the tile dilemma

I still have not hit on the right tile design, despite many iterations both in person and in my nightmares. I thought I had found it, but decided it was much too busy. So I simplified and decided it was too rigid. Last night, during one of my usual sleepless periods, I hit on something completely different. This morning I went over to the house and rearranged everything I had so carefully laid out yesterday. I think it's better, but need to wait until the floor is down to be sure I don't have too much terra cotta color. Here are my layouts.

I decided that this was much too busy, too fragmented. I thought I wanted it completely random, using all the colors at will, but it is not a good match with the "lighter weight" layout of the walls. I have dispensed with the "rick rack" tile as a border; it doesn't really go with anything else and is too busy when juxtaposed with what's going on above it. We bought two boxes of these beauties; back to Dolores next year for a return!



This is the second try. I lined the tiles up on the diagonal and laid them out in stripes. It actually looked quite stunning. But then in the wee small hours I realized that the countertops would completely overwhelm the more delicate patterns of the walls. I do like the new border tiles, though. They are terra cotta, yellow and blue and tie in nicely with the walls. So I have now abandoned the diagonal stripe for something different.



My midnight thinking went something like this. I have four colors that I can pick up from the wall tiles. The wall pattern is mainly terra cotta with what's called Mexican blanca which is actually cream color. The floor, too, is a rich terra cotta color. I don't want to be overwhelmed by it, but I think the countertops should be a continuation of the wall style. So here's what I came up with today. The perimeter of the tops will be framed with terra cotta with a preponderance of creme tiles and the two other colors dropped in now and then. Much cleaner, much less cluttered, and a better compliment to the wall pattern. I don't want to get the yellow tiles too close to the border as the yellow tones are quite different; one is a barro rustico clay tile and the other is a fired ceramic. One is more gold, the other true yellow. But hey, this is Mexico.

I need a solid night's sleep so I don't come up with something yet different for tomorrow.