From Marrakesh to Alabama to Australia !
A portion of our in-stock Surf “Aqua” made in Marrakesh was delivered to a client in Australia. They tiled their patio and sent us these photos as they are quite pleased. Note the curved steps into the house. It always looks nice when cement tile floors are trimmed out in cement tile skirtings, baseboards, bullnose or as in these steps, completed in appropriate materials. Our clients love their patio :o)
Some people are drawn to cement tile for the historic patterns and old world charm. Others appreciate the wide open design options. I can’t think of any durable surface with such capacity for custom artistic expression. A well known honors college in Florida wanted a tile design based on their school logo. New College of Sarasota has a logo with swirls of wind heading our in all four directions. This logo was adapted by school personnel and the architect for a two-tile pattern.
The resulting cement tile was used in a 10″ size on the exterior of the new admin building and a blue version was used in lobby areas. Just think how hotel and restaurant logos could be modified to make wonderful tile patterns for installations unique to the location. Contact us for your own custom tile based on your drawings or favorite motif.
We have some in-stock tile of the New College pattern in reverse.We call it “Tradewinds” and it is in our warehouse and ready to ship. This is a 10″ tile so it is an economical choice too. We think it is a perfect pattern for a patio or sunroom.
We had never heard of Kuba cloth when Stu Neyland submitted his new designs for his super cool collection of cement tile. We just knew it was a great floor tile design. Turns out that Stu and his wife Suzie have a collection of authentic Kuba cloth. Several pieces are framed and hanging above their fireplace and Stu had used them as inspiration for his tile design.
One wonderful aspect of Stu’s Kuba tile is that one can lay the tile in any orientation and the resulting pattern looks different depending on your choices.
Read more about The Stu Neyland Collection of cement tiles and see the Kuba tiles in various colorways.
More and more designers are becoming aware of African Kuba cloth.
To make Kuba cloth the Kuba people of the Congo cut and weave dyed pieces of raffia. The several different sub-groups of the Kuba people have unique ways to make their fabric. Many of the patterns are arranged to have meanings. And what a handsome floor tile it makes !
Without a doubt, The Colbert Report is the funniest show on TV. I wish it was on big 3 network TV so all the public would see it. But would they watch ?
We furnish tile to many restaurants but it is not always easy to get photos of these installations. In this case we called on the phone and chatted with a friendly employee who promised to send us some photos. This was months ago, *then* like an unexpected Easter Egg we received 3 emails with nice photos of our tile at the popular California eatery “PrepKitchen”. It is the new location in San Diego. We think the inset tiles set off the powerful striped wood flooring in a wonderful way. PrepKitchen seems to be a foodie’s favorite as the review sites show many stars and wonderful comments.
PrepKitchen Little Italy
1660 India St
(between Date St & Cedar St)
San Diego, CA 92101
Neighborhood: Little Italy
Don’t you just love the look of cement tile on walls ? You see this so much overseas and so seldom in the States.
A while back we had a wonderful experience of working with a couple who were building in the Caribbean. For starters, they sent a great diagram of the entire room’s elevations. They were careful to count all necessary bullnose and edger tiles and having this elevation diagram that showed all openings and tile edges was a huge assist in the tile count. Oh how we wish every home-owner job had the same up-front planning.
Sue and Dewey used our Villa Lagoon Tile Collection’s “Trellis Shell” tile as a perfect beachy bathroom tile. These photos she sent were while the bathroom was still under construction, but even so, we think they look great.
Our Basket Weave tile has been put to great effect in a Gulf Coast rental beach condo. Originally the living room and kitchen areas were tiled when the owner bought the condo and the bedrooms were carpeted. As you can imagine, in a sandy environment, the carpets were like sand magnets and resulted in numerous rental management charges for ‘carpet cleaning’ .
Now the new Basket Weave tile floors lend a great tropical look to both bedrooms and provide a floor that is much easier to keep clean.
The new Basket Weave tile is sealed with our low-gloss water-based sealant. The first coat was as a grout release and an additional thin coat was added after grouting.
We are enchanted by Sonia Gill and producer Mariana Hellmund’s video series about Sonia’s Travels. Even tho we only get a trip out of the USA once or twice a year (usually once), we feel like we have had a mini vacation w/ some exotic inspiration when we watch the latest installment of their short flicks.
Today is the garden behind Notre Dame…who knew ? Sonia of course.
We love it when one of our clients sends us a photo of their installation and we flip out when they send a photo like this one ! Client Franz Goebel used our Surf “Agua” tile and a matching solid color tile in this elegant contemporary bathroom. With the new modern sealants it is possible for the “skiddish” to use cement tiles in the wet areas without a worry. Note how the grout color of the deep aqua tiles was color matched to the tile. We think this enhances the rich look.
Needing an easy-to-clean floor in a rental beach condo a client used our Basketweave cement tile to replace carpeting that was needing frequent cleanings.
The living room and kitchen areas were already tiled with a nondescript big box tile which of course was thinner than our cement tile. This is no problem as the creative tile layer picked up some pre-assembled mosaic tile strips at Lowe’s to use to create a threshold between the rooms. They work beautifully.
We think the Basketweave is a great choice for a beach-y tropical look and we promise to add photos to the blog when the rooms are completed.