Handmade Tile

Handmade tile, custom-built cabinetry, and a warm herringbone floor come together in a kitchen that celebrates craftsmanship at every turn.

I don't typically take on custom or historic reproduction projects, but when a good friend here in town asked me to recreate the starburst pattern her grandpa designed for her family's kitchen floor in 1955, I was intrigued. The original pattern was made from linoleum squares and was the focal point of the room for 70 years. It was showing its age and needed to be replaced, but Jess wanted to keep the pattern somewhere in the kitchen. It may not be obvious when you look through my catalog of tiles, but I have always had a fondness for the...

This hearth started out fairly plain, and is now a bold, beautiful focal point that fits naturally into this elegant home. I love how the honey glaze haromonizes with the craftsmen style wooden mantel, and the green glaze echos the color in the painting that hangs above. The customers completed this project themslelves, and planned every detail with great care!  A "birds on a branch" triptych sits over the firebox, surrounded by leaf green field tiles and honey border tiles. The sides of the firebox are decorated by a combination of 4x4 inch honey feature tiles and leaf green field...

It makes me so happy when customers name their tile installations, and this one makes me especially happy: the homeowner and her family have started calling the kitchen in their new house “The Purple Rooster” after the hyacinth-colored, handmade rooster tiles that make up their backsplash. They haven’t moved in yet, but I love knowing they’ll soon be greeting each day with “Breakfast at the Purple Rooster” (as well as lunch and dinner!). The space behind the range features fourteen of my handmade rooster tiles in Hyacinth glaze, set among rustic, commercially made field tiles from another supplier. Here is...

This Mississippi kitchen features seven multicolored handmade tile panels, each carefully planned and thoughtfully placed around the kitchen. Each panel is different! The color pattern repeats, but no two are alike. Some feature trees, and all feature animals. I love that the dog and cat are looking at one another from either side of the sink. (Cats are a recurring theme in this kitchen and home, more on that later...) The largest of the panels was originally designed with a few white tiles mixed in, but after seeing them in person, she decided to swap them out with other colors....

This cheerful backsplash was installed by a son for his mother, a zoo docent with a deep love for animals. The project features a collection of animal tiles set among simple white field tiles, creating a bright background that allows the relief designs to stand out. For this installation, I made the animal tiles along with the bullnosed edge pieces that frame the backsplash. The white field tiles have a softly handmade look that blends beautifully with the relief tiles, but they are actually from from Home Depot. The brand is Ivy Hill, and the color is called either Kingston...

A client sent a full-size hand-drawn template so I could check the layout before shipping.

These two rooms are each bonafide masterpieces, so it feels fully appropriate that pictures and videos of them arrived in my inbox with titles attached. I will start by showing you the “Salish Sea” bathroom first (two sinks, three-wall shower), then move on to the “Chuckanut Coast” bathroom (one sink, two-wall shower.)  I'm quite proud of the combined 26 linear feet of decorative border that I made for these two rooms. It was a true collaboration because every inch of the layout was carefully planned by the homeowner, and I was able to work from her map. It felt like...