Fielding foot traffic for her family of four while weathering the elements, and making a stylish impression from the moment one enters the front door, our matte tile is the perfect match for Megan Gilger's fresh and functional mudroom. We caught up with Megan, editor and creator of the lifestyle brand, The Fresh Exchange for her fresh take on her newly created living space. Keep reading for our full interview!
Meet Megan Gilger!
Tile Shown: Pyrite 3x9 // Design + Photos: Megan Gilger
Can you tell us about your mudroom? What were your goals for this high traffic area?
We added our mudroom because when we first built our home, we had a poor misconception that a small wood floored entry would be ideal in 4 seasons in a Northern climate. We always knew we would be adding the garage down the road, but when we were just really struggling with the space after 2 winters and a sandy few summers, we knew we needed to go big on this to truly enjoy our home we planned to live in for a long time.
Once we knew the space would be added, we wanted to make it a really functional space for our family of 4. Having 2 young kids and 2 dogs and living on 10 acres in 4 seasons entails a lot of gear, sand, dirt, snow, mud so we wanted flooring to hold up to all of it from being easy to clean to not being slippery for wet boots. We wanted it mostly to tie in with the rest of the house and feel like it had always been there and was never an addition.
What type of look or aesthetic were you going for?
Just like the rest of our home, we wanted to mix modern with traditional with a touch of Scandinavian style. We kept to warm wood tones like maple with a natural finish, clean lines, and neutral tones with a hint of color to them. We kept things simple and minimal but wanted it to still feel functional and lived in.
How did you come up with your color scheme and design?
The color scheme was off the rest of our home, which focused on inspiration from the landscape around where we live in Northern Michigan. We have Lake Michigan just 20 minutes away and the tones and colors of the landscape identify with the lake itself.
Megan's Fireclay Tile Brick Kitchen:
Brick Shown: White Mountains // Design + Photo: Megan Gilger
Megan's Fireclay Tile Master Bath
Tile shown: Salton Sea 3x9 and Flagstone 6" Hexagons // Design + Photo: Megan Gilger
What made you choose the color Pyrite?
The Pyrite color nearly matched our cabinets in our kitchen and laundry room and the maple fronts matched our maple floors throughout the house. This made for a fun new look while sticking to the scheme of colors and tones in the home so it all felt connected. The color also has this beautiful neutral nature to it where it can go with a lot of things, but the blue/green tones to the gray really add a nice subtle color to a space. I also liked it because the darker color would hide a little bit of dirt. Grays do this well I have learned!
How about the classic offset patterned tile?
I really wanted brick in our mudroom but after a lot of research I learned brick can be pretty susceptible to moisture and we have a lot of that. So then I thought about the brick from Fireclay but I was afraid it was too slick for little feet. So the slip-resistant matte made sense and I knew I could easily achieve the brick look by doing a classic offset pattern similar to what we did in our kitchen with the brick before. It really worked and I love how it is a modern take on a brick farmhouse floor.
How did the installation process go? Did you face any challenges?
The installation went really well! The best of all our installations. We have an electric floor heating system underneath and there was a little issue with too much line and the poor guy had to rip it up and start again before we did any tiling so it added an extra few days to the job, but I was just happy for it to be done properly. The installer was hired by our contractor and was different than the other two installers we had used in the house. He was by far the best.
You're a Fireclay pro at this point! With Fireclay Tile in all of your
bathrooms and kitchen too, do you have a favorite tiled area?
Oh gosh this is really hard! I love the tile in our master bath especially around the bathtub. It is so amazing as is the kitchen tile. Fireclay adds this element of interest in such a large white space and really makes it feel warmer. But the space that still gets me is our basement bathroom. The wall tile that flows from the back wall in and around the whole shower is amazing. It feels like a beautiful warm hug every time I walk in there. All of the tile has held up to our life and I love them all for different reasons!
Megan's Fireclay Tile Basement Bath:
Tile Shown: Sand Dune 2x6 and Antique Large Star and Cross // Design + Photo: Megan Gilger
Was this the last major project in your home?
Yes, for a while. Now we are focusing on landscaping and building out our homesteading things like building a chicken coop, adding a sauna, expanding our garden, etc. The only project we MAY do in a few years is insulating and finishing out the upstairs of our garage-- but that is TBD.
How was designing your own home? Any lessons learned?
Designing your home is a lot of work especially as someone who doesn’t do this for a living and we learned a lot. We probably will build again someday but not for a good 10 years. There are a few things I would have done differently such as centering our fireplace in our home and doing a wood stove insert instead of a propane and I would have made more of our systems in our home based on electric rather than our propane. At the time I didn’t think too much about it and wish we had. There were thousands of decisions and I just went with the standard because it felt like no big deal. But our electrical company is 75% renewable with a goal of 100% so I wish more of our home ran on that source. I also love the idea of heating your home with a wood stove. Our land has a lot of fallen trees so it would be easy to source the wood ourselves. If we do this again these will be key pieces of the design for sure! But from function, storage, and design I wouldn’t change much!
Interior Design Tip: When choosing a grout color for your mudroom, pick a darker shade so your grout lines look great no matter what you track in.
See more of Megan's Fireclay projects here. Feeling inspired? Click here to get samples. Need some help? Simply call, chat or fill out our Design Assistance Form and one of our talented Design Consultants will get back to you shortly.
