59 years after the house was built… and you buy it from the original owner… and he was a plumber… and his brother was a tile-setter… and they built the house: Of course there are still boxes of the original bathroom tile down in the basement, you discover after you move in. That’s Carolyn’s story. I’m having a good time with it.
When Carolyn first contacted me a while back, she was still in the process of buying the house, and was already researching — wanting to know — where she might find spare floor tile in case she needed to swap out the original toilet and was left with a gap. Then, after she moved in, she discovered: The 59-year-old leftovers still in the basement.
She wrote:
I definitely will order the toilet next week. I’ve been so incredibly lucky that I don’t want to push it too far. Because guess what? I found about 4sq feet of the pink and grey bathroom floor hidden under some dusty boxes. In fact, I now have a handful of replacements for most of the tile in my house (see some random samples attached.)
Good thing she found those pink floor tiles, because “Keystone Ridgeway Company” — doesn’t sound very common. I see they were based in Gettsyburg, Pa. Hey, I wonder if Mamie used them in her Gettysburg bathrooms!
The blue tiles in the first photo, though: Those might be able to be found. Mosaic Tile Co. was big.
Carolyn’s wall tile is American Olean. Also a major maker, back then, and now. Hoorah for you, Carolyn!
- See Carolyn’s incredible pink bathroom here.
- See here delightful blue bathroom here.
The post When you buy a 1959 house from the original owner — original building materials still in the basement appeared first on Retro Renovation.
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