yet more blather
Aug. 31st, 2006 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaeclecticOh, and I totally forgot to tell you all about just-in-time tile purchasing. I think I may have told parts of this, but not sure what parts.
Shopping for tile is interesting, as in the saying about living in interesting times. Most tile showrooms have hours that are weekdays from 7 or 8 AM until 4 PM. I am not sure how you are supposed to shop for tile if you have a job that's not flexible. I guess you are supposed to just hire a contractor and tell them "I like blue" and hope for the best. But being a control freak (and having a flexible job, fortunately), I was determined to pick tile that I really liked.
Sometime last week, I did find tile that I liked at a tile place in San Leandro that Alexis recommended (and which also turned out to be the place that the shower guys use), but the tile was not in stock and would take 3-4 days to arrive once I ordered it. Plus, they had an accent tile that was exquisite, but expensive, and it turned out that it would take at least a week to arrive. Which was daunting when I was hoping to fit this work into a very narrow time window.
So, I kept looking, taking 2-hour lunches twice within a week to visit different places, and finally on Saturday, hit the jackpot: A tile place in Emeryville, carrying tile similar to what I had picked out at the other place -- but cheaper, and in stock at their nearby warehouse! And, blue accent tiles of exactly the kind I had originally imagined! Also in stock!
Which left only the vexing problem of the accent tiles for the wall. My concept was to use solid blue accents in the floor, but get a small number of patterned accent tiles for the wall, with some blue in the pattern, so it will be different yet match the floor. I was thinking maybe talavera tile. I saw some things online that I liked, but was leary of purchasing based on a tiny image, plus the time factor again. I made a couple of trips to the talavera tile store in Berkeley, but just wasn't excited with what I saw there.
As of Tuesday, I had purchased the main floor tile, main wall tile, and the floor accents, but not the wall accents. As of Wednesday, Alexis was starting to lay the floor tile. I had a picture in my head of myself having to tell him "no, I'm sorry, you can't start on the walls yet, I just can't find the right tile!".
But in the nick of time, I came across a web site that turned out to be for a shop in Mountain View -- so I dragged my friend Ddocs along (for yet *another* 2-hour lunch) and drove down. And liked what I saw. And bought a handful of lovely Moroccan tiles with a pattern of blue and aqua on white.
The end.
Shopping for tile is interesting, as in the saying about living in interesting times. Most tile showrooms have hours that are weekdays from 7 or 8 AM until 4 PM. I am not sure how you are supposed to shop for tile if you have a job that's not flexible. I guess you are supposed to just hire a contractor and tell them "I like blue" and hope for the best. But being a control freak (and having a flexible job, fortunately), I was determined to pick tile that I really liked.
Sometime last week, I did find tile that I liked at a tile place in San Leandro that Alexis recommended (and which also turned out to be the place that the shower guys use), but the tile was not in stock and would take 3-4 days to arrive once I ordered it. Plus, they had an accent tile that was exquisite, but expensive, and it turned out that it would take at least a week to arrive. Which was daunting when I was hoping to fit this work into a very narrow time window.
So, I kept looking, taking 2-hour lunches twice within a week to visit different places, and finally on Saturday, hit the jackpot: A tile place in Emeryville, carrying tile similar to what I had picked out at the other place -- but cheaper, and in stock at their nearby warehouse! And, blue accent tiles of exactly the kind I had originally imagined! Also in stock!
Which left only the vexing problem of the accent tiles for the wall. My concept was to use solid blue accents in the floor, but get a small number of patterned accent tiles for the wall, with some blue in the pattern, so it will be different yet match the floor. I was thinking maybe talavera tile. I saw some things online that I liked, but was leary of purchasing based on a tiny image, plus the time factor again. I made a couple of trips to the talavera tile store in Berkeley, but just wasn't excited with what I saw there.
As of Tuesday, I had purchased the main floor tile, main wall tile, and the floor accents, but not the wall accents. As of Wednesday, Alexis was starting to lay the floor tile. I had a picture in my head of myself having to tell him "no, I'm sorry, you can't start on the walls yet, I just can't find the right tile!".
But in the nick of time, I came across a web site that turned out to be for a shop in Mountain View -- so I dragged my friend Ddocs along (for yet *another* 2-hour lunch) and drove down. And liked what I saw. And bought a handful of lovely Moroccan tiles with a pattern of blue and aqua on white.
The end.