Our lovely Andalucian townhouse, when we bought it, was full of tiles. But unfortunately, most weren’t those beautiful Spanish tiles that we all swoon over. They were mostly patterned, but arranged in the most migraine inducing way – a really terrible mix of colours and patterns and textures. As we had a very strong vision for the renovation, and ultimately what the house would look like, we decided early on, the tiles would have to go. All were carefully removed and we now have a few good piles of ceramic tiles, all now in colour and pattern order and waiting to be cleaned up and either repurposed or sold on. In our tile journey, we have made some good contacts, as we wanted to replace the tiles with originals. The guys at Bert and May and Maitland and Poate were super helpful, in our initial research. Both have set up reclamation businesses in Andalucia and we did try, with both, to source replicas of the tiles we were keeping, so that we could replace the ones we were getting rid of. It all came down to cost in the end, because as well unique moulds having to be made, and colours matched perfectly, for the area we were considering covering, the price started to become prohibitive. So, as much as we wanted to support one of these businesses, we had to look elsewhere.

And that place was online. A bit risky, because all we had to go on, were images on a computer screen. But with ever increasing temperatures – meaning schlepping around tile stores was becoming more and more unlikely – and far too many other house things to buy/consider, we decided to be brave and trust our instincts. Orders were placed for a LOT of tiles, and the nervous wait for delivery started, and the hope that they would all arrive undamaged…

The original tiles on the first floor are largely in very good condition, and so in the places where repair was needed, this has been done, but we’ve managed to keep the ones which have always been there, in two of the bedrooms and the big open plan living space. They are super pretty and once we’ve cleaned them up and had them fully restored, I’m sure they will be as beautiful as they were, the day they were laid.

I think, looking back at the original tiling in the house, we made the right decision in replacing quite a lot of it. However, what has been removed, has been safely stored, in separate batches. Now that we can see the tiles in isolation, rather than as an onslaught of colour and pattern, we’ve realised that some of them are actually quite beautiful, and we may well have plans to repurpose at least one set. The others, who knows? Maybe we’ll find out that they are worth something and Bert & May or Maitland & Poate may want to take them off hands…