“Nuevo Castillo” encaustic cement tile lives up to its name turning homes into personal castles. It certainly adds elegance to living spaces throughout North America and UK. This tone-on-tone colorway is one of our best-selling and most-imitated products.
Last week we received photos of a new elegant bathroom from one of our happy clients in Atlanta. The soft two-tone gray cement tile adds depth, without overwhelming the beautifully simple white and wood decor.
This lovely bathroom with lots of natural light would be a delight every morning to help me face my day !
In the next Villa Lagoon Tile installation (below), one of our Hong Kong clients used Nuevo Castillo cement tile in her kitchen and was kind enough to send photos.
Peterssen / Keller Architecture – Minneapolis used our Nuevo Castillo stock cement tile in a sun-room (below) which proved to be a hit with everyone who saw it in the newspaper “Living” section and online.
A California client took the Nuevo Castillo one step further, adding depth with a custom cement tile production using 5 shades of gray !! This tile, with matching borders produced a striking foyer (below).
Maybe it stems from newspapers which are often read in both rooms, or maybe it comes from historical roots, or maybe it is so all colors of accessories look bright and cheerful; but no matter the reason, black, white and sometimes with shades of gray is a popular combination for cement tile floors in kitchens and baths. A popular choice is our Cubes pattern because it is both age-old classic and edgy modern… crisp and clean. Cubes encaustic tile in a modern NYC kitchen
Villa Lagoon Tile Cubes cement tile in a bathroom
Black and white stripe tile in a restaurant bathroom in the Washington DC area above
. Phillip Sides used our black and white Ikat tile (above) for this kitchen backsplash.
Landscape designer Stany Matz chose a black and white striped tile which forms a alternate reverse square-in-square pattern for his Miami, Florida kitchen.
This photo and the one below show our Large Cubes pattern tile in a Brooklyn, NY townhouse renovation.
The Khmer Rouge may have destroyed much of the population and vitality of Cambodia in the 1970’s but the lovely cement tile floors in the old districts lived through it all.
Siem Reap [siəm riəp] in northwest Cambodia is a town adjacent to the Angkor World Heritage Site, location of the world famous ancient Angkor Wat temple complex. The cafes and shops along the streets in the Siem Reap Old Market district reveal an assortment of colorful cement tile floors in age old patterns.
Old Siem Reap market area
A swirling hand drawn pattern like this is seldom seen in current cement tile production.Even hardware stores have classic cement tile flooring like this 3 color pattern.This cafe’s antique cement tile pattern with fleur-de-lis and berries is a popular pattern today.The pattern in this cafe tile is reminiscent of medieval clay encaustic tile in pattern and colors.Antique cubes cement tile in typical popular Cambodian colors
Our quest to explore antique cement tile leads to many surprises. Patterns that were popular a long time ago remain strong sellers today. We love discovering beautiful cement tile installations that are still loved and appreciated in unexpected parts of the world. It seems that while cement tiles were once made commercially in Cambodia, now only one workshop may remain. Known as Kay Vath’s tile factory in Phnom Penh. The factory and shop is on Russian Boulevard, near Teak Thla market but as the article says, his output is small. Now most new cement tiles are imported into Cambodia but the cheap printed ceramic tiles from China predominate due to the very low cost. Cambodia is in a state of recovery still and has a ways to go.
Our trip to Cambodia and neighboring Vietnam was wonderful and led to many excellent cement tile sightings. We’ll be posting photos of them in the next few weeks.
Designer Chris Grandmontagne used our Colorful Patchwork encaustic cement tile in her kitchen/family/breakfast great room renovation in the 2013 Topeka Designers’ Show House. Our cement tile went above the stove and to line the bookcases on either side of the fireplace to great effect. In the large kitchen area and family room the Patchwork does not overwhelm but adds just the right amount of cheerfulness without becoming the dominant element of the decor.
The niche above the stove has the Patchwork Cement Tile backsplash.Spacious kitchen in the designer show house in Topeka, Kansas.
We love how Chris used our tile also in the family room area as a background to the built-in custom shelves on either side of the fireplace. Below is a construction photo followed by the completed project.
