Retro tile excitement!!!

15 years ago

Ok, so, remember my plans to put Depression green tiles with a black stripe into our retro kitchen remodel? (Link below.) Currently our kitchen is gray 'n' putty 'n' vile, with a U-shaped backsplash (sink wall and part of two adjacent walls) made of whatever the original tile was, but painted over in grayish-white by some previous owner. That's the area intended for our Depression green + black stripe tile. I have always hated these grayish-white matte icky ugly tiles and could not wait to take a sledgehammer to them.

So today, since I have a lot of other things I have to do, I thought I would procrastinate by seeing WTH was under that grayish-white paint, if possible. I went online and found that you can remove paint from porcelain tile with a razor blade, or a heat gun if you want to be efficient. I don't have either tool, but I do have a very sharp paring knife (and a good knife sharpener for after I ruin it, haha), so off I went, scraping at the tile.

No, it's not Depression green. But it's really cool! It's this glossy, light-filled very pale yellow--some might say cream--and it has a bullnose stripe at the top that at first looked black but is actually dark burgundy. Oh!!! It's so cool!!!! And my range is burgundy, so how cool is that. It's really quite beautiful and so we will, if possible, use a heat gun and save it during our remodel. So rather than spending $1000 or whatever putting in a backsplash that's trying to look like it was made in the 1930s, we can spend $50 (my guesstimate of the cost of heat gun rental) to have a backsplash that actually was made in the 1930s. Yay!

Moral of the story, for those who like old tile: You CAN take paint off tile pretty easily! And voila, instant retro backsplash!

Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on retro green tile

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Comments (18)

adel97
15 years ago
Too cool! Pics? Please?
flwrs_n_co
15 years ago
That's wonderful news! Please, please post a pic of your newly discovered yellow and burgundy retro tiles!
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mmhmmgood
15 years ago
Very cool! Too bad you'll miss out on the fun of the sledgehammer ... the heat gun sounds like work ;) Can't wait to see pics!
ideagirl2
Original Author
15 years ago
Here's a photo of our exciting tile (remember, I took the paint off with a paring knife, so there are still little flecks of it on the tile):
ghostlyvision
15 years ago
Neat-o!
Circus Peanut
15 years ago
I love it! Perhaps for obvious reasons .. my kitchen tile:
badgergal
15 years ago
You can buy a Wagner heat gun at Walmart for $24. I'm sure the big box hardware stores sell them for about the same price too. I purchased one when I was removing paint from woodwork and it worked just fine. It actually cost less than renting one. It 's nice to be able to take your time doing the job and not having to rush so you get the tool back on time.
ideagirl2
Original Author
15 years ago
Badgergal, that's a great tip. Thanks.

Circuspeanut, it is like almost MYSTICAL, the connections here!!! :-) I have several photos of your kitchen saved on my hard drive... it appeals to me greatly.
marcydc
15 years ago
Cool!

You might want to try Smart Strip. It actually smells good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Smart Strip
User
15 years ago
Very very cool !!! You are the 2nd GW forum person to uncover treasure in your old home. Another person just found heart pine floors in his house. You guys are so lucky. c
ideagirl2
Original Author
15 years ago
Yes, you never know what you're going to find in these old houses. We also found oak floors under the kitchen vinyl.

But you have to be careful, on top of curious. I did a lead test after the first couple of scrapes on the tile (I wanted to test all the layers of paint, if there were more than one layer, so I had to scrape it first). There was no lead, yay! But if there had been I would've had to use some safety precautions.
dianalo
15 years ago
That is fantastic! It looks wonderful ;)
ideagirl2
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks!

I can't believe I just basically found $1000 stuck to my kitchen wall. And there will be much less stress/mess in the demo. Wow!!! Yay!!
oldhousegal
15 years ago
That is so cool! My neighbor's kitchen has that same tile in the same colors.
Lucky you!
breezygirl
15 years ago
Lucky you! And you'll probably love it even more than you would have the green when you're all done. Cool beans.
dianalo
15 years ago
I forgot to add that you can save the green tile idea for your next bathroom project. We found a granite we love that we couldn't work into our kitchen so it will be in the family bathroom, just as the white marble made it into our master bath.
ideagirl2
Original Author
15 years ago
Dianalo, you're totally right. That's a great idea, and we actually already saved this green and black Charles Rennie Mackintosh-inspired bathroom as one of our inspiration pics!

Here is a link that might be useful:
angie_diy
15 years ago
FWIW, your initial photoshopped picture is *exactly* the same colors as my 1930 bathroom tile (same shade of green subways and black trim). The Mackintosh is a close match, but, obviously, with fancier trim.