Searching For “The One” - Finding The Perfect Backsplash For Your Project Is Easier Than You Think10/26/2020  Moving along in the quest for the perfect backslash tile for you, the good news is this: Your job still hasn’t changed. ALL you should have to do is truly lean into what tile tugs at your heartstrings when you see it. You don’t have to explain it. You don’t have to overthink it... For the love, PLEASE don’t overthink the thing... There can’t be two of us, right? Just... Do you love it? You don’t have to explain it... Just love. So now that you’ve done your fun work, you’re moving on up from JV to Varsity just like that, because you, my friend, are tile-showroom-ready. Not a bad idea to snag an appointment if you can for one-on-one attention... And make sure you have your cabinet door and your countertop sample on the draw. And if you don’t feel prepared, no worries at all - expect greatness. Because here’s what you can expect... If you don’t have a cabinet door, they usually will have a collection and you can choose the one that closest resembles yours. Or, if you don’t have a countertop sample, again they should have a plethora to choose from that you’re bound to recognize as your own. Super tough: Bringing the full design showroom to your home. So instead, please bring what you can of your space to the showroom. But, here’s the real difference maker when it’s not an in-home consultation... Photos, lot’s and lots of photos. Not just photos of what you love, but photos of your space and the design elements that are already in place. Paint color, lighting, window treatments, hardware, and especially your flooring... these ALL play a pertinent part in choosing your backslash tile. Make sure you take an overall photo of the entire space so that we can see perspective, proportion and ratio. Those are the things I consider above all else in your overall design that you should never have to worry your cute head-of-hair about. That’s my job, not yours...you... just love. Okay... Ready? Let’s meet the designer at that one-on-one and start out by telling him or her your “super” once you get there. Tell him or her you’re super excited... or super nervous... or super worried about... Give it all - drop it at the design table - they can take it. Drop your “super” ... AND your SUPER love. I super love this backsplash... and I super love this whole bathroom... AND I super love this tile... come on... this is what design-LOVE is. We can take it. We want all of it. The pictures. The loves... The highs and the lows. We will counsel you up some backsplash ideas based on all of this, and walk them all vulnerable to your design table. Trust the system, and again... your only job... to simply tell us what you love. As your designer, we will hold up your countertop sample and your cabinet door, and snuggle that backsplash tile right in between just to see the look on your face, for fun. We will try different tiles and get at why one works and one doesn’t and tweak things as we go. My favorite expression: I’m not stopping here until you are jumping up and down over your backsplash tile - flat not stopping. And you can jump inside but it had better be written on your face... cuz I’m not stopping. Fun. It is. Now, if you have the time, take the top two or three contenders and order up a sample of each one. You’ll want to see that what looks great in the showroom, still looks great at home. Great with your installed cabinets and countertops. Great in the daylight and great on an overcast day. Great in natural light, great in artificial light. Live with those tiles enough and one will certainly start to jump out at you and set itself apart from all of the rest. You’ll come to know it in your very knower... that tile right there... He’s “The One”. Yep - We have a keeper. I think you just found your tile. Oh, and a note from experience? This advice is free, which means either run, or else it’s really, extra good: Every great once and awhile I would get the not-so-thrilled customer that wasn’t so sure of their decision, and can I tell y’all, when it’s up and grouted on the wall, those words are extra- heartbreaking. So, I dug around enough to find the one thing in common among them and it was simply this: They took a vote on their tile. They tossed out all of the research and the leg-work, and the heart-work that we had done and went for the tile that got the popular vote of others, and there they sat. Staring at it. Daily. Grouted to their very wall of regret. The neighbor’s choice or Instagram liked-the-most, staring back at them, in tile form... Don’t do this. No popular votes where you live with the results. This is your home, and your project, and truly needs to have your own heartbeat in it. The End. That’s about all I’ll be saying about that. Now, do you see how easy it is to actually choose the perfect backsplash for your space?
Isn’t it funny how it isn’t something that you just blindly pick or choose, but that it’s a process that evolves that eventually produces “the one” absolutely perfect tile? It’s a thing, “the one”, when it comes to the perfect tile in your life for the long haul. That’s never a commitment you’d want to take lightly. But lucky for you and I? We’ve got this.
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 So look, I knew that some of you might need some help with the kiddos while you get your "funwork" going, so I thought we’d put them up to some fun of their own.
