Following our story about recreating a mint, black and pink bathroom, reader Laura sent us photos of her own minty green bathroom remodel in progress. Yes: Two-tone green tile — that looks like it’s always been there! Laura has a bit more work to go, and we’ll get more photos when the bathroom is complete. Meanwhile, let’s take a sneak peek.
For this bathroom, Laura chose to use two different tones of green tile from our #1 go-to source for authentic retro color pastel tile, B&W Tile:
- 40W Green is the color of the field tile for the bathroom walls and for the hexagon floor tiles. Note: ’40F’ (as in ‘Floor’) is the color for light green tile with a special floor coating; Laura did not know this option existed.
- 46W Green is used for the trim.
She kept the original white tub and toilet and constructed a new wood vanity and found a salvaged white sink to put on the top.
Laura writes:
Hi there! I just wanted to share some pictures as we are nearly finished remodeling our bathroom almost from scratch (our tub and toilet are original to our 1951 house) using B&W tiles. We have some painting and hanging of accessories to do, but the hard part is finished! Thanks for looking, your website was an invaluable resource for us!
The tub is [tiled via a method using] paper, lathe and scratch, our tile installers will only use that method for tub and shower work. I think some of the photos show the ‘oops’ at the top of the shower on the left hand side… the ceiling isn’t square! We thought we’d be smart and tile to the ceiling to avoid drywall repair, but that ended up creating some ugliness. Rather than deal with the construction options presented, we went with the cosmetic fix — just paint the ceiling (as we were planning) and be done with it. We’ve stared at it so much we don’t even notice it.
As you see in the photos the hexes are shiny. When I called B&W about swapping them out for textured hexes, I was told they don’t do that (our salesperson was off that day) and we figured with a bath mat not much will be uncovered, so on with the show. When my husband brought the extras back, our salesperson told him that they do in fact offer floor texture on the tiles at no extra charge, it’s just a couple extra weeks wait time… ^%*&^%*&!!! Oh, well… now we know for the next bathroom.
[Precautionary Pam steps in here: Readers, consult with your own properly licensed professionals to determine and specify the type of bathroom flooring makes sense for you. Here on this blog we don’t have the expertise, but in my personal experience you want to assess — at a minimum — slip-resistance, whether the tile is rated for flooring, and whether your floor joists can take the weight. There may be other factors to considers — so again, consult with your own pros.]
But over all, B&W was really great to work with and we live close enough that we were able to pick up ourselves.
***
What a gorgeous bathroom, Laura! We’ll get all the details in the final story, but do we spy…. fixtures from Locke Plumbing and atomic cabinet knobs from Rejuvenation? 😉 Power on — you’re in the home stretch now!
Michele DeGroat says
What a beautiful job. looks so much more valuable, distinct and stylish. I did the same thing a few years ago. Wish I knew how to upload the pictures. Congratulations. I live in a NYC suburb and am dismayed at how this retro trend does not seem to be as appreciated as other places in the Country.
Mary says
Fantastic bathroom re-do! The colors are so vibrant, yet gentle to the eye. I too love the floor. To prevent slips I would simply buy some of the grippy material things you put under rugs…….do not recall the exact name of them. Some strategically placed rugs would be wonderful and increase safety.
For the first 1/3 of my career I worked in buildings that were built in the early 1950’s and all the walls were these wonderful tiled beauties. Later, i worked in another job where these tiles also were on the walls, only to have them replaced by the rather ugly, drab, modern earth tone colors of today.
There is nothing uplifting or spirit brightening in the earth tone colors of today. I was so very sad to see the beautiful soft yellow tiles removed……..very, very sad.
I own the home in which I was raised, an early 1950’s solid masonry constructed brick home with the heavy duty plaster walls. Prioe to living there in the near future I will have these types of tiles installed. I so much appreciate seeing how otners have done their retro homes.
Thanks everyone.
Bronwyn Jamrok says
It looks great and I’m so excited to see this because it looks like we have the same minty-green color from B&W in our shower! Our 1950s bathroom still had the original dark green and the tub had been just a tub–no shower. The last owner installed a showered, but left the plaster exposed–guess what? Water problems. So we had to figure out a way to tile the rest of the way up and there was no match for our original tile. We ended up going two-toned with that minty-green from B&W. Hooray for B&W!
lmbaldwin@fastmail.fm says
Very nice! Very pretty combination of green and white!
Laura says
Thank you!
lmbaldwin@fastmail.fm says
What is the brand of the sink faucet? Thank you.
Lois
Laura says
It Price Pfister from the Pfister Pfirst series, model number G143-6005. It was very inexpensive but it feels pretty solid 🙂
Mary Elizabeth says
It’s a classic style, too, similar to those available in the 1960s and ’70s.
Chuck says
That 2 wire outlet next to a sink and shower is giving me the willies – GFCIs save lives!
