“Save the pink (and maroon and peach and green!) bathrooms! The bathroom tiles are some of the most unique we’ve seen,” wrote Roger and Lynsey. “Everyone asks if we’re going to re-do the bathrooms, and then they pause and say, “No, you can’t!'”
After writing about Roger and Lynsey’s spectacular 1953 kitchen remodel, Kate asked if they wanted to send in more photos of their house, which sounded pretty darned enticing. And the bathrooms did not disappoint! Both bathrooms feature countertop, backsplash and tub surround tiles in busy googie patterns. The bullnose and some additional wall tile are in much more sedate shades of dark maroon and dark peach. Tubs and sinks are green or peachy-pink. No fear of pattern and color in this era in this house!
Roger and Lynsey wrote:
The bathrooms are definitely starting to show their wear, but we don’t have plans to re-do them anytime soon. For now, we’ve just painted the walls and cabinets and replaced the hardware.
I started to poke around to see if I could ID these tiles. I was thinking maybe Ceratile. It’s not in this sample stash we featured a while back. But maybe it was another series?
Then, I went to look online to see if I could find them. Decorative tiles are so cool:
Here are some 1962 American Oleans, but no cigar. Featured courtesy the MBJ Collection/Building Technology Heritage Library
oooooh, and lookie that gorgeous use of decorator tile over the fireplace, from this 1953 American Olean catalog, also part of the MBJ Collection. But none of Roger and Lynsey’s shown in this catalog either….
Decorative tiles are from Mosaic Tile Company
But then, in a final review of the story, Lynsey told me she had evidence of the maker: Mosaic Tile Company.
Believe it or not, the previous owners left a handful behind — including two original samples, which had labels on the back (see attached photos, above). They’re from the Mosaic Tile Company in Zanesville, Ohio. I’m not sure if they manufactured them, distributed them, or both.
Lynsey, Mosaic Tile Co. was a BIG maker. I’ll bet they made these!
More stories in our archives about tiles from Mosaic Tile Company:
- Pink crane mosaic
- Parrots
- 1949 pink flamingos
- And oh my: Nursery rhyme characters and more galore
- That time all those sizzle strip were for sale on ebay
Above: And lookie: Bungalow Bill still has another New Old Stock Mosaic Tile Company flamingo mural for sale! (affiliate link)
Yum yum, Lynsey and Roger. More thanks for sharing the delights within your house! One more set of house photos yet to come!
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Well! that was pretty sneaky just showing the counter and then the big reveal of the shower! Love the reactions of your guests.
Home Depot and Lowes stopped offering 4 x 4 decorative tiles about 10(?) yrs ago with a smooth finish like these shown because the market was dwindling in favor of glass or “stone”-type products. DH had been picking up a Southwestern design a few pieces at a time figuring to scatter – we use two of them as coasters for the coffee spoon and my cup.
A month ago, I went on a mansions tour – I’m thinking they should really organize MCM and MCm tours while the original homeowners are still around to tell the tales. How many of these homes do we drive by every day, not knowing the treasures within?
I think some HD’s have brought back the 4×4 plain glazed tiles. Maybe because of the d and for them in the mcm remodels. It is big in my area. They come back just after all those tile companies close. Didn’t Color Tile just close with in the last few years? I could have sworn they were open when I did my first remodel, or they had just closed.
We have a big list of where to get 4x4s in many different colors: https://retrorenovation.com/2012/07/16/12-places-to-find-4-x-4-ceramic-bathroom-tile-in-vintage-colors/
Wow, I’ve never seen tile like that. Very cool.
I was so hoping you were going to say that the bathrooms were remodels and that they tiles were still available. Today’s offerings are just so boring.
When these were marketed in the early 50’s they advertised that you could blindfold your tile setter and he still couldn’t make a mistake installing these patterns.
Roger and Lynsey are so lucky to have this fabulous house.
Could Roger and Lynsey submit more photos of their wonderful home. Really want to see what the outside looks like, since the inside is so original. I love the green sink in the bathroom. I live in a 1956 built home that has the original bathrooms, green sink and tile and pink formica counter. The kitchen is all original too. Mamie Pink GE oven and stovetop, pink formica counters, birch cabinets.
Susan — Pam and Kate have a few more photos of the inside that I think they’ll share sometime in the near future. We are getting the outside of our house painted next week (yay!) so after it’s all spruced up I can send those, too, for Pam and Kate’s consideration. (But aren’t y’all getting tired of us yet?!)
No, Lynsey, we don’t get tired of seeing our favorite decor periods either because we go into a house expecting one thing only to find a big-box retailer inside or the places haven’t yet come onto the market.
Me? I grew up with rural farmhouses built for utility, not style or small-town MCm. Your home I would consider “fancy”. Retrorenovation has exposed me to a lot of what I missed out on growing up. It’s literally been a real eye-opener – too bad there isn’t a brain scan going on when I open some of these articles!
