belair

We were at a swim up for quite a while one vacation and fell in love with the tile work (we had plenty of time to look at it). We came home and duplicated it. We bought terra cotta coloured tiles, and light blue and others with a mixture of the colours. Laid them like you would regular tile on pieces of cut wood 12x12 and hung them on our kitchen wall on angles. I also tiled the top of my kitchen table with the same tiles.
While in Mexico we bought 2 very thin blankets with great pale colours and I made them into curtains for our family room and had some extra for a throw. Just some extra ideas for decorating. Its always great to go away to get ideas! Have fun.

Juldie

Hi again - we are close to beginning our renovation. I have been in tile stores and seen beautiful glass tiles in pretty colors. How does glass fit in for a kitchen backsplash - is it Caribbean at all?

escargot

I can't say if they are actually considered the "caribbean style' but I can tell you I love them and are putting them in a new kitchen I am doing -
even if you find they aren't exact caribbean decor, I think they would blend in fine - what i like about them is the way they reflect the light a bit, and the lighter shades almost look "watery" - but personally I also have no trouble being a bit eclectic and mixing and matching a few styles while still trying to maintain one type of look, like caribbean - the glass tiles have amazing colors available - if you like them, I would use them - but that's me.

Wednesday

...what I remember is whitewashed, distressed wood trim, bordering bright colors inside and outside...common welcoming symbols like pineapples you see alot also...you can add to the Caribbean theme with your salt & pepper shakers, maybe laminate maps as placemats, napkin fabric patterns, napkin rings, flowers, etc. I think bright, fruity, welcoming, fresh...

Juldie

escargot: I am definitely eclectic and am working hard to make sure all the color tones and textures flow and work together nicely and overall contribute to the feel of the house. I am looking at the way the different elements reflect light. I like the glass tiles alot. I have heard people are using sheets of glass as well. What color glass tile are you doing? What size? Are you mixing it with any other kind of tile? Does it concern you about the resale of your house that glass tiles are so unique as opposed to tumbled stone?

escargot

Juldie: I am using a glass tile for my backsplash in a light/almost celery green type color - but w/ the way the light works off of it, depending on lighting, it can appear a bit darker or lighter, but has that depth that glass tiles offer. I am also putting lighting (and my electrical outlets) on the underside of the cabinets so they are not cut into the glass so there is no interruption in the backsplash at all.

I am using glass tiles in a rectangular shape, basically lilke the shape of bricks, if that makes sense.

No, I am not mixing it with other tiles - in my current kitchen I have white tiles with a pattern intermittently of some pale hand painted vegetables which I had an artist I know do for me - I love them and have lived with for over 17 yrs - (this kitchen I am doing now is for a second home) - but I prefer the look of uninterrupted wiith glass tiles for a few reasons:

this is a second home, which we may or may not keep for long, kind of seeing how we like the area for the future in a few years when it will be time for us to downsize from the larger family home.

So my theory here on resale is that cleaner, simpler lines are better for the major points of the kitchen, as the new owner could do what they want with accessories, but likely live with my kitchen choices and not have to change immediately if they didn't want to -

My other theory on kitchens and baths is this - if you are going to live there for awhile do what you want to live with and will enjoy - people will chang it or not - but I do have a tendency, even in our current home to do the basics simply (cabinets, countertops, floor, backsplash, and zing it up with my decor choices for my knobs/hardware, accessories, rug, artwork, window treatments, seat cushion patterns, etc - which not only could someone else change, but I can make some changes to seasonally by switching a few things or after a few years if I tire of it without breaking the bank.

My personal feeling is when people are house hunting they do pay attention to kitchens and baths, but not only for the design, but b/c if it is updated and well cared for it says to the buyer something about the house in general on the lines of "I am a house well taken care of" -

Over the years I have not used tumbled stone myself or some marbles/granite on countertops for a few reasons, I feel there are similar looking tile products that may not be as "current" but are sturdy, non porous,not as "cold" even to the touch (I don't like leaning on a granite counter, it hurts my elbows more than say corian! ) easy to maintain and can give the feel of tumbled stone without worrying about how I clean it or the porous factor in getting out stains ( spilled nail polish in the bathroom or a crangrape juice stain is so easy to remove from corian vs. some of the others) -
plus I can have my corian lightly re-sanded every five yrs or so for little money and all minor scratches disappear, any nicks can easily be filled, etc

As you can see, I like the "spray with a non-ammonia glass cleaner and wipe with a paper towel" routine !! I try to avoid anything that means only using certain products or having to think about how I clean something - b/c I am a bit picky about my housekeeping but want it to take zero time away from anything else !

Hope this answers some of your questions - decorating can be so overwhelming at times but so much fun !

escargot

oh, another thought for you - I don't know what color you have decided on painting your walls (I am a no wallpaper house, only decorative glazes/paints - but depending on your color scheme, I have done my kitchen and dining room ceilings (which I never do a ceiling white paint, I always have them drop a slight tint of either the color of the walls into it and perhaps a bit of glaze so the ceiling isn't pure solid and it can hide a multitude of marks/waves/bumps in a ceiling if it isn't perfectly built -

a very very palest of blues looks marvelous on a ceiling - give the room some lift and a nice soft almost glow in evening light - and it isn't as if you walk into the room and say 'oh my, a blue ceiling' - it 's just such a hint of color and actually makes the ceiling appear higher, not lower. If you havne't thought of something other than white for a ceiling, you might want to play with this idea

the only glass backsplashes I have personally seen actually completed in a kitchen are two of my friends one who just did a light buttery color and the ohter a blue and both look fabulous - they don't jump out at you but give such a soft color tone to the room without being too bold.

Juldie

escargot:
You have been so helpful to me. Thanks for taking the time to write. I just came back from a tile store. I looked at glass and also really like Jerusalem Stone. It is so expensive ($35/sq.ft) I am still trying to determine if I want all one tile or want to do something different behind the range.

I haven't decided on the color of the walls - I need to wait til everything else is picked out. I love your idea with the hint of blue and glaze for the ceiling. I would need to be real careful that it is just a hint. Do you do that even if it isn't a blue room?

escargot

I have done the 'hint of blue' and I mean a drop into the white, if you do it yourself or have someone do it, just add a drop or so at a time and test it out so you just have the pale tint you want - I ahve done it in rooms where the walls are creams, blues, gray/greens but nothing that would fight it - in a room that is sage green, I've had them drop a bit of the same color into the ceiling pant, so I end up with just a 'hint' of the wall color in the ceiling - sometimes I do the same for the trim sometimes not. In a blue room I have done a few drops of blue and grey in paint - i play around with it.

I don't think I'd like it in a gold or red room (in a room I have done in browns on teh bottom and deep tuscan gold color on top, the ceiling is a mottled beige - in two rooms I have left the ceilings white, but not a pure white, and those rooms one has a deep red walls and the other hunter green,
b/c to me even a hint of blue would fight with those rooms!

it's a fun color game to play !

I like something different just behind the range - sometimes a tile display like a basket of fruit, or scattered decorative accent tiles - you can make it a real focal point if that is what you want to do - I also like the stainless look w/ shelving for tools/etc or the now showing everywhere faucet so you can easily fill your pans with water !! so many choices, dpends on how you cook, and what look you want.

I have a hard time putting too much money into a backsplash tile because, and this is just a personal choice, I'd rather put the money into the appliances, cabinets, countertop and flooring... and have the backsplash an accent and one that I can showcase bowls, accessories, etc in front of and let them be the eye catcher, b/c that is me, like I said, I like to have the flexibility of changing the look of a room by changing just a few accessories or seasonal things.