Earthy and colorful 1970s style wall and floor tile — pretty affordable, at Home Depot

We’ve written about Merola Tile’s great ceramic and porcelain tile offerings for vintage and midcentury bathrooms in the past. Today, more exciting news — Merola Tile has branched out into styles, colors and glaze effects that reflect the groove-tastic late 60s and 1970s. Flower power, vivid square mosaics, arabesque and several other fantastic patterns have joined the lineup. As always, these affordable tiles are available through Home Depot’s website — making it easy for anyone to get their retro bathroom or kitchen groove on.

Ever since I saw the gorgeous aqua blue mosaic tile bathroom from the 1967 time capsule house that A. Brandt Ranch Oak built in Forth Worth, Texas, I’ve been thinking it might be nice to add a late 60/70s style tiled bathroom to my home’s unfinished basement — where I am also planning to build a Tiki bar someday. The vivid color and irregular glaze in these tiles really appeal to me, and I think that some of Pam’s love for the 70s has started to rub off on me. That’s why I was super excited to see that the same company that made the University Pink mosaic floor tile that I used in my retro pink bathroom and the light green Metro Hex tile that I’m contemplating using to replace the floor in my vintage mint green bathroom has begun making tiles that speak to this era of decor — in vibrant colors, too!

I contacted Maggie McBride, Communications Specialist for Merola Tile to find out the story behind some of their newest designs.

Maggie writes:

We chose many of these products because we want to be the purveyor of the interesting and unique. When it comes to what’s standard right now, our products are simultaneously eccentric and timeless. We’re a fun company — it’s only fitting that our product lines reflect that, reaching out to others who are interested in making their home as unique as they are. Your choices showcase some intrigue from a range of different time periods and countries, and our selection keeps getting more eclectic and funky!

I also noticed that blue is one of the common colors among the items you listed. We choose a lot of blue because people (including us!) tend to gravitate towards it– it’s soothing, natural, and versatile, accommodating a number of settings and needs. A few of the tiles are standalone pieces that don’t coordinate with another specific series (this is true of the Bouquet Perennial, Modena Cobalt Blue, and Earthen Elements).

Without further ado, here are the back stories to these particular product selections:

The Bouquet Perennial evokes an emotional response. It’s totally unique; no one else has it or anything like it, so we’re happy to carry it for that person looking for the perfect retro floral finish in their home.

John, the president of the company, makes sure we always carry Moderna Cobalt Blue because when he first entered the tile business 30 years ago, it was going out of style, but he absolutely adores the design and associates it with his humble beginnings — and now it’s back in. It’s meant for a swimming pool (forming the 6” border), so it’s durable and impervious.

The Palace tile has the same origin story, actually — and from its evident popularity, we introduced the Moonbeam series which has a similar feel.

The Baroque Square tiles (comes in pewter, brass, and copper) are 16 individual 1” tiles that we sell in packs with the intent to help every customer beautify their home exactly to their taste. They’re very versatile — you can use them to accent square tiles (cut the corners of the larger tiles and insert these), line them up to form a border, or arrange them any way you like.

The Resort series is a collection of traditional pool tiles that comes in a variety of blues, greens, and even black for added drama. They have kind of a marbleized glaze and you really get the full visual impact when it’s underwater — it gets what’s been described as an “extra wet” effect.

The inspiration for adding the Oceania tiles to our program is that it reminded us of 8”x10” pieces sold in the USA back in the early 1980s called Watersplash tiles.  I’m having trouble locating photos, but John advised that World of Tile may have some.

Earthen Elements has a 70s appeal — like, 970 AD. (That is not my joke. I wish I could take credit for that.) It’s totally different from anything else we have, which is part of its charm. Another piece on our quest to carry the exotic luxury-grade pieces at an affordable price.

The entire Essence series is a colorful tribute to 70s decor. The 4×4 inch square tiles are available in few bold colors but also a selection of more subdued, timeless creams and beiges.  The Sea Blue is especially appealing because a truly retro blue can be difficult to find, but this shows the depth and range of bold colors from the time. I didn’t include photos of the Essence Sapphire because we’re working on getting an updated product shot for it.

The Lanterns are also amazing, as is their range of colors.

We also carry a closely-related Arabesque series, which is Moroccan-inspired as well.

Mega thanks to Maggie from Merola Tile for providing us with product shots and information about the company’s fantastic array of late 60s-70s style tiles.

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