Although they look like common four inch white tiles, I think you're going to have a tough time matching the tile and grout color so it doesn't look patched in. I'd rip them all out and replace them with something that works with the floor tile, which is fabulous. Way more work, I know. Or just do the best you can matching the tile and grout and call it good. You can bleach grout or buy a colorant to make it a closer match if it bothers you.

Maybe someone else will have a better suggestion. Good luck with your project.

Einportlandor -- I would definitely prefer to rip it all out, but this is being done in the midst of a lot of other work we are doing (we are also adding a master suite upstairs, refinishing all floors, insulating, adding new HVAC, painting everything, rewiring the entire house and gutting the kitchen). Our GC, having seen it up close, advised that ripping the wall tile out would probably end with us needing to do a lot more than that, and we are not looking to get involved in an unplanned gut of this room at the moment. So we are trying to keep this as low touch as possible. Unfortunately. I think we can regrout without too much pain, so the issue is more matching the tile itself.

Creative Tile - Thank you, that is a great idea and great tip re. Florida!

look at Retro Renovation. they specialize in matching all of those tiles from the mid century era.

you could also try local salvage yards in your area. sometimes people drop off boxes of old tiles.

the other option is after you patch, have a company come in that sprays an epoxy coating on the ceramic surfaces. they'll prime and prep, and then spray. they will look brand new.

My concern is that this is a shower and when you start ripping out tiles you can also enter into a problem with waterproofing and to honest it looks like there are problems already . I truly beleive once you start messing with old tile removal you open a can of worms that really needs to dealt with it seems hard but ripping out out all the new stuff to deal with a leaking shower will be more costly and a lot more work.

Patricia, where do you see waterproofing problems?

Our GC, who we trust, initially said the same thing about can of worms, but once he demoed out the old vanity and chipped out that one missing tile as an experiment (it will be hidden behind new vanity), he said it will work to chip out the problem tiles and replace them individually. But, the can of worms is our concern too. If we can't get a good match, this will look worse than before. Like I said, this layer of white tiles is right on top of the original tile (so I don't know that waterproofing would come into play...there is a lot under there). Since the underneath tile was installed in 1914, if we were to rip everything out we would be dealing with demolishing mortar and metal screen and it would be a giant mess (and a $15k-$30k gut job we don't want to do right now or ideally ever).

Has anyone ever heard of a way to remove epoxy art from tiles? I'm pretty sure it's epoxy painted on site as a DIY.

Beth, thanks for the tip re. Retro Renovation. We are planning to eventually have the tub reglazed...would the tile epoxy be a similar kind of process?

That tile size does not exist any longer; Florida Tile discontinued those series more than a decade ago. The current ones are 4x4. I would remove tile from behind the wall where the vanity will be; and then use them for repairs where needed.

Thanks for the update Skippack. Tells you how long it's been since using their products.

Sad on the other hand. I remembered something from many years back and it's useless. Sucks to get old.

Gah, thanks Skippack. Good to know.

emho,,yes. it's the same thing. if doing the tub, have them do the tiles at the same time. it's a very stinky process and will take a good day for it to dry

Laura (and Skippack) - yes, that is definitely an option. We only need maybe 10-12 tiles.

Have you tried removing the paint from the tiles instead of ripping out the tile? A single edged razor blade might work or a good quality paint stripper. I would try that first a remove tiles from behind the vanity to replace the few broken ones.

Try Nemo Tile in Jamaica Queens New York.

No paint sticks well to tile so it probably will come off with stripper and elbow grease.

Wow, Foad clearly didn't read anything at all.

I'll try Nemo and B&W, maybe they can give a match, at least for the size.

It's not paint, it's an art epoxy at best, or it could, at worst, be glazed onto the tiles (I doubt this, but it's possible). It looks like glaze. A razor won't do anything. I have not yet tried taking a heat gun or epoxy stripper to it.

Removing the paint shouldn’t be too difficult. I would try citristrip, then acetone on whatever is left. Maybe start on the least conspicuous tile and see how it goes.