It would be nice to see a way to make those toilets into low flow toilets. It would be impossible to find those color choices today. I have a peculiar toilet in one of my bathrooms, it is not real old we installed it when we bought the house. It may however, have been retro fitted by the manufacturer, it has a tank with in the tank. It obviously uses less water put has a powerful flush. I don’t know if that is because it is a wall toilet or not. It would be nice it these old ones could have something like that. It would not be too hard to re-make some of those cool patterned tiles, if I had an original. I have remade some of those trim pieces that you showed for those old houses like this.
The one thing that is not so great about some of those old bathrooms is that they used the same tiles on the floors and they did on the walls. They looked fantastic, because the design element was carried out so well, but they don’t hold up for, 50, 60, or 70 years. The glazes had lead in them back then and those tiles were all low fire tiles, meaning that the lead content was much higher and the resulting glass was much softer. After all those years of foot traffic they wear a path in the glaze. However, todays glaze chemistry has made huge advances with color in the high fire range. It used to be impossible to have any kind of color choices besides blue and possibly an aqua in a high fire glaze. Now they make refined stains & frits that can almost be mixed like paints. So if you needed to have floors redone to match one of those fabulous bathrooms, you could. You could probably get blanks from Dal-tile or some other tile company and find a ceramic artist to glaze up new ones for you to match that old bathroom.
I can still kick my self for not being able to get all the 4×4 deco tiles at a surplus place I used to frequent. He had boxes & boxes, including the old Franciscan deco tiles. Such a bummer. I broke my leg & didn’t have a chance to get back for a while then he sold the place. Darrrrnnn.
Hi Stephanie, we DO have a source for low-flow toilets in vintage colors. See this: https://retrorenovation.com/2016/02/15/pink-gold-blue-beige-toilets-where-to-buy/
I am not an expert on the durability of the old tiles. Often, I see porcelain mosaics on the floors, more so than 4x4s.
And, yes, there can be lead in tile old — and new even. See this story I wrote: https://retrorenovation.com/2016/05/02/understanding-potential-lead-hazards-old-porcelain-enamel-bathtubs-sinks-ceramic-tile-any-age/#ixzz47UvHcM00
Renovate Safe! https://retrorenovation.com/renovate-safe/
Swanky tile, nice how the sink counter fades back to the corner to allow for the swing of the door. Interesting that the tiles are 6 x 6 which seems to be more common today. I had to find out what the manufacturer meant by “dust pressed”.
Oh my goodness! Those are just awesome. I am pretty sure the bathroom tiles alone would have been enough to sell me on this amazing home. I can’t wait to see more of it!
Those neat brown and green boomerang tiles are in our town’s High School in the niches for the water fountains and managed to survive a recent renovation because they were still in perfect condition. I believe the school was built in 1956, and the school colors are green and white.
Some both of the elementary schools built in the 1932s have fireplaces with fairy tale characters so the kindergarten teacher could read stories by the fireplace, and some are near the waterfountains too. Schools are now a low-income senior housing project and an office building. The newer schools are very utilitarian.
Those tiles are so nice
Fabulous bathrooms, and obviously well cared for over the years. That’s one thing I love about “granny” houses.
For those still looking for Spanish or Southwest tiles, here’s a place I saw in Albuquerque, New Mexico while visiting there:
http://www.casatalavera.com/talavera-tile.htm
Santa Fe and Albuquerque are where I would go to look at Southwest style architectural features of any sort.
Love the boomerang tile bathroom and how the angle of the countertop matches the angle of the boomerangs. Sigh.
The tiles are nothing but fun! Not crazy about the rust color in the one bath, but the way in which it coordinates with the counter/back splash, and the fixtures, the bath is completely lovable. That same sink would have looked good in the other bath, too.
Adore these bathrooms! Working hard to source some colorful materials to do a made-from-scratch bathroom for a 1963 house–no way it will be as fab as this but I’ll try!!!
Well, we have the same amazing tile in our 1956 master bath. This unique tile was one of the primary reasons we bought the home 17 years ago. The patterned tile was applied on the walls of the bathroom, while a solid cinnamon color 4 x 4 was used on the inside of the shower. Unfortunately, the master bath shower has been out of commission for 2 years due to a leak in the concrete floor. (Yup, 12″ concrete floors encase radiant floor heat…) Anyway, the shower floor was excavated and pipe fixed. Now it’s time to tile over the floor. And probably over the existing tile on the walls too. (Interior shower wall tiles can’t be removed without compromising the groovy pattern tile outside the shower. OMG it’s always something!) But how to resolve the existing tile and bullnose on the outside of the shower? We’ve even thought of using solid surface (AKA Corian) because it would never leak again. Maybe this is not the forum for this? But since I saw our same tile posted here and all of the other crazy colors and patterns look similar, I thought i’d reach out.
Hi Kerry, I am restoration focused so would likely search out cinnamon tile to replicate the existing…. See: https://retrorenovation.com/2012/07/16/12-places-to-find-4-x-4-ceramic-bathroom-tile-in-vintage-colors/
Be aware there can be hazards such as lead in those layers: Be sure to Renovate Safe http://retrorenovation.com/renovate-safe/