Laura says
One of our remaining tasks is to replace that bad boy 🙂 I’m so used to old receptacles that it never tweaked me too much, but now our boys are getting big enough to really monkey around in there :O
We have to replace a few more because they are so old plugs just wiggle around… fun stuff
Kathy says
Pretty colors, great job on tiling the vanity!
Just wondering, did you replace the shower valve? I’ve been looking all over for two-handle shower with built in pressure-balance valve, and they are hard to find–most require a separate pressure balance valve, which costs $100 through Locke Plumbing.
The only ones I found is Kingston Brass ( 12 style variations plus different finishes) and Elements of Design, which are so close I wonder if they are manufactured in the same place. Price with valve and tub and shower trim (hard to get without) roughly $50 to $250. The more expensive ones have a mixer handle on the right and a volume control on the left. There are only a couple that might work for a MCM bathroom–the rest are either contemporary style or better suited for an earlier bathroom, maybe 1910-1940.
American Standard used to have the Hampton series with scald guard, but that has been discontinued, and there are a few very contemporary styles by other manufacturers. I have hesitated to replace in part because I have all Kohler fixtures and wanted to stick with that, possibly with the Triton series, but all the separate parts are really adding up, and the $100 premium and extra installation expense seems excessive just to refresh my bath.
The other option is an escutcheon plate (roughly 8″ x 13″) to cover over the two holes and to install a round shower control with a pressure-balance or thermostatic valve. Some are quite retro looking, but the plates are a bit hard to find and metal ones cost $50 – $80.
Pam, do you have any influence to encourage more manufacturers to have two-handle valves with built in pressure balance valve? With all the old houses out there with 50 year old plus showers and 1/2 inch whole house water supply pipes (so that when you flush a toilet you risk scalding someone in the shower) I would think there is a market!
Sometimes I think the home improvement industry is just a racket to encourage people to smash and replace rather than to repair. Maybe not intentionally, but that is where the money is. Everything is geared for new homes, from doors (stocked mostly in 36″ rather than 32″) to windows to materials. If there is a supplier out there that specializes in vintage homes, rather than searching high and low from multiple sources, I sure would like to know about it.
pam kueber says
Our influence with major manufacturers is minimal e.g. none at all. They need to manufacturer to the mass market…. hey, we can’t even get aqua boomerang Formica!
Another thought – try deabath.com for giggles.
My experience: Pay the $100 extra to get what you really want, you will be happier in the long run.
laura says
We have very limited plumbing knowledge over here, and we got really lucky that nothing had to be special ordered. We replaced the stems, knobs, spout and shower head with items from Home Depot. I did call and talk to the guys at both DEA bath and Locke for info about knobs and stems. I thought for sure I’d have to at least special order stems since the plumbing looks old ( it’s either original or replaced in the early 70s). I wish I could be more help!
Michele DeGroat says
agreed. Odd. I think it is because most people haven’t got the imagination of working around retro tubs, etc. And paid contractors can’t be bothered with the time it takes to figure out solutions.
tammyCA says
Pretty & fresh! I had them tile the ceiling of our small enclosed shower (also not squared) even ‘tho the contractor thought I was odd for wanting that, mentioning earthquakes & tiles falling, but I figure any big earthquake everythings gonna fall anyway & I didn’t want mildew up there again with just paint.
laura says
Thank you Tammy 🙂 we had considered tiling the ceiling- one of the showers in my childhood home was tiled like that, but in the end we went for lower cost.
And too true about an earthquake!
Carol says
Although the slip and fall factor on the floor may be high, they are gorgeous tiles. I love, love, love that floor. The green color combo is off the chart for refreshing. So glad you kept the toilet, it looks great with that awesome bathtub. Nice tile job around the window. Well done.
laura says
Thank you, Carol! We still haven’t used the bath yet, so we have yet to test out the floor. The one good thing is that 90% of the floor will be covered by a bath mat- it’s a very small room. We shall see!
The tub and toilet are original, and we love ’em! The only way we would have considered pulling them out would be if we had scored a blue set.
valvashon says
Wow- can’t believe that professional tile installers would put the shiny/slippery wall tiles on the floor. I would look into clear grip tape (like on a skateboard) if it exists or take an orbital sander loaded with 400 or 600 wet paper and see what happens to any extras you might have. Surely roughing them up in any way would help the grip factor when wet. Perhaps there’s an aftermarket coating?
pam kueber says
Yes — I was once told there is an aftermarket, spray on coating — done by professionals. I don’t have any more info than that, though.
pam kueber says
And I will add — I HAVE seen high gloss floor tile in vintage houses, for example, here — https://retrorenovation.com/2008/12/10/decorating-a-50s-pink-bathroom-with-timeless-character-beyond-retro/
That said: Yes, be mindful of slip issues