Paintings, floors and chaos

I gave you a sneak peek at this a week or so ago. It is a 70 x 50 inch canvas that I did for the CR Laine showrooms during High Point Market 2016. I actually did quite a few special pieces for them.

I was given fabrics to coordinate with and free reign when it came to my ideas. It was a joy and also challenging but the two go hand-in-hand to me.

You can see a selection of my work for CR Laine on this page of my website or better yet, come to market!

Whilst this was going on my studio, that is still in my home, major tile work has been underway.

My dear husband did tile work right out of college with his brother in-law. They were meticulous. Lucky me.

Our house had 100% builder grade and ugly finishes. Last year I got new quartz counters in my kitchen and my tile guy installed the backsplash.

The floor was was much debated and the quicker solution than hardwood throughout was chosen to facilitate the move to Charleston.

Take a gander of the floors I lived with for 5 years.

It was always ugly but recently began to delaminate.

Our goal is to upgrade at a reasonable cost. Many of my choices would have been different were we staying but I was not willing to compromise on style and harmony. We are going for ROI not cookie cutter suburbia, yet cost was a consideration.

Welcome lovely new tile!

This warm gray tile paired well with the counters and the warm, mahogany colored cabinets. It also works beautifully with the Sherwin-Williams Repose Gray on the walls.

At less than $2 per square foot, it is a deal my husband, spent 9 days on the floor at a cost of about $700 in materials.

We love it!

It was not pretty process. Our fridge had to live in the foyer, and my large paintings were leaned wherever I could find a spot. The pantry was emptied onto the dining room floor and our kitchen table was in front of the TV. Oh and my kids in college came home for Spring break. In case the level of chaos is not apparent...

As I write this, my dear husband has finished a 13 hour day of tile work in our master bath (a blog post all its own just for the sheer crazy factor) Today was day 8 on said bath and tomorrow appears to be another 12-13 hours of backbreaking work for him.

Master bath goodness coming soon!

Protecting floors

Even though I know it is not the best thing for a good rug or the floor underneath, I put this Persian directly on the floor just inside my front door. I had the idea that a rug pad would be too thick and either make the door hit it or a tripping hazard.

Years ago, when I was in my first few apartments I bought inexpensive latex pads and by the time I moved my floor looked like this. The material sort of melts a bit and is like hardened chewing gum. I knew I did not want to make that mistake again.

 Last year I bought this "as seen on TV" product to prevent slipping and the result is laughable.

I got a superior-lock low profile pad from RugPadUSA.com and it fixed the slippage problem without being too thick it is made from felt and 100% natural rubber.

 

I was surprised to see the variety of rug pads available. Everything from super cushy to a thin natural rubber non-skid pad.

Did you know natural rubber is the safest material to use on all floors. While pvc pads“Stick” to floors, natural rubber will“grip” floors. Natural rubber has very low VOC’s and comes directly from
real rubber trees, thus out-gassing and floor staining is never an issue.

RugpadUSA is super affordable but you can get an extra 10% off if you sign up for their email list.

Go here to check it out.

This was a sponsored post but all opinions are my own.

Fool proof floor covering for the indesicsive

Sometimes in decorating, when I am stumped as to what would look best once other choices have been made, I choose the safest, neutral route. Its part laziness, part fear.

The only category that this does not apply to is rugs. While I like a good seagrass floor covering, the ones I gravitate towards are not so much neutral as versatile.

I love Persian rugs because they seemingly go with everything.

They are an obvious choice in a traditional room.

 I have Hamadan like this in my entryway that is very trad.

One of my favorite places to see them is in a kitchen. They are super durable and add a bit of padding for the weary feet of the home chef. I love the way they warm up and soften all of the hard surfaces in a kitchen and in my case, help to hide ugly flooring to a small degree.

Persian rugs look like they belong even in the most modern and contemporary styled rooms.

I have been seeing them lately in nurseries and I love how they keep things from being too sweet but still cozy.

I generally prefer Persian rugs that have an orangey-red as the main color but the wonderful thing about them is the variety of colors in each make it hard to go wrong.

Newly-made versions can be had at almost every home store but if you are a snob, like me and must have the real thing, eBay is a budget friendly choice albeit with risk.

This rug still had a low bid as of Sunday morning.

My tips for buying rugs on eBay are first to only buy from a seller with a very good (99.8-100%) rating and ask lots of question about color and condition.

Take my breath away tile

OK, I sort of unofficially promised not to just grab images from Pinterest as the main subject for a post...but I saw this tile and actually gasped. So one more time, a Pinterest grab.

 

I am especially fond of this shape tile. It reminds me of my early childhood when this stuff was frequently seen and I think my grandmother had a linoleum version (in blue) in her kitchen.

The idea of having a warm, cozy wood version really thrills me. I am too hard on my floors. Not being the super fussy type.. who am I kidding, I totally uptight about my floors but worrying about something like this might put me over the edge.

Do you have a favorite tile?