We're closing in on the show house opening in about a week and a half…
Our First Old House Buried Treasure
Alternative titles for this post include:
I Decided to Rip up the Vinyl Floor in the Bathroom
OMG, I’m about to Explode with Excitement About Tile
And my favorite REAL title for this post:
I found original white hex tile under our old ugly vinyl bathroom floor!!!
OK. I’m calm, I promise.
Can you believe I found hex tile in my house? I’m so excited I can barely contain myself to write this post. But I will. Because I love to tell you a good story.
Picture this.
Hubs goes away for the weekend. Wife has been secretly plotting to do a mini makeover to the bathroom because we know she likes to do that kind of thing. Wife does mini makeover including paint the vanity, the mirror frame, window frame, light fixture and draws a cute octopus on a chalkboard for the wall. Pictures soon.
Wife steps back and admires the new room only to think… “This place would look so much better with a new floor. Let’s check to see what’s under this hideous vinyl.”
Now, to get the full effect I have to show you said vinyl so you can really appreciate the amazement of what I found underneath it. This is the bathroom we’ve been living in for 2 years. I’m over the shame. I showed before pictures here.
Brown. Yellow. Just the colors nobody wants in their bathroom. Look again, it’s terrible.
It just so happened there was a tiny corner curling up a bit behind the door that was just calling out for me to grab it with the pliers.
So I did.
Holy goodness. I’ve just hit the jackpot.
You have no idea how excited I was. Now I know people uncover all kinds of treasures in their houses, especially old houses. Crown molding under dropped ceilings. Leaded windows behind boarded up walls.
And now I’m in the club. The old house treasure club.
I mean people put this IN these days, they don’t find it under vinyl. Our house is 111 1/2 and we haven’t found any kind of old house stuff yet. It was perfect.
So I pulled back as much as I could. That stuff was stuck down for sure. I’m still in shock so I’m just going to show you more pictures of what I did and what it looks like today. Of course it came up easy at the edges. It always does.
I ripped out that vinyl faster than it takes to eat a pint of Ben and Jerrys. I grabbed the tin snips and pry bar and ripped. I didn’t care, that floor was coming out.
Of course the vinyl separated from the paper backing and the backing got left on the floor with all of the adhesive. Who cares though, I’ve got hex.
And I’ve got a big fat mess too. Don’t forget this is a surprise makeover and hubs is due home any hour.
So I had to get off the paper backing and adhesive. I tried lots of things but ended up using wallpaper stripper concentrate, water and a razor blade. Yes, on Labor Day I labored on my hands and knees on that floor scraping away paper and gunk.
I’m normally not this crazy in person I swear.
I’ll show you how I did it soon enough. This was my progress on day one, which I was happy enough with. That middle part is the paper backing still stuck to the tile. Removing that paper and adhesive is going to take me forever and my triceps will be as toned as Michelle Obama’s but I don’t care.
I’ve got oceans and oceans (OK 32 square feet) of beautiful, white, (soon to be) pristine, grouted, hex tile in my bathroom!
Hubs wasn’t mad. “Honey, come see what I found in the bathroom…”
To be continued.
what a find! that is buried treasure if i ever saw it!
what a find! that is buried treasure if i ever saw it!
Oh that is so awesome! I also would have secretly planned a mini bathroom makeover while the hubby was gone, it’s always best to do it that way. 😉 I can’t wait to see your finished bathroom!
So happy for you!
We live in a farmhouse circa 1900 and no reverse reno rewards yet. Boo.
great find, it will look gorgeous! we have that tile in our bathroom too, I am in love.
SCORE! Holy Hannah, did you ever hit the jackpot 🙂 An unearthed treasure, in deed!!!
Such an amazing find! And in your own house! Good luck scraping the rest of the vinyl up. You already know how evil that stuff is. 🙂
I kind of hate you right now. I mean that in the nicest way possible, just so you know.
I wish we would find something even half as awesome in our old house.
Wow! Talk about striking gold!! Why the heck would anyone over that beautiful tile?! It boggles my brain!
That is FANTASTIC!! I love hex tile – we are just abut to install 1″ carrera hex in one of our bathrooms – but what’s even cooler than the fact that you have the tile – is that you FOUND!!! the tile!! I LOVE finding stuff in the house. We found a tiny secret closet in ours (I have a post about that) and a giant (HUGE!!) cistern under the kitchen floor!! Isn’t it just the BEST feeling?
Now – about that vinyl. . . when i first saw that picture I thought it was the glue and stuff under whatever you tore out- that was some truly hideous stuff.
congrats on your great find, Jessica!
breida
So happy for what you found under the vinyl! I love the hex tiles. That’s awesome! About 30 years ago we COVERED UP oak wood floors with wall to wall carpet (that’s what they did in the 70’s) and 5 yrs. ago took it all out and refinished all the rooms and I love it! It’s beautiful now. Congrats to you.
Wow!!! Seriously the jackpot. Can’t wait to see how it cleaned up! The most surprising thing we’ve found in our 124-year old house is a lot of fossilized mice behind the dishwasher.
Hi Erin,
I was very excited to find that tile and sadly some of it was broken. We ended up covering it and it was actually the best decision since we didn’t know what we’d find if we took it out. I write about it here.