I'll try that, but it is definitely not paint and I don't think Citristrip will do much. Not super optimistic, as this "art" has been on the tiles for...multiple decades and looks to be in mint condition. It looks like maybe art epoxy resin. But it's definitely worth trying to strip it before I drop the hammer.

I think there is a good chance that the blue bird was sold as a accent tile. It's glazed/ fired on the tile and won't be removable. I personally think it's kind of cute and would keep them but probably not for everyone.

Try taking a close up picture of tile and do a Google search of the image, or post it here, I'm pretty good at finding stuff. It might end up being a interesting search result.

Hi Izzy! I keep meaning to take pics but then forgetting (we are not living there yet). I'll get some next time I'm there and post them. The painting looks pretty amateurish to me, but it's possible they were purchased. It's also possible that some of the art tiles were purchased and some were DIYed - some of them are more meh looking than others.

I would actually be bothered much less if the tiles were purchased. Having a DIY rendering of this family's menagerie makes me sort of feel like the house is not really mine. In particular, I know they had cats and there is a cat tile down near the floor where a litterbox would have gone...I am not a cat person.

That is odd about the the cat tile where the litter box would go. And I like cats. That primitive child like "painting" style has been popular on and off to some extent. I inherited a small collection of bowls with such art on them. All of them are different, hand painted. They can still be purchased new which surprised me. Your bird tiles remind me a lot of them:

http://hadleypottery.com/shop-by-pattern

Those tiles don't necessarily represent the former owner's cats. Cat people just generally like stuff with cats on it. I'm one, and I do.

The glaze on the cat tile actually does look a little different than the other, non-cat tiles...I will post pics this weekend!

Oh I was going to add. The tile manufacturer could have commissioned small batches of decorative tiles to be painted by a artist then glazed them. Who knows. Using delft blue colors was pretty popular, not just Dutch stuff like windmills.

They are not all blue...but that is a possibility! I'm excited to post pics and see if any sleuths can find anything. I would much rather view this as a fun house mystery than as an ugh irreversible DIY.

OK here are they are in all their glory, all 12 of them. Sorry these pics are huge.

Here are the fauna:

And here are the lovely flora...

I didn't find anything with reverse image search and it's hard to imagine that, e.g., that last flower one with the squiggles was a professional production. But very curious if anyone has thoughts or suggestions, either for getting rid of them or for learning to live with them.

I guess I can get understand why you don't like some of them. They do look like all fired/glazed. Maybe you could just live with them until you are ready to redo bathroom. I wouldn't go through the trouble myself if that was going to be redone at some point. Until then they are a conversation piece. My MIL was really good at decorating and always had one whimsical piece somewhere in there in room that didn't go with the rest. But probably wouldn't have gone as far as your tiles.

It looks like they had arts and crafts day at the tile factory though. Maybe some prior owner of house work at factory?

Annettea, I can't tell which are original (I would guess the ones on the right?) but I can definitely tell that some are a different color and size. Unfortunately I would notice it right away and it would drive me nuts.

Izzy, the tile factory was in New Jersey and this is outside Boston so probably not an employee, but it does look exactly like arts and crafts day at the tile factory.

I've seen some examples of tiles decorated with alcohol ink epoxy and then sealed...I don't think that's out of the realm of possibility. But short of that, maybe I should just lean into it and get a flamingo shower curtain or something. If it wasn't for these tiles, I would not want to redo the bathroom. We are in the process of replacing the vanity, med cab, lighting and toilet, and it is otherwise a pretty cute 1950s bathroom. I like the green flooring.

I agree that they look glazed, so no removing the art.

They are unique. I could live with them, just because they are unique.

annettea - very cool, I thought the grout lines looked smaller on the right but I stand corrected! Unfortunately for our bathroom, we cannot get matching tile because it is not made anymore.

We may have to learn to live with them, at least for now. They are definitely, definitely unique.

Do you think you could replace a smattering of them with vintage tiles that coordinate with the floor?

