Hi theresse, Our kitchen was tiled in 1927. We still have the original white, subway tiles, tiled floor to ceiling. They are 3 x 6. I know that your house is pre-1920s and I am curious if you know when in the teens or twenties 3x6 tiles came into vogue. Do you think there was a regional difference in the use of with 2x6 vs. 3x6? We are in NJ and I haven't seen 2x6 tiles, not even in homes older than ours. Now I'm curious and will be on the lookout for them.

3 x 6 is very common around here (Midwest), still seen in original bathrooms from the 1910s-20s. I, too, have a 1913 home and just finished the kitchen backsplash with 3x6. It looks appropriately historic. You might try Jane Powell's "Bungalow Kitchens" to get a sense of when they were first used. I know the New York subway system began using subways around 1904.

Thanks Francois47 and Marita40. I'm starting to think it must have been a N.W. thing. Our upstairs bathroom still has the 2x6 subway tiles and I read somewhere online that old houses (they may have been referring to victorian kitchens though?) had 2x6 tiles only. Just tried to find that link but couldn't. Either way, if you're sure 3x6 is what the old homes originally had on the East coast/midwest, then the 2x6 thing must have been either a West coast thing or a NW thing, I guess!

It's pretty interesting, learning about some of this regional stuff. All the 1913 houses of our entire neighborhood have (mostly) the same floors if oak: they're asian white oak and the story goes that they all washed up on the NW coast one year due to some natural disaster of a reason (Earthquake?)...something that happened in Asia (just across the ocean from us). Most of our houses also have incredibly gorgeous old-growth fir (I suppose that would be the same on the East coast?) cause when they used the wood from here at that time there was a major abundance of very old forests. :( Poor forests...

Theresse-I posted some info on a previous thread of yours. The link is below. Basically I wanted to say that the thassos marble samples I have are 2x8-pretty close to 2x6. Perhaps the company has different marble in different sizes. If you click on the link and scroll down I've listed the companies info.

Here is a link that might be useful: 2x8 marble

Thank you Megpie - that would be pretty close and I'll seriously consider it! :)