Selecting Tile. Read on. You may need this someday.

It seems to me that there is a renewed interest in remodeling kitchens and baths and that makes a lot of sense in this type of an economy.  Most folks figure they have to stay put so why not spruce things up a bit.  An important element in a kitchen and bath design is the selection of tile and one that should be chosen carefully.

I asked Maureen Savage at Village Tile to explain what types of tiles are in the marketplace right now.  She said that in Vermont, natural stones such as granite, marble, slate and travertine are commonly used because of their earthy quality. Another popular choice is glass tiles in a wide range of color, often made of recycled glass. In the manufactured tile category there is porcelain and ceramic tiles.  Ceramic tile is made of clay mixed with various minerals and water, then processed with heat and some are sealed with a glaze.  The glazed ceramics are best used as wall tiles because they would be too slippery for floor applications. Porcelain tile is made of finely ground sand, then processed under pressure and extremely high temperatures resulting in a very dense, glass-like material. Some are ‘through body porcelains’ with the color showing all the way through.  Chips won’t be as obvious and installers can cut the tile to use as bullnose edgeing.

There are so many choices that selecting tiles and creating a design can be a bit daunting.  I find it helpful to bring with me an inspiration piece such as wallpaper, fabric or a photo torn from a shelter magazine.  This is helpful in determining the style and feel of the room.  One trick is to select a tile collection, then use different sizes of it within a room. For example, a larger tile on the floor of a bathroom, a small mosaic for the shower floor, and a medium sized tile as the walls of the shower.  For an upscale look on a budget, use an expensive mosaic tile judiciously as the shower floor and as an accent border in the shower.

Grout has improved greatly with a new epoxy variety that resists mildew and staining.  Previously a sanded grout was used, which is a cement-based grout. Cement absorbs water leading to mildew.  Choosing a grout color needs to be considered as part of the overall design scheme.  You can match the grout color to the predominant tile color or you can contrast the grout with the tiles to create a checkerboard effect. 

A proper installation is the most important aspect to tiling.  A professional tile installer will take time to consider the layout to figure out how all the geometric pieces will fit together.

Maybe this long winter is a good time to do your research, visit tile stores and dream a bit about a beautiful new kitchen or bath.  

What is the spark that begins a career?

My passion for design began in Brooklyn, of all places, while traipsing after my mother’s decorator, a woman named Vinnie, who decorated for Roma Furniture.

It was the 70’s and we were descendants of recent Italian immigrants so you can imagine what the finished look was – velvets in red wine colors, cupids on lamps, and gold everywhere. I distinctly remember the custom made plastic slipcovers that encased the velvet sofas in my, and all of my friends’ living rooms.  The plastic dried out and cracked rather quickly, pinching our legs as we sat down. Someone must have made a fortune on this upholstery oddity and thankfully it was a trend that passed.

One thing that gave me bragging rights with my friends was the wallpaper selected for the kitchen – the very same mustard and avocado green wallpaper that The Partridge Family had in their TV kitchen.  I now know that the 70’s was not the best decade for design but at the time it seemed that a door was open a crack into a very special world.

The other thing that really solidified it for me was my exposure to what lay just over the bridge in ‘The City’.  My schoolteacher mother, who was well traveled for her day, took the four of us kids on outings to every museum and historic house we could reach by public transportation.  She would extol the notion that it was a big, beautiful world out there and to be cultured was a very important task of growing up.  Teddy Roosevelt’s boy hood home particularly stuck in my mind, most likely because of all the dead animals strewn around the brownstone on East 20^th Street off Park Avenue. To this day, I am still a bit iffy on the use of dead animals as decoration.

I have continued the tradition with my own family, dragging my two daughters and husband to every historic house we could reach by a car ride away from our home in Dorset.  The Berkshires holds a wellspring of historic houses. Most memorable is Edith Wharton’s house, ‘The Mount’, in Lenox, MA, which brought her philosophy of design to life as written in the book she co-authored with architect Ogden Codman, Jr. called The Decoration of Houses. Her mansion positively sparkles in the sunlight due to the marble dust she insisted be put in the white exterior paint.  She didn’t just concentrate on the house design but also created elaborate exterior rooms in her gardens, which are accessed by cleverly designed sod covered steps. This home must have been her laboratory to explore her innovative ideas.

If someone asked me how to be a good decorator, my advice would be to live fully, travel often, ask questions and never stop learning.