Construction photo of the patchwork cement tile going into the back of the custom shelves.Photo of the family room areaFamily room shelving with Villa Lagoon Tile Colorful Patchwork TileFamily breakfast room in designer show house with gorgeous deep aqua Fiberglas chairsOutdoor dining in enclosed screen porch which connects to the family room and kitchenTopeka Kansas Designer Show House 2013
Travelers through Washington Dulles International Airport will find a new and unusual option at Terminal D. Bistro Atelier brings a taste of French fine dining to travel-weary passengers during their layovers.
Successful restaurant entrepreneur Hakan Ilhan, is no stranger to the difficulties of running an airport eatery. Several of his 25 DC-area restaurants are located in the city’s two major airports. Ilhan’s first area business was a TCBY yogurt franchise at Ronald Reagan National Airport, in 1997. With this project, he paired with Executive Chef John Lewitt to raise the bar of airport dining.
Dinners love the quality and variety of the food… there are not very many places in the world where one can grab a bite of escargot between flights!
It was our pleasure to work with Carlos Moreno and Matt Norris of Norris Design Studio on this project. It’s so gratifying to see images like these of a beautifully completed project. The cement tile featured in this project was “Tulips Sebring” (formerly known as “Roseton”), often available for in-stock, but always available for direct-production.
The historical Hong Kong Jockey Club chose Villa Lagoon Tile for the recently opened Hay Market Restaurant. Both tables and floors in several parts of this large open-plan restaurant have our custom encaustic cement tiles.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club founded in 1884 provides dining, social, sport and recreation facilities to its approximately 23,000 members. The HKJC conducts hundreds of horse races per year which can be viewed from the Hay Market Restaurant’s double-height floor to ceiling glass façade giving a view of the Sha Tin racecourse.
Designed by Joyce Wang, Hay Market Restaurant fuses English style with tasteful modernism to create an all-inclusive, open-minded venue that bustles with the dashing vibes of a lively English establishment. The large restaurant brings a taste of rustic England to Hong Kong’s Sha Tin Racecourse.
Wang made the fun choice to tile the tabletops at the Hay Market. We shipped the table tiles to the furniture manufacturer and the floor tiles went directly to the job-site in Hong Kong. Most of the tiles have neutral colors and the sharp black and white patterns in the tabletops add an edge of modernism.
Let Villa Lagoon Tile make custom tile for your next restaurant project !!
The Drake Hotel has become a cultural hotspot of Toronto, known for art, music, and a fun atmosphere. When they decided to expand, they turned to the London office of the Martin Brudnizki Design Studio to define the look of “Drake One Fifty” (named for its location at 150 York Street). In March, Zagat listed it among “Toronto’s 10 Hottest Restaurants“, applauding Brudnizki’s work as, “a beautifully designed space with plenty of eye candy“.
This project shows the great flexibility of cement tile to help bring a designer’s vision to fruition. It’s very common to create custom pattern molds for clients, whether reproducing historic patterns, bringing new designs to life, or tweaking existing designs to taste. In this case, we were able to go a step beyond, and had our Moroccan facility create two brand new shapes. First, an elongated hexagonal shape mold was created, then a matching triangular mold was created to form the keys of the layout pattern.
An image sent from the factory floor in Morocco.
For those interested in the production of cement tile, here are several images showing one of our master artisans creating the custom hex tile.
Mold AssemblyInsert Pattern MoldPour Color LayerRemove Pattern MoldAdd Body-Layer CementLevelingCover and PressDisplaying the Tile
Simply put, Drake One Fifty’s interior is near-perfection…
In the process of creating this solution, we proposed several variations of this Venetian mosaic theme in standard square and hexagonal formats. We loved them all so much, we produced one of them with our Venetian Collection, 8″ Treviso. 8″ square cement tile is the most economical format, and this smaller scale is more suitable to residential surfaces.
There’s a new restaurant in the Jacksonville, Florida area receiving a lot of attention. Flying Iguana Taqueria & Tequila Bar of Neptune Beach has opened to rave reviews. Chef Joshua Agan and his staff serve a fun and inspired menu that is Latin American fusion with hints of the local Southeast. Along with traditional Latin American flavors, you can also find items like the “Dirty South” taco, with fried green tomatoes and pimento cheese, or the “Southern Comfort” taco with fried chicken, slaw, and pickled okra.
