Ok, so here’s a bathroom update that’s way overdue. And it’ll literally change the way you look at your bathroom (or any other place that has bad caulk in your house). Let’s do this.
This is what our bathroom looked like when we started this whole mini-overhaul in an attempt to salvage our vintage basketweave tile instead of demoing every last cracked and peeling corner of our bathroom (warning: this ain’t pretty):
Now for a few more slightly less than pleasant “during” shots in the spirit of sharing the semi-painful process. First, we cut out all the old caulk with a box-cutter (as captured in this tasty photo):
Then we did some serious tile cleaning with the 40% peroxide (purchased at a beauty supply store) that one of our readers recommended (thanks Gimbler!). After we let the peroxide soak in overnight, we scrubbed the heck outta the tiles the next morning and they definitely looked lighter and brighter. So it was on to the next step, which involved taping off all the places that we needed to re-caulk.
The painters tape was another fab tip from a perfectly helpful perfect stranger (thanks Mary!) which resulted in perfectly straight caulk lines that look much improved. The details: caulk, smooth caulk with finger, and quickly remove tape before caulk starts to set. Easy peasy.
Doesn’t less dingy tile and a clean caulk line make all the difference? It also should be noted that we purchased one replacement tile for the top right hand corner where the tub meets the tile (if you scroll up to the picture where we cut out the caulk, you’ll see that there’s a huge hole where a tile should be). We actually couldn’t find an exact match, but it’s pretty close. Plus the fabric shower curtain hangs down completely obscuring the new caulk line and that tile anyway. But it sure is nice to know that when a guest pulls back the curtain there won’t be a hairy surprise waiting for them anymore.
(I’ll pause while you shudder. Go ahead, it’s ok.)
We also used a little more caulk to totally overhaul our gross-ish drain. Since our tub was reglazed about 8 years ago by the previous owner, the glaze was perfect everywhere except for around the drain. Observe:
But caulk is like magic in a tube. Look at the difference a little ring of the stuff can make!
And while we were at it, the old bath and shower fixtures had seen better days. They were original to the house (51 years old) and the corroded knobs and leaky faucet just weren’t up to par anymore.
So we switched them. Well, by “we” I mean Mr Rooter. We tried doing it ourselves but the crazy old configuration of the pipes behind the wall made it necessary to call in the experts (who actually needed to use a diamond blade to cut through a 2-inch cement wall to access the old rusty pipes). We’re so glad we knew when to say uncle, because it took two experts over four solid hours to make the change. Luckily they quoted us a price before they discovered the cement wall.
When it came to new fixtures to install, the pickins were slim because we had to match the old three-across configuration of our prior faucets. But thankfully this cute retro-ish set ($136 from Home Depot) looks right at home in our black and white bathroom.
Burger loves the mini-bathroom-overhaul (see that happy gleam in his eyes?) and so do we. Mission Save-The-Basketweave accomplished. Thanks so much for all of your help!
Update: Alas, a few years of use later made it clear that our cracked and stained wall and floor tiles just couldn’t be saved (although the cleaning and caulking tips above definitely tided us over for a while). So we embarked on a full bathroom overhaul in late 2009. Here are those details.
elliot says
We are rehabbing our house to put it on the market, and found THIS EXACT TILE PATTERN in our laundry room. Do you know where extra can be found? If so please email me ASAP!!!!!
Elliot
St. Louis
YoungHouseLove says
I would try the Habitat For Humanity ReStore (they have lots of vintage tile). Good luck!
xo,
s
Emily B says
Here is another source for vintage tile. I noticed this recently on retrorenovation.com.
http://retrorenovation.com/2011/07/12/where-to-find-bathroom-replacement-tile-for-vintage-bathroom/
YoungHouseLove says
Awesome!
xo,
s
Carl says
Wow, I had to do a double take on your photo of your old bathtub faucets. They are almost the same as ours in our guest bathroom. The difference is the hot and cold water faucets have arrows on them. Had a plumber look at refinishing our faucets one time and he said they were too scratched up. We’re an older couple who bought this 1950s? lake house. There are no records to show just how old this house is, or even when the well was put in. It has been an experience finding out about the shortcuts and addon errors that the previous owners made. When a handyman comes to our house, they usually don’t want to come back. :) Like your blog. Have any online resources for people to look into who have older houses that need fixing up?
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks! It sounds like your house is mysterious! Haha. As for resources for older homes, maybe try googling your area and the term “older home” and see if there is a historical society in your city?
xo,
s
Jamie B. says
As a renter with icky-looking tiles and grout, the peroxide tip sounds great, but is there any way it would work on wall tiles? Would leaving it overnight do anything when obviously it would all run off?
I did try a bleach pen for the grout so the bleach is more like a gel and stays in one spot better. It didn’t do much but I didn’t leave it for very long, maybe I should try overnight too. The only problem is I’d need about 20 of those pens to do the whole shower, haha. Thanks for any hints!
YoungHouseLove says
I’m not sure- maybe you can use a spray bottle and mist it and see if it soaks in overnight. It might run down the wall but some of it might soak in. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Diane Fahrenbach says
I would love to tackle cleaning my old bathroom tile…it’s just like yours.
The beauty supply store had 3% hydrogen peroxide which is a far cry from 40%. They also had pure white cream developer maximum lift 40 which contains peroxide but doesn’t list the %. It is an activator used to bleach hair. Is this what you used?
Hope you still check out this sight, it’s great! Thanks so much.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, it wasn’t a cream, it was in liquid form (in a bottle). Hope it helps!
xo
s
Felicia says
That is the exact time that we have in our house!
E says
I am reading through the archives (in oldest to newest order) and I love that there’s a bathroom update waiting for me in a few months’ worth of posts! Can’t wait to see!
The caulking looks (looked) great!
xoxo, E
Souloulou says
I have these same floors and hate them! Mainly because I feel like how ever old they are, there is a layer of grime on them for every year. I will be picking up peroxide asap!
I’ve actually thought about painting over the tile. anyone tried that, thoughts?
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve never tried that but I think I saw a pin about how to do it on Pinterest! Not sure how well it works…
xo
s
jon byler says
Hi,
I am looking to find tiles like this to put in my bathroom, and was wondering if you can tell me what size yours are? I keep finding similar tiles, but they are 1″ x 2″ for the white ones, and 1×1″ for the black, and this looks too big to match that classic look that your floor has.
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
So sorry, we don’t like there any more so I can’t run in there and measure them and neither of us can remember. Maybe get something too big and use a tile scorer or cutting tool to make it the right size?
xo
s
Lauren says
I would like to do this to our bathroom as well. Problem is, previous owners painted layers and layers of paint on top of the glossy tiles that I know are under there! We have the same floor patters, and wall tiles, but there is an ugly fiberglass shower/tub, too. Wondering if there is a ceramic tub hiding underneath it since yours appears to be the original, too. I’d attach a pic if I knew how…
Do you know how to remove paint from tile? the paint isn’t an epoxy, but it’s not chalky either. While removing wallpaper a big chunk fell off an revealed shiny, black tile on the top.