Torn Between Approaches. PART III. THE BIG REVEAL
The bottom of the tub. It is not dirty. These marks are all stains.
Would naval jelly work?
Why, yes. Yes it would. I am gobsmacked.
Will the stains just reappear in a few weeks or a few months?
I do not know.
But…the results are tantalizing.
So, maybe, maybe I could restore the Mouse Palace Motel bathroom.
Maybe.
Another vital consideration would be buying pink 4×4 ceramic tiles. No problem, right?
Wrong. Oh so very wrong.
4 x 4 plain ceramic tiles are like 25 cents each.
But, it seems that pink is not being made anymore. Oh. So, the tiles that are available are vintage and shockingly expensive. Who would have ever guessed?
These are on eBay. And they are not, well, pink. The price is not per box. The price is PER TILE. On sale, from $299.95 PER TILE!
And the prices are all over the place, from as low as $10 PER TILE.
There is no no no way that I would pay $10 per tile for something that was recently 25 cents.
I think what is happening is that if a person has a pink 1950s bathroom, and they need a handful of tiles to repair some damage, sure, they might be OK with spending $10 a tile or even $60 a tile.
But to do a whole bathroom? Marble would be less.
(I can find pink 4×4 ceramic tiles on Chinese websites. But…no.)
So, this alone kills the romantic idea of restoring the only remaining Mouse Palace Motel bathroom in the entire universe.
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(Praying that some other Cross House fan out there just happens to have a large box of perfectly matched 4″ x 4″ PINK tile just sitting around, waiting for the perfect project.)
Hope this helps:
https://makeitmidcentury.com/product/light-pink-ceramic-wall-tile/
Looks like $58 for a carton of 80 tiles, but they have limited stock. And, per the website, you have to submit a quote. They also have purple!
https://retrorenovation.com/2019/01/22/12-places-to-find-4-x-4-ceramic-bathroom-tile-in-vintage-colors/
I second looking at the Retro Renovation site. They list B&W tile.
B&W Tile Co.
14600 S. Western Ave., Gardena, 90249
Email:
info@bwtile.com
Phone +1310538957
Their web site showed a mid tone pink and a deeper (coral?) shade.
They also had a “Save the Pink Bathroom “ section. Other articles for home owners restoring or building from scratch their own pink bathroom
I was going to suggest BWtile.com. I follow them on Instagram and they seem to have what you want. I haven’t looked at cost, so it may still be prohibitive.
Will the bathtub get stained again? Probably. But you could use auto wax on it to delay the staining, especially if the tub was just for show. I had a friend who used it on all fixtures, appliances and cabinets since it made cleanup faster and easier (she was a bit obsessive about a clean home).
It’s a “sign”.😉
Good decision. IMO.
American Olean has 0023 Blush which is pink. https://www.americanolean.com/product/color-story-wall?color=Blush&shape=Rectangle
Oh the sadness!!!!!!
My parents had their cast-iron bath refinished in 1998 or 1999 I think and it still looks fairly decent, although I noticed the first larger chips last year (still only fingernail-sized and not very obvious, you only notice them when up-close while cleaning). I wouldn’t exactly call that ‘doesn’t last’, still lightyears better than the original finish was back then, 23 years in (the company promised 20 years). The original finish had worn all the way down to the bare metal in a huge spot, probably a quarter of the whole bottom.
This is not a primary bathroom so I think we could get a *little* scrappy here – 4×4 Daltile from Home Depot is 16c a piece in white. Color match ceramic tile paint to the Mouse Pink tile. Set tile, paint pink. Et voila – only remaining Mouse Palace bathroom in the universe still remains in the universe.
my advice is to keep looking. I bought a whole bathroom’s rooms worth here in Michigan for $ 25.00 from a local ReStore, and then when I couldn’t use them, I gave them away for free. You might consider running an ad and offer to remove them. People are CONSTANTLY ripping them out for grey and boring around here.
IF this bathroom was original to the Cross house ( which it AIN’T!) ,
or IF this was a 1950’s mid century home ( which it AIN’T!!) ,
I, too, would go to great lengths and expense to find tile and restore that basement bathroom trying to keep it faithful to the origins of the home…
BUT!!!
IT AIN’T!!!
So progress in moving Ross and the cats into the Cross House ASAP is my wish.
Not fiddle farting around on a bathroom that wasn’t there to begin with.
Make a bathroom that is clean and functional down in the basement and move on.
Auto wax can also protect from graffiti but you have to keep it up. I did it on my garage door for a while. Hadn’t thought to use it in the bathroom but awesome idea.
Would you be able to remove the tub without damaging it and send it to salvage? With the success of the naval jelly keeping it is now a more attractive option. You never know when you might have to wash something that is too big for the sink or you want to jump in for a quick shower before heading into the cleaner parts of the house. Having a shower to quickly irrigate eyes is also a plus.
If you’e going to make the bathroom modern with a nod to the Mouse Palace, what about putting slabs of pink marble as wainscoting with must purple edging around the top? Or even black? Who would have thought pink tiles were so hard to come by or so expensive. Then there is always faux. You can do wonders with paint.
Now when I remodeled my bathroom I kept the tub, sink, vanity and mirror. The tiles on the vanity were a spring green with black edging and there was a line of black wood trim around the walls. (Same trim in the kitchen, which I also kept.) I went with the black and green. I used black and white tiles and put in pops of the green. But there was no tile to match that green. They were either too blue or too yellow. This was twenty years ago and I didn’t know about those renovation resources. Now tile is just ceramic with a coating of glass. Most glazes are colored glass. So I went to a stained glass store and I bought green glass in the closest color that would match. Then I cut it to size and heavily buttered those spots and put it in place. They haven’t popped yet.
I used a combination of 4×4, 2×2 and 1inch tiles around the bathroom to try to tie the old in with the new and break up the monotony of a huge field of white 4×4 tiles. Something that might have been done in 1949, when the bathroom was originally put in. You can’t see it but I used a solid piece of glass for the back of the two wall boxes to make clean up easier, and I slanted the bottom outwards so all I have to do is spray them and then hose them out with the shower wand. Glass won’t work in your application but I know there is pink marble. My parents have it in their master bath. A big slab of it for their vanity counter. Between marble and vintage tiles, the cost difference may be negligible.
http://laiuppa.com/mary/house/bathroom.html
Too bad I can’t transport my bathroom to you – pink tiled bathtub all the was across tub ceiling and up other walls about 4 feet! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
Classic Tile says they stock vintage colors. Maybe these would work? Looks like you would need to contact them for a quote, or to see if they are actually in stock. https://www.classictilenewyork.com/productcat/414-x-414-metro-pink-ceramic-wall-tile
I have some of those exact tiles, kindly left in our home by the previous owner who meticulously maintained records and materials from all renovations. Sadly I’m all the way in Ottawa, Canada. But if you ever come this way, the tiles are yours! 🙂