This past week I had the fortunate pleasure of visiting Colorado to meet with one of our newest customers, Decorative Materials. With showrooms in Denver, Edwards (outside of Vail), and Basalt (outside of Aspen), this family owned company covers almost the entire state. 

Each of the 3 showrooms are prime examples of beautiful tile showrooms. Featuring over 200 vignettes, it is clear that Decorative Materials cares not only about inspiring its customers but also in showcasing each of the tile lines it represents in truly a unique fashion. During my time in Basalt I had the pleasure of meeting Margot Hampleman, the founder and owner of Decorative Materials. She told me that she started her company as a small 10x10 store in the Denver Design Center over 20 years ago. My how times have changed, and today Margot oversees a staff of over 10 across 3 locations and services high-end residential and commercial customers all across the state and beyond. Stories of tile entreprenuership like Margot's are the ones we love to hear!

Decorative Materials is one of Fireclay's newest customers, and they will be initially showcasing our Debris Series Recycled Tile and Crush 100% Recycled Glass tile in each of their locations. Each and every person at Decorative Materials is extremely nice and knows tile very well. A visit to any of their showrooms is sure to inspire each of you!

We kicked off our Bi-Annual 50% off Boneyard Sale on Friday February 24th. We had some very special guests and eager shoppers visit us from Whole Foods Market.

We received a very sweet account of their experience working with Team Fireclay, and how they plan on using the tile that they purchased from the Boneyard Sale in a new Whole Foods Market in Davis, California. This is a great example of being budget conscious without sacrificing quality and overall aesthetic of a project.

"My design team and I had so much fun at the Boneyard 50% off sale. We wanted to be the first people at the sale, and in fact, got there before it started. Everyone was incredibly helpful in answering our questions. We were working hard to reduce some of our costs without reducing our aesthetic taste. For our upcoming store in Davis, we have to be creative on our materials due to budget costs.

We had some idea of what was in the Boneyard prior, but most of our design work was at 9am, in the actual Boneyard, figuring out linear footages needed. We were of course attracted to glass tile, which we bought almost all of, and figured out that all the sizes were components of each tother. For some large square foot areas, we found small quantities of amazing colors, which we figured out ways to stretch by creating wainscots and mixing.

The real work will happen now in figuring out what we need in addition to what we bought, which we think will only be about 20 square feet."

Thanks!

Gabrielle Rosi
Senior Design Coordinator
Whole Foods Market - Northern California

We'll be wrapping up our 50% off Boneyard Sale on Saturday, March 10, 2012. There is still plenty of great looking 1st quality tile to choose from. We have everything from our Crush 100% Recycled Glass Tile, Debris Series, Vitrail, Hand Painted Cuerda Seca and Hand Made Mexican Saltillos in stock.

5% of all Boneyard Sales are up for grabs between four Charities, CORA, Kiva, Habitat for Humanity, and the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. Shoppers are encouraged to vote for their favorite charity in the Fireclay Tile Showroom through 3pm on Saturday. The very deserving charity winner will be announced on Monday, March 12, 2012.

Can't make it into the Showroom for the sale, but want Fireclay Tile in your home, office or school? Use our handy dandy Fireclay Tile Dealer Locator, and find the closes showroom carrying Fireclay Tile near you.

In the spirit of St. Valentine's Day, we'd like to share another love letter from a Fireclay Tile fan, to help share the love that folks out there have for Fireclay's gorgeous handmade tiles.

Angela in Portland, Oregon has a massive Crush on her recently remodeled 1906 farmhouse bathroom. Angie worked with one of our talented Ceramicists, Sabrina from our San Jose Showroom, where together they created a bathroom using our Crush 100% Recycled Glass Tile, that Angie's 80 year old self (way in the future) would always adore.

We're delighted to see how beautiful the finished bathroom came out. There is nothing we love more than to share photos of completed projects with our team of ceramicists who see the project along from raw materials, to fired and glazed, to lovingly packing completed tiles up and sending them out into the world.

"When I started renovating my 1906 farmhouse I had one priority - the bathroom had to be beautiful with a soaking size tub. I wanted the rest of the house had to retain the farmhouse feel, but the bathroom had to be my spa.  My daughter and I love to soak away our frustrations--but when we bought our house the one and only bathroom had a small shower tub that even my then seven year-old, couldn't fully submerse in."

"Fast forward six years--to a renovation that made our thirty square foot bathroom, into a one hundred-twenty square foot bathroom, complete with a two sink vanity and 6 foot soaking tub. Finding the right tile was the biggest challenge. I bet I visited every tile store in Portland, Oregon and agonized over colors, materials, finishes and sizes. Eventually my mom shared an invaluable piece of advice with me: "If you are agonizing, it isn't right. Keep looking. When you see it, you will know it."  Then she sent me seventy-two links to tile.  No kidding... SEVENTY-TWO!  I wanted to weep.

