Advice on Fireclay hand painted tile layout
Hi! Doing a renovation of my kitchen and my big splurge is tile. I got this 6"x6" hand painted tile from Fireclay (Roundabout 4 in Gesso motif) and have the option of laying it out either offset or stacked. I am completely torn! Do you have an opinion?
Attached are some photos including some renderings Fireclay did for me with early elevation/CAD drawings of my kitchen, photos of the tile laid out on my floor and a photo of the tile in the stacked pattern from Instagram (unfortunately Fireclay doesn't have any photos of it installed offset to share).
I do like the 'vintage wallpaper' look of it stacked, it is much more refined and will bring the eye upward with my lower 8' ceilings but also think the offset is cool and more of a statement (and given I just spent a small fortune on tile...)
Other details to note: It is a 18'x8' galley kitchen that will have hardwood floors, Shaker cabinetry painted sage green on the bottom and white on top, white quartz countertops, a white farmhouse sink with matte black faucets, black cabinet hardware and white oak open shelving. Range and vent hood will also be a solid black. So sort of a simple, Scandi design that blends the vintage feel of my small, 1924 California bungalow with more modern elements.
Thank you in advance! Let me know if you need any more info and I look forward to you feedback/input/opinions!
Stacked:
Offset:
Comments (32)
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Comments (7)Stacey, Get your center under the hood. Now, with most layouts, of centering a grout joint gives you slivers, you move it over half a tile, and that'll give you bigger pieces. But with a brick joint, it just puts you right back where you started. You CAN center it, move it over, and get better pieces with a brick joint. Instead of moving it over a half tile, move it over a QUARTER tile, instead. What will happen with a brick joint is now the pieces will alternate. Just for the sake of argument, lets say the pieces you have are 2 and 5 inches-- what will happen, is instead of having 2" pieces on both sides of a row, you'll have 2" on one side, and 5" on the other, and the next row will be exactly the opposite, and so on. So the pattern WILL be centered, just in an alternating pattern. Now, before you go forward with this, you want to check and make sure you'll have good cuts in the corners by starting at this point. As for the corner, it depends on what the actual measurement is from countertop to upper cabinets. If you can go full tile up to the bottom of the cabinets, you can use a bullnose on the next wall for your top piece, and bring it over to the "pass thru" at that height, and then drop it down....See MoreGot our first bid for installing Fireclay tile backsplash, and...
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Comments (18)Don’t expect seconds from a seconds company to be able to have small grout lines or be flat enough to do any herringbone. And you are NOT getting a good looking herringbone out of any 12x24 tile anway. The size is too large, and the space is much too small for either herringbone or chevron. And the proportion is too off. It’s too wide compared to length. Herringbone needs a narrower tile. And if you actually do mean chevron and not herringbone, you can forget that. No installer is going to hand cut every tile to a chevron pattern without a HUGE upcharges in labor. HUGE. What uncoupling system is going to be used over that plywood? Have you checked the deflection rating of your joists and floor assembly to be sure that your flooring structure isn’t too flexible? Because you will get cracked tile if you move forward and the floor is not supportive enough. You have some Giant Red Flags here. You need to put the brakes on and talk with some competent Pros ASAP. That would be a Kitchen and Bath Designer, and their fully qualified tile contractor. https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org/homeowners-guide-to-hiring-qualified-tile-installer https://nkba.org/info/why-hire-a-designer [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/10-tests-for-you-and-your-contractors-first-meeting-dsvw-vd~5332686?n=90[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/10-tests-for-you-and-your-contractors-first-meeting-dsvw-vd~5332686?n=90)...See More
10 months agolast modified: 10 months agoOnce the cabinets and counters are in, get Alcolin Quake Putty and stick several tiles up on the wall using both patterns. If you put a pea sized blob of putty on each corner and press firmly, the tiles should stay up for a few hours. Stare at the 2 layout for a few hours and then decide which one you like best!
Testing out tile in my kitchen. Didn't end up using this tile ... sticking it up on the wall with the putty, quickly showed that it was too shiny and caused too much glare with my large windows and polished counters. If I was going to leave the tiles unattended, I placed that bubble wrap you see on the counter right under that section and it did catch a few tiles that slid off overnight. Better not to leave them up overnight!
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