Many readers fell in love with the confetti tile bathroom in the 1955 Minneapolis time capsule ’tile house’ time capsule featured recently. How to recreate this look today? We went researching and so far have found four sources. Clayhaus Ceramics — which offers an online design-your-own-mix tool — seems to offers the most versatility — including direct-with-manufacturer service — so they get the first spotlight in our Where To Get Confetti Tile miniseries. Another miniseries — about minis!
The owners of our “model bathroom” in the 1955 time capsule house owned a tile store, so they knew how to make tile sing. In this little bit of perfection bathroom, they maximized the beauty of the busy confetti tile, which was placed in the toilet niche, by juxtaposing it with the serenity of natural wood and calm blue wall tiles in the adjacent sink area. And, since a custom confetti tile mix may get a little spendy — hey, relatively little square footage may be all you need.
We reconnected with the photographers at Spacecrafting, who were kind enough to send us a high resolution photo of the bathroom so we could ‘zoom in’ and inspect the mosaic tile blend more carefully. Zooming in, it looks like the confetti tiles in our time capsule house might be solid-body porcelain. For this research project, though, we found glazed ceramics as a proxy.
Matching the 10 colors in the time capsule confetti tile
Next, Kate tried to determine how many different color tiles were present in the vintage mosaic tile pattern — an eye-crossing task. She counted at least 10 different colors. How many different beiges do you see???
Then, she tried to figure out which colors available through Clayhaus Ceramics most closely matched those colors. From what she could tell — having not seen the Clayhouse Ceramics colors in person — it looks like all of the colors can be matched quite closely, though it would be wise to request color samples before placing any orders.
Now for some fun: Kate began plugging colors into the Clayhaus ‘You Design’ tool to generate a custom blend. The tile blend design tool only allowed her to use seven colors and her vintage blend has at least 10. So, she contacted Clayhaus Ceramics to see if it is possible to make a custom blend with more than seven colors, and also inquired about pricing.
Clayhaus Ceramics replied:
Yes, customers can purchase more than seven colors in a blend, but it will carry an additional 25% upcharge for any blend using more than five colors. The design tool feature was designed to max out at seven since most blends don’t use more than seven. (I can only think of one time where we made a blend using 11 colors!)
Our 1″ x 1″ mosaics retail direct from the manufacturer for $57.74/sf. We do offer trade discounts.
Clayhaus Ceramics also offers 6″ x 6″ square tiles in shades similar to the 6″ x 6″ tiles used on the walls in the tile house time capsule bathroom.
Clayhaus Ceramics took a look at our photos and suggested their colors Abstract Blue, Spa or Cascade Gray in matte finish as possible matches for the wall tile. Be sure to tile-in the mirror, too! These retail direct from manufacturer for $32.72/sf.
For the floor, we’d likely aim to find a floor tile that matches one of the light beiges from the confetti tile mix — make sure you find a tile that is specified/designed for floor usage. Note, the Clayhaux 6×6 tiles are rated for vertical use only, the company told us.
This bathroom: Kind of midcentury modern timeless, don’t you think!
Thanks, Clayhaus Ceramics, for all the help with this story. We hope it helps you sell some confetti tile!
Melinda says
The tiles in the 1954 home are glass tiles with no grout. The tiles butt up next to eachother. The tile looks much better in person than it does on the zoomed in picture.
Melinda says
oops sorry ment to say 1955
pam kueber says
Thanks! Well there you go: They’re glass! Okay, we can replicate this even more easily with all the glass tile available today: Just leave everything all chunky — and don’t use grout! Thanks, Melinda, so have you been in the house?
melinda says
I work with Bruce. The homes owner. I was showing him the article. He told me what it is. I would love to see this home in person. I have seen it in pictures many times. Hopefully I can go sneek a peek before they move. Which is soon.
pam kueber says
Thanks!! GORGEOUS HOUSE! One of my all-time favorites!
Mary Elizabeth says
This wouldn’t work in my tiny bathrooms. But I can see a use for it in a larger bath where some of the midcentury tile has been damaged. For example, if the tile around the tub has broken when the tub was taken out, you could frame the tub with as many rows as needed in the confetti tile, picking up colors near the original tile and bringing in five or six other colors. Or you could do the inside of a shower or tub alcove in it.
ineffablespace says
My high school, finished in 1962 had features in glass-tile mosaic. (And a main lobby of terrazzo floors and travertine walls).
pam kueber says
Good to know. Thanks!
Paula says
Yay for Clayhaus. They are right down the street from me suburban Portland
Laura says
Couldn’t you just use the Daltile Mosaic Builder?
Laura says
Answer! Yes, but only six colors and only from their Keystone series (not a ton of choices). But could be good for some programs.
pam kueber says
Yes, I tried it myself just last night. Alas, the Daltile tool was not working for me, every time I try it lately, it doesn’t seem to work, at least, not intuitively for me.
oh Holland says
Love a blast of confetti tile like this in the MN showcase home, though I never had it in my own place to live with day in and day out. I think the danger is one might get tired of such a specific motif. It’s a serious investment you’d want to continue to love as time goes on.
I do like the same idea carried out in conventional tile sizes — more a “crazy quilt” than confetti. The fireplace in the same home features a subdued version on the fireplace.
midmichigan says
Definitely classic coolness. The price point is a bit on the upper end for sure but if you have a small area it’s doable. I wonder if the Daltile creative tool will do this too. IDK.
Anne L H says
Though not ceramic, Fireclay Tile also has a mosaic blender tool on their website. They use glass, though you can utilize a 1 x 1 field to obtain a similar aesthetic. There are 38 colors to choose from, each in matte and gloss finish.
https://www.fireclaytile.com/crush-it/
pam kueber says
Cool – however, I don’t see 1 x 1’s as among their sizes. 2 x 2 is the smallest in the Tile section…
Debbie in Portland says
Not sure where I would put a ceramic tile wall, but I’m pretty sure that designing one online is going to eat up at least half a day of my vacation.
Jamie says
$57/sf!!!! Zoinks!!!
You can make your own custom mosaic mix here for around $10/sf. http://www.mosaicmaximizer.com/max/MaxP.html
pam kueber says
Those are glass tiles at the company you id’d — not appropriate for a midcentury house… beware trendy. That same company used to have a “Lyric” ceramic 1×1 including (as I recall) in confetti mixes — but no more, as far as I can find. They do have some confetti mixes of penny rounds porcelains, though (we’ll feature them in our miniseries!)
Katie says
Although ceramic is more typical, glass tile did exist, at least by the mid 1960s, when my grandparents installed it in their kitchen.
pam kueber says
Yes, I think it was around. I have never seen it in the wild, though….
Katie says
I think that there is a picture taken in the kitchen where you can see the tile, I’ll ask my grandma.
According to her, it was the leftover tile from a restaurant that was being remodeled, and at the time, it was cool and somewhat unusual.
pam kueber says
At World of Tile, they had some very old Venetian Glass tile. One of the colors was orange — I picked some up at the liquidation sale and sent it to Kate to use on her 1955 Betsy McCall DIY dollhouse. And she did — on the fireplace! –> https://retrorenovation.com/tag/betsy-mccall-dollhouse/