Maybe it’s like the matching suggestion, but have you gone to a salvage/restore and gotten a bunch of different white 4”-ish tiles and see if any aren’t too bad?

harvesting tiles is a great idea, but might be tough to get some off and have them be usable.

There are 12 of the art tiles total, scattered throughout the whole room. I think it would not look amazing but might be an improvement to replace them with a different color of vintage tile. Coordinating with the floor is tough though. It's just not an easy color...any thoughts?

I should definitely try the ReStore. Over time, the right thing might show up for sure.

The floor looks withe and light gray, is that right? I would chose one of the blues or turquoise of that era, which can stand up to the black better than the pastels.

Emho, yeah, just step into the crazy and go with the flamingo shower curtain, very funny!!! I agree the green floor tile is nice color. Maybe you can find some decorative tiles that would coordinate with the floor tiles to replace the "offensive" ones if you can't remove others with out breaking to replace.

I did try to search for any information on your tiles, no luck finding anything.

FYI, my cousin, a male, bought a 1930's house and has I think the pink version of your green. Yours is definitely better. He is torn between wanting to keep some vintage and his dislike for the particular shade of putty-pink with maroon trim, he would love to have your green instead I'm sure.

Nancy -- no, the floor is a pale celadon green. No black in the space at all. The new vanity is going to be a basic white shaker cabinet with a white flecked quartz top.

Izzy -- if I could find the right size replacement tiles, maybe I could have new, more attractive flowers and birds painted. I don't hate the idea, in theory, it's just the execution here. I do really like the floor! It's going to look much better once I paint the sage walls and clean the floor grout. Our house was built in 1914 and I am pretty sure this floor is not original (it's raised a bit so it seems like there is something else underneath it).

We bought the house in an estate sale and the sellers were the siblings who grew up in the house. We are still in touch and I am dying to ask them someday whether the tile was always there or whether their parents installed it and if so, where it came from.

If the accent tiles had been painted in place, the artist would probably have gotten paint on the grout. I don't see any. So although I don't know for sure, I'd guess that those are actual production accent tiles from the 1970s or so, maybe even into the 1980s. That kind of whimsical art was popular back then, kind of like psychedelic motifs were in the 1960s.

The flowered tiles look like they were supposed to be used with more tiles below them. The other tiles would have had stems and leaves to complete the flower image.

Similarly, maybe the "squiggle" tiles were designed to form a border of sorts when used with similar or identical tiles to the left and right.

This is admittedly speculation, as I don't recall ever seeing those particular tiles in anyone else's home.

Someday, a future generation will be posting to ask how they can tear out and replace the "dated" design features that are popular in houses today. :)

DavidR - I love your theorizing. Someday I will learn the truth and will report back. But, although your last paragraph is certainly true...I am not sure "dated" is the right word for these tiles. I'm still not convinced these were ever "in."

To me this is a "don't throw good money after bad" situation. If you're really not prepared to gut this bathroom and re-design it, then I would find the least objectionable temporary solution to fix the broken tile until you're ready to do a full remodel. That includes not spending money on a new vanity. The bath has a funky layout and could most assuredly be better designed. Alternatively, get a design done and have your GC cost it out for him to add to his scope. It might not be as onerous a cost as you currently imagine. If nothing else, it will give you a ballpark range of what you'll have to spend later down the road.

@Sabrina, completely agree, this whole post is about finding the least objectionable temporary solution for the tile. (Not worried about the broken tile, hidden behind the vanity.) We had to buy a new vanity, it is not visible in the photos but the old one was literally falling apart and water damaged and there was also a weird tiled spacer in between the old vanity and the wall...you can see the outline of that in dirt on the tile. Just everything in very bad condition.

We did talk to our GC about gutting the whole bathroom. He priced it at 17-30k, depending on extent of moving stuff around. We seriously considered it but it's just too much to add to our existing scope.

The layout is indeed funky, but there is never going to be much ability to move the fixtures around for reasons I have not gotten into here (staircases on the other side of two of the walls, location of the toilet upstairs, this being the only bathtub in the house, etc.).