Old House My House

When we first walked through our house back in 1998, one of the things that struck us as uniquely beautiful was the Art Deco tile work in the kitchen and the bathroom. Despite decades of use—and more than a few earthquakes—the tile in both rooms had managed to stay in great condition. Unfortunately, these were two of the rooms in the house that would need to be completely torn out during the remodel.

It seemed a shame that we had to demolish one of the very things that made our house special, so we decided early on that we would strive to mimic the original style of the tile work. This decision led us to meet with Tisa Adamson, owner of Mission Tile West in South Pasadena, California. Mission Tile West is known for its vast selection of both contemporary and historical tile, including a revival line of Art Deco tile that would be perfect to recreate the style of our original bathroom and kitchen.

One of our reservations with the Art Deco style is that some of the period colors are pretty darn bold. We are not naturally drawn to bright aqua or pink but we did like the drama that the Art Deco style offered. Tisa and Shelby showed us how to combine black detail with more subtle colors to get the dramatic effect we wanted without color overload. We did decide to pull out all the stops on the downstairs powder room, however, choosing a very strong yellow and black color scheme. This bathroom's tile and the period fixtures should most closely reflect the house's original 1930s style, and will be a showpiece of the finished remodel.