A Tropical Touch

Our Basket Weave tile has been put to great effect in a Gulf Coast rental beach condo. Originally the living room and kitchen areas were tiled when the owner bought the condo and the bedrooms were carpeted. As you can imagine, in a sandy environment, the carpets were like sand magnets and resulted in numerous rental management charges for ‘carpet cleaning’ .

Now the new Basket Weave tile floors lend a great tropical look to both bedrooms and provide a floor that is much easier to keep clean.

The new Basket Weave tile is sealed with our low-gloss water-based sealant. The first coat was as a grout release and an additional thin coat was added after grouting.

Delightful Video Series

We are enchanted by Sonia Gill and producer Mariana Hellmund’s video series about Sonia’s Travels. Even tho we only get a trip out of the USA once or twice a year (usually once), we feel like we have had a mini vacation w/ some exotic inspiration when we watch the latest installment of their short flicks.
Today is the garden behind Notre Dame…who knew ? Sonia of course.

Contemporary Bathroom with “Cuban Tile”

We love it when one of our clients sends us a photo of their installation and we flip out when they send a photo like this one ! Client Franz Goebel used our Surf “Agua” tile and a matching solid color tile in this elegant contemporary bathroom. With the new modern sealants it is possible for the “skiddish” to use cement tiles in the wet areas without a worry. Note how the grout color of the deep aqua tiles was color matched to the tile. We think this enhances the rich look.

Tropical Basketweave Tile

Needing an easy-to-clean floor in a rental beach condo a client used our Basketweave cement tile to replace carpeting  that was needing frequent cleanings.

The living room and kitchen areas were already tiled with a nondescript big box tile which of course was thinner than our cement tile. This is no problem as the creative tile layer picked up some pre-assembled mosaic tile strips at Lowe’s to use to create a threshold between the rooms.  They work beautifully.

We think the Basketweave is a great choice for a beach-y tropical look and we promise to add photos to the blog when the rooms are completed.

New Patchwork Tile Photos

For the longest time we only had graphic images of our popular Patchwork Mix tile. Now that the weather is so perfect, we went to the warehouse and lay out one box of each of the 8 mixed tile boxes. To make a complete rectangle we had to also slip in 2 or 3 extra tiles to finish it out. But now clients can see exactly how the actual Patchwork Cement Tiles will look. See see the finished Patchwork Cement Tile layout here. 

Photos of Antique Mexican Cement Tiles

Antique Mexican cement tiles in a church

We visited Mexico and while there we took snapshots of shop and office cement tile floors as we strolled around. Amazing cement tiles were everywhere. Often times the office personal or shop keepers would invite us in for better photos. Everyone was proud of their historic tiles…well, not everyone. Some shops had covered over their tiles with cheap ‘modern’ flooring, which usually was not holding up nearly as well as the old tiles. Villa Lagoon Tile just added one page of old Mexican tile floors and another is soon to come. 

Antique Mexican tile floor in an office

Ikat Underfoot

The word “ikat” means “to bind.” It is a very ancient way of creating designs in fabric by resist-dyeing the threads before the fabric is woven. The resulting fabric has a soft zig-zag edge where colors change.

Our new Ikat Tiles reflect this popular look in a mix and match set of four patterns.

VLT Exclusive Ikat Cement Tile
VLT Exclusive Ikat Cement Tile

Create an exotic tropical look using our Ikat Tiles wall to wall or visualize a woven rug by combining central pattern tiles with border tiles.

Our In Stock Ikat Cement Tile is coming in black and white , a VERY popular combo, but you can order them in any colors you like.

We will put notice on the website when the in-stock tiles arrive… pre-orders are accepted. Remember that in-stock tile is convenient for quick delivery but costs more than custom orders…warehouse overhead baby !

Ikat tile design A
Ikat Tile A
ikat tile pattern in blue and aqua
Ikat Tile B
cement tile ikat design in chevron pattern ikak, ikat
Ikat Tile C

Great Day for Up !

Cement tile enthusiast Susanna, living in Sevilla has a nice blog about discovering old cement tiles. Her latest post is about looking up at the undersides of balconies in to see the cement tiles which probably cover the top sides of the balconies too. Susanne was in Cocentaina (Province of Alicante) in Spain and took some interesting photos of some very old cement tile while she looked upward.

How fun is this ? To put cement tiles facing outward UNDER your balcony. What a great decorative touch on a home’s exterior. When you think about it, all balconies are just plain fun anyway.

Villa Lagoon Tile for the most and best cement tile.

Creative Layout of Our Cement Tiles

Today one of our clients sent us this in progress cement tile installation going on at her home in Dallas. You know how big things are in Texas, well this home is no exception. The photo shows what we call “Jorge’s Sister’s Layout” named for Jorge’ sis and her Loggia. But actually this type of tile floor pattern is economical since the ratio of 1 color tiles to multiple color pattern tiles is 5 to 4. And single color tiles cost less.

Cement tile breezeway in Dallas, Texas using San Juan and solid color Pecan Pie

 

PaliHotel uses our Hexagonal Tile

pali-melrose-dining

A boutique hotel captures the essence of its iconic location while reflecting the sensibility of a chic urban European inn. The PaliGroup contacted us about custom hexagonal tiles for the new hotel venture, PaliHotel on Melrose in Los Angeles, a former 1960’s senior living residence-turned-hostel and includes  massages. We are happy to say that the whole project including our tiles has attracted a lot of publicity.

Solid hex ement tile at Pali Hotel, Los Angeles.

Solid hex ement tile at Pali Hotel, Los Angeles.