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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 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
Concerned about disinfecting for Covid-19? Porcelain tile that is grouted with TruColor grout can be cleaned and sanitized with a simple mixture of water and bleach. Just follow the CDC’s mixing guidelines of five tablespoons of bleach in each gallon of water. Alternatively, the EPA has a list (<epa.gov/pesticide-registration/list-n-disinfectants-use-against-cars-cov-2>) of registered household disinfectants that will do the job.
Caveat: natural stone is a completely different material and requires a completely different type of cleaning product and regime – please, please, please do not use bleach on natural stone! We will talk about cleaning and disinfecting natural stone in a future posting.
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.
August 27th, 2018
Learning Every Day
Posted in Bathrooms, Commercial Spaces, Family Rooms, General, Installation, Kitchens, Stone, Tile
You can learn something new every day. I was recently in Denver and visited the oldest Denver hotel still in operation: The Oxford on 17th Street, downtown. I love and appreciate the thoughtfulness, detail, and craftsmanship that went into the 127-year-old hotel. Below is a photograph of The Oxford’s lobby floor. The pattern on the tiled floor is a double pinwheel – the first that I have seen. Back in the day, the craftsmen even used locally-sourced stone . You will need a fairly large space to pull it off, but in the right space, such a double-pinwheel pattern would make a grand statement.
January 4th, 2018
Wool is the best!
Posted in Carpet, Commercial Spaces, General, Rugs
What a transformation! The City Beer Hall, a local gastropub located in what was once the site of the famous Ogdens restaurant in downtown Albany, enlisted us to find appropriate period carpeting for the stairs leading to its second floor. Because the pub is housed in an older building with lots of historical detail, it was important to find carpeting that reflected its classic, traditional vibe. But the carpet also needed to be very durable and easy to clean and maintain. The choice was a patterned, wool carpet. The wool carpet looks great and will perform for many, many years to come!
September 16th, 2017
Begnal Motors’ New Kingston Showroom
Posted in Bathrooms, Commercial Spaces, General, Installation, Tile
This spring and summer, we were proud to be asked to participate in the development of, and provide porcelain tile for, The L.T. Begnal Motor Company’s new Route 28 showroom in Kingston, NY. We worked with Larry Begnal and his sons to create a showroom that, as Larry said, has significantly increased the dealership’s traffic and sales.
Larry Begnal as MC at Grand Opening Party.
Begnal Motor’s Ladies Room with plank-tile, floor tile & elongated-subway, wall tile.
ATCR’s Sally Carpenter with Begnal Motor’s Larry Begnal.
Begnal Motors generously thanks contributing contractors and suppliers.
July 25th, 2017
Adirondack Bath
Posted in Bathrooms, Commercial Spaces, General, Kitchens, Stone, Tile
Wood on shower walls? Not realistically possible, until the advent of wood-look, porcelain tile. Recently, we have worked with several clients who wanted to bring the warm look of wood into their showers. Check out these two photographs of a just-completed, Adirondack bathroom. Note the gorgeous, rustic, white-washed, wood-look, porcelain tile on both the shower walls and ceiling. Also note that our client selected a slate-look, porcelain tile for the bathroom floor. Rustic, coherent, beautiful and low maintenance.