Tile? They are another source to check >> https://www.classictilenewyork.com/products/mosaic-tile

      • Cynthia says

        July 20, 2020 at 7:52 am

        Thanks for that info. – I too was trying to find it, bummer!! Any luck with alternatives?

        • pam kueber says

          July 20, 2020 at 11:15 am

          I’d start, I guess, by diving into this list >> https://retrorenovation.com/2019/01/22/12-places-to-find-4-x-4-ceramic-bathroom-tile-in-vintage-colors/

« Older Comments

Primary Sidebar


Footer

Follow Along

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RENOVATE SAFE
  • About
  • Blog
  • The “Museum”
  • Kitchens
  • Bathrooms
  • Exterior
  • Other Rooms
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Notice
  • Disclosures
  • Contact

© 2023 Retro Renovation® • All Rights Reserved • Website by Anchored Design
Please do not use any materials without prior permission. Portrait by Keith Talley Photography