Retro Renovation

Remodeling, decor and home improvement for mid century and vintage homes

We help you find products and design inspiration to remodel and decorate your home in mid-century and vintage style. Get ideas for your kitchen... or your bathroom... tour a time capsule... and share in a like-minded community passionate about their old houses. Read More.

    • You are here: Home / Bathroom Help / Spectacular Mosaic Tile Company decorative tiles in Roger and Lynsey’s 1953 bathrooms

    Spectacular Mosaic Tile Company decorative tiles in Roger and Lynsey’s 1953 bathrooms

    Posted by: •

    Mosaic Tile Company decorative tile“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!'” 

    Mosaic Tile Company Zanesville OhioAfter 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!

    Mosaic Tile Company decorative tileDecorative tile Decorative tile Mosaic Tile CompanyRoger 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:

    1962-american-olean

    Here are some 1962 American Oleans, but no cigar. Featured courtesy the MBJ Collection/Building Technology Heritage Library

    1953-american-olean-tile

    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

    mosaic-tile-companymosaic-tile-coBut 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:

    mosaic-tile-company-flamingo

    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!

    Be-Safe-graphic2.3

    Comments

    1. 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.

      Reply

    2. Love the boomerang tile bathroom and how the angle of the countertop matches the angle of the boomerangs. Sigh.

      Reply

    3. 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.

      Reply

    4. 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!!!

      Reply

    5. 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.

      Reply

    6. I’m looking for ideas for a yellow and blue bathroom with pirate ship tiles. Our house is 1940’s with the original tile.

      Reply

    Commenting: Information

    All comments are moderated, generally within 24 hours. By using this website you are agreeing to the site’s >> Terms of Service, << which include commenting policies, and our >> Privacy Notice. << Before participating, read them in full.

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Pam Kueber Retro Renovation dot com

    Important Reader Information