Design Trends and Ideas

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 sales@albanytile.com 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.

May 14th, 2018

LVT in Your Shed?

Posted in General, LVT

It can be done! When installing luxury vinyl tile (“LVT”) in a three-season room or a shed, you will want to make sure you choose a waterproof product as Stainmaster PetProtect LVF. You should generally be able to use the glueless version of the product, although you may wish to include glue down any part of the floor that is in direct sunlight. The optimal temperature range for LVT is generally between 50°F and 100°F. If you are worried that the room temperature will get outside of this range, you will want: to install the LVT so as to leave an open buffer at the base of each wall and to sectionalize the LVT so that no one section exceeds 500 SF. The shed shown below measured just under 200 SF.

February 9th, 2017

Future Interior Designers Come to Visit

Posted in Back Splash, Bathrooms, Carpet, Commercial Spaces, General, Kitchens, LVT, Mosaics, Rugs, Stone, Tile

Earlier this week, our own in-house designer, Sarah Carpenter, ASID gave Sage College Interior Design students hands-on experience with some of the tile, stone and wool carpet that they one day will specify. If you know of a group that would be interested in a similar presentation, give us a call.

November 21st, 2016

And the color of the year is?

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

The answer is, it depends on who you ask . . . The paint manufacturers have stepped-up first . . . Sherwin Williams announced ‘Poised Taupe’ (SW6039) as its 2017 color of the year a few weeks ago. PPG recently announced ‘Violet Verbena’ (1169-5) as its color of the year, and Benjamin Moore followed up with ‘Shadow’ (2117-30) as its color of the year for 2017 – all are much more colorful deviations from last year’s ‘Alabaster’ (SW7008) and ‘Simply White’ (2143-70).

Pantone is the ultimate color authority – its color of the year announcement is not due for another few weeks so we’ll wait . . . I’m betting on a shade of blue . . .

August 23rd, 2016

Out on a Color Limb

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

Looking forward to the announcement of the new color(s) of the year for 2017 . . . Will we see the same neutral shades and the lack of color commitment from the color gurus or will they venture out on a color limb and choose a real color? I think that we will see some shade of blue in the color mix . . . Blue is really a neutral, too . . . Think of your ‘blue’ jeans – you can wear any color with them – dress them up or dress them down . . . Has gray run its course? We will know in a few short weeks . . . What do you think? I would be interested to hear your color thoughts . . .

October 21st, 2015

Looking for Color

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

Color forecasts for the coming year will be released soon. At ATCR, we are yearning for some real color, somewhere. The photo below shows the latest rendition of our ‘gallery’ wall as you enter our showroom. You can see that this cross section of our tile and stone selection is very neutral – white, cream, beige, and gray. It makes sense when you think about the permanence of a tile installation – you want to make sure it works in your space for many years to come. The same is true of our carpet selection with slightly more color range; rugs tend to have more color still, but those, too, tend to be fairly neutral now. Benjamin Moore recently released its ‘Color of the Year’ for 2016 – ‘Simply White.’ Initially, we were disappointed with this safe, noncommittal, neutral choice. But upon further consideration, it makes sense given the absence of color in so many other interior finishes. ‘Simply White’ is certainly versatile as it can be used with both warm and cool color palettes leaving the opportunity to accent and accessorize with almost any color. We will have to wait to see what the Pantone Color Institute has in store later this year when it announces its color of the year . . .

August 12th, 2015

A New Shape for the Tile World – Pentagons?

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

We love pattern, symmetry, and balance in design finishes. Whether it’s fabric, flooring or wall finishes, there are plenty of ways to successfully use pattern in your space. Our showroom is full of patterns and their building blocks. But, here is a new one for us: pentagons! Take a look at “A New Way to Tile Your Floor (Using Pentagons).” We won’t bore you with geometric details of the pentagon floor pattern, but it works if you notice that the ’tiles’ are the same shape and mirror imagess of each other. Will this tile pattern be the next geometric design trend? If the tile installers have a say, we bet not ….

Check out some interesting patterns:

May 21st, 2015

The Color Tide is Turning

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

This year is proving to be a transitional one for color. Thank goodness! We are finally seeing warmer colors creep into what has been a very cool white and gray world.

Carrara marble — white marble with cool gray veining — that has been the foundation for many kitchen and bath projects, is still very popular. Recently, however, warmer grays, beiges, and cream tones have been playing a larger role in the projects we have been working on. Blues, especially navy blue, have been used with both gray and beige/cream tones in ceramic wall tiles, carpet and area rugs.

Below are several photographs that illustrate the cool-and-warm-tone combinations gaining favor:

March 4th, 2015

The Color of the Dress & Your Interior Selections

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

Okay, by now we’ve all heard about the color of ‘the dress.’ Do you see blue and black, or gold and white? We’ve read the scientific explanation about the why our brains interpret and our eyes see ‘the dress’ in different colors, but what no one is talking about is the fact that the image of ‘the dress’ is a photograph viewed on computer monitors and cell phones. The story of the ‘dress’ and its color has something to teach us about interior finishes and selections: you should NOT rely on the colors shown on your computer monitor to choose finishes for your home. Similarly, you should NOT rely on the colors shown in a photograph on your cell phone to choose finishes for your home. Clients use their phone cameras every day in our showroom. They snap photos for different reasons, e.g., to document a room selection, or not to forget the perfect tile, stone, or rug. What’s troubling is the use of these photos to choose and coordinate materials for a space. Please don’t choose your kitchen floor tile based on your phone photograph of your granite counter-top and/or cabinets – get a real sample. Please don’t choose the carpet for your bedroom based on a phone photograph of your douvet cover fabric – get a real sample. Take a real sample of tile, stone, carpet, or wood from our showroom. Take it to your space and look at it at different times of the day . . . If you rely on the photograph on your phone to make these important choices, you may unpleasantly surprised and sorry that you did.