Tile

Surburban Housewives have a love/hate relationship with tile.  We know it well--up close and personal--as in on our knees with a scrub brush- personal

 and how many bottles of Tilex will it take to clean this moldy shower- personal.

But we love it.  It looks so nice and it beats the heck out of carpet.

Its time in our renovation to start picking out tile.  The choice selections and the compromising could take a while so we need to start our research.

In Atlanta when you pick out tile there are a few basic places you go.  There are really thousands of places that sell tile, but only a few places people actually buy it.  Or the people I know, that is.

Lowe's, Home Depot, and Floor and Decor

So recently I hit the road and visited these places to see what they have to offer.

I also went to Zumpano and another tile showroom off I85, but I don't remember it's name.

The mission was to find something for the existing hall bath. 

The problem was I didn't have a clear vision of what I was looking for.

I think I want the bathroom to retain some of it's vintage 1940s vibe, but ...

This is how

 the bathroom might have looked when it was new.

Hmmmm...

 In our bathroom the 1940s vanity and toilet are long gone but the original Georgia Tech yellow and black tile survives under a protective coating of plain white 4x4 field tile probably installed in the 1970s.

Thankfully the tub is there and it's white.  We want to reuse it.

This is an idea from a small bathroom from one of my favorite designers, Brooke Giannetti.

It fits the period of the house we're renovation plus its clean and simple.

But, I'd like to save the marble for the master. 

Marble in a secondary bathroom is just a little beyond what I had budgeted. 

This is another idea from "Things that Inspire".

I like the subway tile around the tub and the small mosiac tile on the floor. 

Of course I could be distracted by the awesome chandelier and the marble vanity.

This is pretty typical of what I see in homes like ours.  Do we need to follow the pack and stick to the tried and true? 

Or go for something a little different?

I think I'd like to be a little different, but still stay on the "safe" side.

Like I said before I think the subway tile surrounding the tub and the pedestal sink are nice, but the beaded board might be a little too common. 

Basket weave patterns were popular in the 1940s. And they were done in some pretty wild colors.

This is the original tile from our tiny bathroom.

 

Pink, green and white in a space about 3 feet square.

Makes my head spin. 

The workers finally broke up the bathroom that's being incorporated into our family room and uncovered this tile.  Wow.   The colors are more vivid than this picture shows. 

Tacky is the only word I can think of to describe it, even if it is authentic.

Here's one thing I found that might work on the floor...

It is marble, but if we just put marble on the floor and white subway tile on the walls,
we wouldn't break the bank. (Floor and Decor $14.99 a square foot) Okay, maybe I outline it in white field tile and just put the basket weave in the middle of the room.

It doesn't really need to go behind the toilet, does it?

Like I said earlier, this could take a while.  I came home empty handed but with one good idea.

That's not too bad for me.

Patti