top five favorite features mid-century bathroom remodel

I have restrained my natural impulses (nit picking the issues) and will provide my top five favorite features of our mid-century bathroom remodel. Next post will be top five least favorite items from the bathroom remodel.

#5 the tile.

Miles and miles of beautiful clean linear tile. I love the plank tiles and I love the white tiles. I love all the tile and very little drywall. The tile was a bit of an expense for sure. But we picked three different kinds of fairly standard Dahl tile, and didn't do all the tricky things that our plans initially called for with the tile. The results are simple and very modern. The white square tile and the mosaic floor tiles are both nods to mid-century.

Master feature tile wall

nearing end of construction mid-century modern bathroom

We're getting closer. Tile is up in the third bathroom, and it is the "surprise" darker tile. You like?

Dark tile feature wall

no baseboards in mid-century modern bathroom

What no baseboards!??! And no crown molding? They may kick us out of Corona del Mar. Had I examined our plans more closely, I wouldn't have been as surprised when the contractor announced the first two bathrooms were done. I immediately emailed him my list of little things to take care of. Like, where are the baseboards?

Do you see a baseboard? I sure don't.

tile begins in the third mid-century modern bathroom

Three and a half months, and finally, the third bathroom is in progress! You probably already have the general idea from the other two previous bathrooms, but this one will be a little different. This bathroom is, by far, the biggest bathroom of the three, and the widest. Therefore it will have a tub, and a darker "tile feature wall."

Tile in the guest bathroom will be the middle right.
Alex's and master was the top right.

mid-century modern bathroom counters

Typical, back-in-the-day, mid-century modern bathroom counter tops were some sort of cool pastel shade  like pink or turquoise. Learn more about pink retro bathrooms at savethepinkbathrooms.

check tile specs and measure very carefully during a bathroom remodel

There is a pattern to the contractor’s communications. First the text, “Call me when you get a chance.” Usually I drop everything and call immediately. “What’s up?”

“Hi Rebecca, we have a little problem.”

It appeared that the plank tiles specified in the plan and that the contractor special ordered from Italy were not exactly 6x24 inch; they were instead 5¾ x 23½ inch. The 6x6 inch white semi-gloss tiles had already been installed in both showers. The white squares were supposed to line up in perfect rows with the 6x24 inch planks (the tile feature wall). That just wasn't going to work.

In hind site, there was a clue to the size difference. On the spec sheet for the 6x24 inch tiles, it also listed the metric size, in perfect centimeters, 15x60. Were the tiles 6x24 inches or were they 15x60 centimeters? Can't be both. The tiles were manufactured in Italy, so a good guess would be that they were made in centimeters. 

Here is the spec sheet for the tile we ordered. Can you see what is wrong?

the great mid-century modern tile debate

The Great Tile Debate rages on. I can't decide whether to do the lighter tile on the master bathroom feature wall versus the darker tile (selecting from Timber Glen). It is the first time I have been stumped on a decision with the architect. I think he has admired my decisive nature and wonders if I am just like everyone else and not the super hero client he has always hoped for. On this tile color, I hem and haw for 3 days. The architect is definitely pro dark. My dear friend, KP, who has helped me do lots of stuff to the house, is pro light tile.  Husaband is no help because he says he likes them both (chicken). I send a decisive email saying absolutely, positively, light. Then I reverse it 8 hours later. We have landed on the dark after several switches. I am always drawn to color which KP reminded me. The decisions seem real and more final -- selecting the lighter tile, for now.

selecting bathroom tile for a mid-century modern

The great tile debate has been raging on for about two weeks. Today, the architect and I are meeting at Daltile in Irvine to put an end to it. The architect is sold on 6x24 linear tile stacked on a feature wall in each bathroom. Not a common size. The tile he selected had little specs and neither of us loved it. I had spotted a tile online and saw it in the store, and voila, it was love at first site. Timber Glen, I heart you for our feature wall.

See the finished result, the mid-century modern bathrooms remodeled!