Floor Talk!

 Glass Tile - one of the hottest trends in tile for artistic and creative expression. It’s design capabilities are endless and can bring unique personalization to your tile project. If you are not familiar with the types, sizes and applications, read on.

Glass Tile can be sold by the piece, sheet or square foot. Be careful when pricing to know if the price is by the piece or by the square foot. Finishes are typically either gloss or matte and are sometimes etched. Because there are so many handmade products, there are endless options of sizes, shapes and designs. (more…)

One simple floor design technique that can really add life and punch to your room, while remaining a classic layout is adding “dots”;. This can be simple or very detailed. Another name for this installation technique is called “clipped corners”;. This installation technique can be particularly effective when the style and design in the rest of the room is quiet, simple or without a lot of other patterns.

There are many different ways you can add these dots.

• Tiles laid on the diagonal with dots in the intersection of each tile.

• Tiles laid on the diagonal with dots in the intersection of every other alternating tile.

• Tiles laid out with dots with the addition of a border around the perimeter of the room.

• Field tile that is laid straight. In a clearly defined area, most likely the center of a room, laid out with a border that created an area rug. The center of this area rug can be laid on the diagonal with dots in each intersection or every other intersection.

There are many different tile sizes that can be used for dots as well as ways to achieve “dots”

• 1×1 tiles (works best with tiles at least4×4)

• 2×2 tiles (works best with tiles at least 6×6)

• 3×3 tiles (works best with tiles at least 6×6)

• 4×4 tiles (works best with tiles at least 12×12)

• 6×6 tiles (works best with tiles at least 12×12)

• Mosaics that can create custom sizes or standard sizes like 3×3, 4×4 or 6×6

• 12×12 natural stone pieces cut down into custom sizes or standard sizes like 3×3, 4×4 or 6×6

Areas in your home that “dots” can be used:

• Complete floors

• Accents in floors

• Showers

• Tub Surrounds

• Backsplashes

• Accent areas in backsplashes such as behind the stove or sink

• Wainscoting

Color combinations that are attractive uses for dots or clipped corners:

• Solid color field tile and same solid color accent dot

• Solid color field tile and different color accent dot

• Solid color field tile and patterned accent dot

• Field tile with natural stone accent dot

• Light colored field tile with contrasting dark accent dot such as black dot and a white floor or cream floor and dark brown dot

• Darker colored field tile with contrasting light accent dot such as a black floor with a white dot or a dark brown floor like emperador marble with a crema marfil or travertine dot. (shown below)

• Solid floor tiles with decorative accent tiles.

• Accents can be created from natural stone, glass mosaics, glass tiles, metal tiles, ceramic tile, decorative ceramic tile or porcelain tile.

Keep in mind that the installation cost is usually higher due to the amount of work it takes to cut each tile that receives dots. If the dots are created by cutting other tiles, this can increase the labor costs even more. The uniqueness that this pattern provides is well worth the additional labor costs.

For other installation patterns, Happy Floors has a great source on their website. You can enter the size tiles you are working with to ensure the size tile lays out properly with the dot you’ve selected.

A great visual resource for trying these designs out is on the WFCA website’s Virtual Room Designer. Here you can choose different tiles in different room applications.

Happy Designing! Get Creative!

History of Linoleum -

Invented by Fredrick Walton from England, he was responsible for forming the Linoleum Manufacturing Company. Although it was patented in 1860, it didn’t make it to the US until 1869. It was first manufactured in the US by the Joseph Wild Co later called the American Linoleum Company. That company later became the Congoleum Narin Company and finally called the Congoleum Corporation of America.

It began as a great choice for an affordable and long lasting product. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the style was to use linoleum in the high traffic areas such as the hallway with surrounding carpeted areas. In the 20^th century it became more well known as a kitchen floor. It is a popular choice for kitchen floors because of its water resistance, ease of maintenance, softness on the joints and forgiveness on dropped glassware and dishes!

Frederick later found ways to use linoleum on the walls. Called Lincrusta, its heavy, crisply embossed rolls and panels found a place in many middle-class houses both as faux-plaster friezes, insert, and as highly decorative dadoes. Lincrusta is applied very similarly to wallpaper, but needs 2 coats of oil based paint to be properly sealed.

Growing popularity because of its green properties:

Linoleum is a very green product. It is made from natural and raw materials. The main ingredient is linseed oil which is a product of the flax plant. Other ingredients include: wood or cork powder, resins and ground limestone.

How Linoleum is made?

Mineral pigments provide the rich colors. The ingredients are mixed together, then rolled out between two cylinders (a process called “calendaring”) onto a jute backing. The linoleum is then cured in ovens for 14 to 21 days. Some manufacturers bond a high performance coating to the surface to improve the floor’s ability to resist stains and scratches, and to make cleaning easier. The resulting floor is then rolled on cores, ready for installation. Sheet linoleum is available in many thicknesses. 2.5 mm is suitable for residential use. It is sold in a two-meter (or 6′ 7″) width size.

How it’s sold:

Most linoleum is sold as a sheet product. Linoleum tile is available, but it is more prone to warping and curled edges.

Design Options:

The design options for linoleum are endless. That’s one of the advantages of the product. Most of the images above are all vintage patterns. Visit your local floor covering store to see the modern and up to date patterns now available from trusted manufacturers. Keep in mind, that your options are endless as long as your budget permits and your installer is qualified!

For more information on what you need to know about buying vinyl and resilient flooring click here for: product catalog, how it’s made, styles, before you buy, installation, care and glossary.

What exactly is the difference between vinyl, resilient flooring and linoleum?

There are HUGE differences:

Vinyl flooring is a synthetic product made of chlorinated petrochemicals and linoleum is made from raw and natural ingredients!

All vinyl floors are resilient but not all resilient floors are vinyl. However, the most common type of resilient flooring is vinyl. There are two types of vinyl flooring: sheet vinyl and vinyl composition tiles (VCT). (more…)

These shower walls can be found at the breathtaking Kuleto Estate Winery in Napa, California. The detail in this shower is simply amazing. Notice the lighting in the upper rear corner and the unique shower fixtures. Notice, too how well the tile rolls over the front of the shower seat and how gracefully it curves along the walls. The designer of this shower did a fantastic job of designing a shower that looks and feels like the rest of the property. Nothing about the home looks new - it looks like it has evolved over hundreds of years of careful gathering and procurement.

In 1992, this winery was created overlooking Lake Hennessey, Pritchard Hill, Rutherford and St. Helena. This shower sits in the Tuscan Style home named Villa Cucina designed by Pat Kuleto who is also famous for designing some of North America’s most celebrated restaurants. There are so many amazing sites to see at this winery, when you take the winery tour they make you feel like you are part of the Kuleto family and this was all built just for your soul to absorb all of the amazing views.

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