Design Trends and Ideas

February 18th, 2021

Covid Killer in Your Tile – Microban®!

Posted in Bathrooms, Commercial Spaces, General, Kitchens, Tile

Microban® silver technology has been incorporated into numerous Florida Tile series, including the highly popular NY2LA® series.  Microban® provides a continuous level of protection from the growth of common microbes.  Microban® is also available as a sanitizing spray that has been initially proven to kill Covid-19 virus and 99.9% of bacteria.  Microban®, when infused into tiles, allows the tiles to offer a great degree of effortless cleanliness suitable for kitchens, bathrooms, restaurants, retirement homes, medical facilities, and, well, everywhere.  Click here for more information on Microban® from Florida Tile.  Or, call or text us to discuss at 518-227-0156.

October 29th, 2020

Patio for Socially-Distanced Get-Togethers

Posted in General, Installation, Stone, Tile

Project #1 is an outdoor patio to create ‘useable’ outdoor space that this house never had. The plans have been in the works for over a year, but with covid this spring, I had an obvious delay and lost the original contractor. A very talented friend stepped-up and said he would be interested in the our project after completing a simliar project at his house. Heavy equipment for minor excavation was delivered along with many tons on stone for the patio base. Yes, I will be using tile for my patio. The porcelain tile is 16″x32″x 3/4″ and meant to be used outside. Before photo, for reference:

First set-back – BEES! Two large bees nests were in the ground around the shrubs. All of the shrubs had to be removed before minor excavation could begin so we lost a few days while the bees calmed down and found a new home. 

To be continued . . .

October 15th, 2020

Let the games begin!

Posted in Bathrooms, Commercial Spaces, Family Rooms, General, Kitchens, LVT, Mosaics, Stone, Tile

These days, if you’re like so many of us spending most of our covid-time at home, you are seeing your slice of the world through a different lense. Whether an addition for more space, a bathroom or kitchen renovation, or an upgrade to outdoor real estate for more socially distanced get-togethers – these are all potential projects that could help to make being at home so much more enjoyable! With that said, I am about to embark on two major projects at my house to make my space more functional and enjoyable. I will be chronicling the projects here in the coming weeks . . . So “let the games begin!”

Project #1 – Outdoor patio using porcelain tile pavers . . . After all, tile is my thing . . . Stay tuned . . .

May 22nd, 2020

Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Porcelain Tile Floor

Posted in Bathrooms, Commercial Spaces, General, Kitchens, Mosaics, Stone, Tile

April 16th, 2020

Virtual Design Services for You.

Posted in General

Before Covid-19 (BC), maybe you were planning a change or update to an area in your home?  And now that you’ve been home for a month – literally – it’s all you can think about.  You can still keep that project on-track, at least the tile, carpet, wood, or LVT component(s).  While we’re all sheltering in-place, I will be offering virtual design services.  Please call or text me at 518-227-0156 or email me at [email protected], then we can discuss your project and you can share some of your inspirations with me.  I’ll gather materials, share my ideas, and present options.  I am flexible with format: Zoom, Facetime, Skype, Google Hangouts, telephone, email, text, or, even US Mail!  We all need to be creative and stay inspired.  Stay safe, be well ….

April 7th, 2020

Fast, efficient, and SAFE . . .

Posted in Back Splash, Bathrooms, Bedrooms, Carpet, Commercial Spaces, Family Rooms, Floor Warming, General, Installation, Kitchens, LVT, Mosaics, Rugs, Stone, Tile

We have instituted a variety of measures in an attempt to ensure that we do all we can to keep our clients and employees safe from Covid-19.  Currently, we are keeping our showroom and warehouse are open by appointment — one person/couple at a time.  Our doing so will allow us to clean and disinfect after one client leaves and before the next client arrives.  Please call or text us at 518-227-0156, or email us at [email protected] to schedule your appointment.   Ideally, before you come in, we can discuss your project and I will have some options waiting for you at your arrival.

October 24th, 2019

Floating Porcelain Tile Floors 2.0?

Posted in Bathrooms, Bedrooms, Commercial Spaces, Family Rooms, General, Installation, Kitchens, LVT, Tile

One more time?  In February 2012 we wrote about ‘click’ together porcelain tile that did not need to be set in mortar to the subfloor (floating porcelain tile floor). We weren’t fans at that time because it was difficult to snap the pieces together tightly.  Fast-forward seven years and Dal Tile has re-introduced ‘click’ together porcelain tile with a much more promising result.  This next generation click-together porcelain tile is intended as an alternative to conventionally installed porcelain tile and LVT (luxury vinyl tile).  Some advantages and benefits of click together porcelain tile are listed below:

• No mortar required
• No wet saw required
• Score and snap into place
• Consistent alignment with no lippage
• No spacers required (automatically spaced to 1/8″)
• One-step flexible grout (Bostik TruColor recommended – never needs to be sealed!)
• No special tools required
• Easy removal for repair or updating
• Subfloor movement won’t telegraph
• Greater breaking strength and impact resistance
• No additional time required for curing
• Install and grout in the same day – no return trip required
• We have samples in the showroom to look at, play with, and borrow.

October 9th, 2019

The Colors of 2020

Posted in Back Splash, Bathrooms, Bedrooms, Carpet, Commercial Spaces, Family Rooms, General, Kitchens, Mosaics, Rugs, Stone, Tile

It’s that time of year again when the color forecasts are revealed for the coming year.  The paint manufacturers usually lead the way.  Sherwin Williams recently annouced that ‘Naval’ (navy blue) is its color of the year for 2020. 

You see ‘Naval’ paired with carrara marble (white with gray veining) and brass fixtures and accessories in interior design print publications and on on-line platforms.  Color, but not really . . . grounded and calming . . . Benjamin Moore, Pittsburgh, and Behr will all weigh in soon, but the Pantone Color Institute’s color of the year is the benchmark.  The tile world has nodded to blues and navy blues in the last two years so Sherwin Williams choice is not really a surprise.  So let’s wait and see what the coming weeks and months will bring for the new colors in our lives for 2020.

May 1st, 2019

Color is creeping back?

Posted in General

More from my Coverings ’19 visit . . . In addition to very large tiles that are practically indistinguishable from natural stone, another trend I noticed was the introduction of more color and organic patterning in both wall and floor tile. By color, I mean mostly blues and greens. It was refreshing to see because the tile world has been so neutral (grays and beiges) for so long. See some of my colorful show favorties below . . .

April 11th, 2019

Yes, this is porcelain tile

Posted in General

What a day! Yesterday I attended Coverings ’19 in Orlando, Florida. Coverings is one of the world’s largest and most extensive annual tile and stone exhibitions. So, what are some of the latest trends in tile?

Big, bigger . . . Porcelain tile is getting really big – think 48″x48″ and much, much larger. Some tiles are so large, that they can be used as solid surface counter-tops, shower (wall) surrounds, and even cladding for walls.

And, in some instances, these very large pieces of porcelain tile are ‘book-matched’ making them look even more realistic.

More tile trends from Coverings ’19 to talk about so stay tuned . . .