The workers have been very busy! All of the tile has been laid in the master bathroom, hall bathroom, laundry room, and on the fireplace. (Of course this picture was taken shortly before completion.) The tile chosen for the master bathroom is a travertine-like tile from Italty. Sounds fancy, eh? We had no idea it was Italian tile until after it was installed. We just liked it because it matched the floor mosaic we chose and it matched our budget. Go figure. We also chose a paint color called Oklahoma Wheat that really wamrs the room up and looks great with the tile. One thing that was integral (in my opinion) was the use of some glass tile. Having taken an interior decor class, I fell in love with glass tile, and I’d have it all over the place if it fit in the budget and cleaning schedule. Alas, two bands of medium gold glass tile ribbon through the shower and over the tub. They offer just a hint of extra fanciness and I love it.
The tile in the laundry room is a bit on the wild side. Because this is a room that will get moderate use but won’t be “lived in,” we figured we’d go just a little less conservative with the tile color and design choice. We were actually inspired by the original owners of our current house – they asked at closing if we liked the tile in the laudry room because they picked something a little less neutral. We said yes, we liked it, then when we got to our new house, we ran right upstairs to see if we really did because it is so mildly un-neutral that we hadn’t even noticed. The tile in our new laundry room is a nice mix of tans, golds, and smokey blues. Our builder admitted that he thought we had gone a little overboard on the selection when he first opened the box, but when he say it laid out, he actually really like it. Once the paint went up, I decided I really like the tile more that I even thought I would. The picture of the laundry room also shows some of the window trim stained. It is a really warm brown that matches well with the bamboo floors.
The hall bath tile is also up. It isn’t nearly as exciting as the master bathroom or the laundry room tile, because we figure this bathroom will mostly be used by guests (who we love) and kids (which we don’t have yet). We did manage to toss in a band of smaller accent tiles on the wall to fancy it up a little bit. There are also two built in shelves for shampoo, soap, and the like. These were a bit of an afterthought, so I didn’t pay as much attention to their installation. I do think the tile installers put them in upside down, so if you come to our house as a guest and don’t have enough space to put your shampoo and soap, you’ll just have to use the tub ledge. Sorry. We do hope you enjoy the cool calming turquiose color on the wall though.
The fireplace tile is a natural stone, though I can’t tell you what kind, only that I think it comes from a quarry in China and the guy at the tile store really wanted to sell it to us. And apparently we really wanted to buy it! Once it is sealed it shows a beautiful, natural variation of color. The tile on the front of the fireplace (not yet installed when this picture was taken) is made from the same stone, but is done in a stacked style without morter or grout. It is earthy and rough but cool and relaxing at the same time (if such can be said of tile). The fireplace grate is integrated into the wall so it won’t have doors or pokers or real logs or anything. It is a gas fireplace with an on-off switch. And no maintenance, which has become a deciding factor in just about every major decision lately. It will be spring when we move in, and I can’t believe I’m saying this while I freeze and look at leftover mounds of snow, but I can’t wait until the first snowfall of next winter so I can curl up with a book in a cozy chair in front of this fireplace.
15 April 2008 at 7:18 am
Cool blog. Some nice work to.