Buried in the middle of all that tile, was a link to the Fireclay Tile website. Soon, I understood what my mom had said because as soon as I saw it, I knew.  I loved the Deco tiles, but I couldn't stop thinking about Crush. I played around with both tiles (even tried to mix them at one point), but eventually decided on Crush.  I worked with Sabrina over the phone at the Fireclay San Jose, showroom who sent me some samples and patiently answered my questions.  She even grabbed some samples and sat at her desk helping me identify the correct shade of white to go with the field of blue I had selected, because I had neglected to ask for samples for the accent and was running out of time (thanks Sabrina - it's perfect!)" {Editors Note: Sabrina says, you're welcome, Angie!} 

"I love vivid colors (I'd paint the world orange if I could) so deciding between all the lovely Crush colors Fireclay has to offer was difficult. In the end, lambs ear, wallflower and morning glory, won out over habañero and marigold-out of fear that my 80 year-old self would one day resent me."

"Now I sometimes take side trips into my bathroom just to look at it; it's like having a little spa in my own home.  Sometimes I even lean over and pet the tile because I love everything about it; the color, the texture, the feel.  Thank you Fireclay!"

~Angie Hurley
Portland, Oregon

To achieve this spa retreat look, Angie used:
Fireclay Crush 100% Recycled Glass Tile, gloss finish
Crush 3x6" Field Tile in Wallflower and Lambs Ear
Crush 2" Triangles in Lambs Ear
Crush 1x12" rail in Morning Glory

To locate a Fireclay Tile dealer near you, use our handy dandy Dealer Locator. 

Do you have an installation story you'd like to share with us? Email amanda @ fireclay tile.com with photographs of your Fireclay Tile installation, and your story--we may write a blog about you too!

One of our newest Fireclay Tile Dealers, Q-Tile and Lighting in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida openened it's doors two and a half months ago with ten differnent lines of tile.

Suzy Accola, Owner and Designer, took a few moments to chat with us about her reasons behind choosing to pick up Fireclay Tile.

Owner/Designer, Suzy Accola in the Q-TIle and Lighting Showroom.

FCT: What prompted you to open Q-Tile and Lighting in Santa Rosa Beach?

SA: I moved here four months ago from Wisconsin, and saw a need for quality artisan tile in the area.

FCT: Why do you carry Fireclay?

SA: I love the shapes, colors, and the fact that it's handmade vibrant tile, my clients love the colors available and the fun shapes too. Building Green is a passion of mine, and after becoming a licensed Green Consultant it became even more important for me to choose vendors who not only make an envirnonmentall friendly product, but have sustainable business practices as well.

FCT: What are some of your Fireclay Favorites?

SA: Right now, it's the Paseo shape in turquoise and the larger tiles in the Crush line.

FCT: What is your favorite, or most memorable install?

SA: We LOVE color at Q!  One install was pretty exciting as it was a dining room floor and kitchen floor.  The cabinets were robins egg blue.  We went with 4 colors of 9 inch arabesco floor tile: robins egg  blue, vanilla, light yellow and sage green.  The kitchen transitioned into vanilla and robins egg blue 10 inch square tiles to form a pattern.  There was a BIG moment when we all were scared if the color/pattern combo could be overwhelming.
Luckily for all of us, it turned out to be a beautiful, eclectic and cheerful kitchen/dining room!  In fact, it won a space in the tile company's latest catalogue!  We can't wait to be in Fireclay's!

Having said that, we take our selections seriously, but like to take risks.  So far, they have really paid off!  We absolutely love the color pallet and array of design options we have with Fireclay.

If you are in the Santa Rosa Beach,FL - stop in and say, "Hi" to our firends at Q-Tile!

If you would like to become a Fireclay Tile Dealer, please visit our become a dealer page.

Fireclay Tile has stunning reddish orange selections to add real pop to your next project.

                             Vitrail Series in Tangerine                                                    Debris Series in Coral

        Crush 100% Recycled Glass Tile in Habanero

Our Crush won runner up for Best Surfacing Material!

Special thanks to everyone who showed us some love and voted for us.

To read more about all of the winners and product categories, visit the Readers' Choice: Best Products Results Page

Fireclay Tile was honored to be highlighted in the July 27, 2011 "Workplace of the Day" section of the Wall Street Journal. Basically, the WSJ looks for different types of businesses with the goal of featuring the interior spaces so folks can see what it's like to be in the workplace for a day. Check out what it's like at Fireclay each and every day!