It seems that a number of you also have “grands” in your care to entertain while their parents are working from home as well. Well, I’ve got great news for you... It so turns out that slab countertop you have is the perfect rolling board for dough. There is nothing, nothing, NOTHING like cold, slab granite or quartz countertops to roll out dough and pastries just perfectly. So this fresh in: Something FUN for your kiddos or grandchildren while we all lovingly shelter-in-place. And no worries if you don’t have slab; possibly tile: Rolling dough on a pastry cloth or cookie sheet can still do just the trick. Gingerbread Salt Dough Refrigerator Magnets
Makes about 15-20 inedible refrigerator ornaments
1 cup flour 1/2 cup salt 1/2 cup water 4-6 Tablespoons cinnamon - depending on how dark you want the dough You Will Also Need: Available From Any Craft Store Hot Glue Gun - For Adult Use Only Medium Size Magnets White Paint Puff Pens Glitter - (of course) Clear-Coat Spray Sealer Preheat the oven to 225 Degrees Fahrenheit
Mix the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Knead the dough a few times on your lightly floured surface to ensure it smoothens into dough. Add more flour if the dough is too sticky and more cinnamon if you want things more brown. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick, keeping in mind the ornaments will NOT rise like a cookie, but will remain this same height. Have the children use cookie cutters or hand shape their magnet ornaments. Keep in mind the thicker they are, the longer to dry out in the oven. Place them on a cookie sheet and let them bake anywhere from 2-3 hours until they are dried out; not showing moisture spots. Let them cool completely before decorating. Once the ornaments are cool and decorated you can opt to stay them with a clear matte sealer and let that dry according to their directions. The final step is adding the magnets to the back side with a hot glue gun, and voila - You’ve got something to display proudly, or gift to family easily, that truly makes the full house smell good. See what I told you about you and I? We’ve got this. P.S. ASD would love to see what you and yours created. Feel free to post a picture in the comments and make sure to #asdkidsmakingart  "The cabinets and counters are in place, and my contractor told me I needed to pick out and purchase my backsplash... today."
You know I wanted to say it, Today, TODAY? As in, right loving NOW? Praise the Lord, in as many times as I heard this sentence as a designer, I didn’t. In the name of customer service, we sing praises that these words came out instead... “Don’t you worry, cute-self. I’l carry your quartz sample, you bring the cabinet door and we’re going to show the world that this is a piece of cake.” Not everybody has the largest tile showroom in the Pacific Northwest in their living room.
I knew you were going to say that – So here’s the deal. If you’ve got time, unlike that chic up there, make sure you start pinning your little heart out. Jump on Houzz, jump on Pinterest and if you see something that you love, don’t question why or how, or even expense, save that bitty in a file of favorites. Love! Love, love... Pin, pin, pinning.... See? Easy peasy. Okay now, back to the poor chic that didn’t have time.
She still did the right lovely thing. She went to a tile design house and asked somebody that works there for help, and here’s why that’s super smart. As a tile-house designer, I worked with those tiles 40 hours a week. An independent designer that averages 2 projects per month, lives there about eight hours a month. Easy math – 160 hours versus 8... One is much bigger, eh? Because here’s the bigger deal. Tile house designers know their tile like they know their own children. I often coined that phrase that when a tile board was missing, good gawd, everybody, stop the world....we HAVE a missing child here... So, when you walk those pictures you’ve been pinning and saving into that tile house, he or she should be able to walk your cute self right over to that exact tile or one that is similar. And - if all praises you have a vendor and style name of a tile, they can usually gain access to it by special order from a vendor for you. I mean, seriously, how cool is THAT. Whoops, you forgot budget, sweet girl behind the screen.
I knew it in my very knower that you were going to say that. Here, I’ll put you at ease again. That designer that knows her tile like their children? They know which ones are naughty and which ones are nice, I promise. So trust them that they can design “champagne taste” on a beer-budget. I know this, because I loved the challenge of it - so let them do their thing. Okay, so you’ve got funwork to do here. (See what I did there? Homework?... Funwork? – Brilliant) Your funwork in the next couple days is to jump on Houzz and Pinterest and start collecting images of the countertops, quartz, or granite that are similar to yours with backsplash tiles that you absolutely love. Because it’s hard to believe, but the only job you have here is to pick out things that you cannot, cannot get enough of. That’s it. ASD can do the rest. For reals. So come back on Friday, and have your coffee with me, or just take a moment of pause and read. I promise you story, I promise you laughter, and I promise you we will design like the boss. Because you and I? We’ve got this. |
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5 Surefire Ways to Know Your Bathroom & Kitchen Remodeling Contractors are Right For You
Take the overwhelm out of picking your next countertop slabs & tile contractor. Download this short guide and discover:
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Showroom & Fabrication Studio
275 Beavercreek Rd, B132
Oregon City, OR 97045
Portland / Vancouver 503-804-8820
Seattle / Tacoma 206-605-1130
Oregon City, OR 97045
Portland / Vancouver 503-804-8820
Seattle / Tacoma 206-605-1130
ASD Serves Portland, Lake Oswego, West Linn, Tigard, Oregon City, Beaverton, Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland & Issaquah
Licensed & Bonded OR:172874 WA:ARTISSD858OA
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