Click for larger images…
Flying Iguana Facade
Eye-Catching at Night
10″ Tradewinds Cement Tile
Backdrop for Photo-Shoot
The designers of the Flying Iguana developed a stunning, eye-catching facade using our exclusive Tradewinds pattern, from the Caribbean Collection. Together with the interesting wood trellis holding the signage, this is a restaurant that cannot be missed. Decorative cement tile for external walls have long been popular south of the border, but we’ve seen more and more installations in the United States recently. This may be in large part due to the advances in sealant technology, which can preserve the vibrant patterns from the elements.
Click for larger images…
Flying Iguana Dining Room
Unique Backdrop
Patchwork Cement Tile
Designer-Select Mix
Includes Exclusive Patterns
Draws Attention
In the dining room, the designers chose to use a large area of patchwork cement tile on the floor, and as a backdrop for the bandstand. They used a combination of our pre-selected patchwork tile at the time, and supplemented with other in-stock patterns to custom-tailor the blend of colors they were seeking. Not only is decorative cement tile a strong enough visual draw to use as an accent wall, it is durable enough for busy restaurant floors. Modern sealants help preserve the the appearance over time, and provide better anti-slip characteristics than original wax techniques.
Miss Jacksonville USA 2015, Sarah Rogers
Our tile is featured in the April 2014 issue of The Void, a monthly magazine exploring the lifestyle of coastal North Florida. The Flying Iguana was the location for a photo-shoot with Miss Jacksonville USA 2015, Sarah Rogers, a hopeful for Miss Florida USA. We noticed they couldn’t help but choose some of the vertical Villa Lagoon Tile installations as backdrops.
Click for larger images…
Torino Cement Tile
Bocassio Gold Cement Tile
Our decorative cement tiles can also be seen in large installations in the restrooms. The designers chose our Torino cement tile for the ladies’ room, and Fiore cement tile for the men’s room. Note that the Fiore image is a construction photo, taken before the application of grout and final sealant.
If you find yourself near Jacksonville, Florida, everyone is saying that the Flying Iguana is a worthwhile stop, both for the amazing food, and the inviting atmosphere.
Villa Lagoon Tile made the cover of the Hearst publication, “Country Living Magazine”. The feature article, “A Recipe for the Ultimate Kitchen” covered a beautiful kitchen remodel with cement tile in Rockland County, New York.
Homeowner Aliyyah Baylor knows her kitchens. She and her family own a successful Harlem bakery business. Make My Cake has been featured in the New York Times as one of the best places to get Red Velvet Cake, and they won on the Food Network show “Throwdown With Bobby Flay” with their German Chocolate Cake.
Baylor was a joy to work with. She selected the cement tile floors first, and let them dictate the rest of the decor. She also used one of our favorite designers, Rebekah Zaveloff. You may recall Zaveloff of Chicago-based KitchenLabs from a previous post. Her design used our cement tile in an episode of Kitchen Crashers on the DIY Network.
This floor features a historic Cuban cement tile pattern we once marketed as “CH-120-2B” of the Cuban Heritage Collection. A tile so pretty deserves a name, so we call it “Carmen”, available from our South Beach Collection. Customize with your choice of colors in our Tile Design Tool.
Our correspondent and fellow lover of cement tile, Russell Mikler in Greece, has been sending us great photos of the tiles he has salvaged from old-old abandoned homes. Some of these old homes have been abandoned for over 35 years.
These red and white cement tiles came from a home built in the late 1920’s that had been abandoned with a collapsed roof. Some of the tiles had even been covered with linoleum in the past. Russell was not able to save all of them due to the roof debris and damage. He salvaged all he could quickly, as the house is now scheduled for demolition. Russell makes table tops with small amounts of reclaimed cement tile.
Click these thumbnails to see the full size images.
The photos show how the tiles look before and after cleaning decades of grime off of the encaustic cement tiles.
Sure there are a few stains, but really they clean up beautifully… these tiles are almost a century old! Bravo to Russell for saving these lovely tiles from being discarded with the building rubble. Wouldn’t the original craftsmen of these tiles be proud to know that Russell cares enough to save their tile and that the cement tile will live on long after the original structures are gone.
Russell now has a small workshop and makes new tiles in limited quantities. If you live in Greece and are interested in buying reclaimed old cement tiles let us know.
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The Khmer Rouge may have destroyed much of the population and vitality of Cambodia in the 1970’s but the lovely cement tile floors in the old districts lived through it all.
