I'm heading over there tomorrow morning to order my (yes, crackle) backsplash tile!

I'm not ready to order yet, but I've been playing with their mosaic builder online. It is fun...

sjhockeyfan, what color are you getting? They have so many pretty colors!

Sjhockeyfan, I am green with envy!!! I wish I could see all the lovely colors in person!

crl and sjhockeyfan I'd also love to know what color(s) you are using. We are considering Island Flower and Plankton (in gloss) but we're still early in the process. Not sure if we'll use only one color, a mix of one of those with something else, etc... Backsplashes (and vent hoods) are the hardest part of our kitchen! I didn't know they'd do mock up tile layouts, that's so good to know!

We aren't ready to decide yet as our remodel is a ways out (I am trying to pin down my choices to get a really solid bid from our contractor), but I ordered mica, chalk white, Chardonnay, Aqua and fennel for my samples. The whites are regular tile but the other three colors are crackle. Dh doesn't like the crackle. I like it, but I like a regular non-crackle look just as much and I'd rather not have to seal the tile so we decided against a crackle. I liked all the colors, but dh didn't like the aqua.

I asked what colors without crackle would be closest to the fennel and Chardonnay and the fire clay representative suggested mint and butter cream. She sent me a picture with all four laid out together so I could compare. She offered to send samples of her suggestions and when I asked she said she would also send Atlantic to me.

I am still kind of blown away by how excellent the customer service is! I never expected them to take a picture or offer to send more samples for free--I was just hoping to narrow down the samples I was going to pay for with round two.

We went over there and worked on various possibilities -simple one color brick pattern, various zig-zags with multiple colors and simple with a listello in a different color. Once we got home with pictures, it was quite obvious the zig-zags were too busy for our small space, so we're going with a simple brick design - 2x4 tiles in ultra cream with black patina crackle. So happy to have made what is the (as usual) final aesthetic decision. One problem for us is that the kitchen is part of a lr-dr-kitchen and we haven't decorated the LR yet. We didn't think decorating around a backsplash color would be a good idea, so we went neutral and calm. It looks great with our cabinets. Grout will be "cashmere" color.

sjhockeyfan, that tile is beautiful. Glad you have your decision made! I think we might have to go there and get some help with our design also.

It's such a luxury to be able to do that - I literally live 5 long blocks from the store!

sjhockeyfan, beautiful tile! And hooray for decisions.