Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Cuban Tiles Make Eye-Catching Kitchen Backsplash

Readers of Tile Talk, know that I'm thrilled to receive installation photos from our wonderful customers! Last Tuesday an email from Durango, Colorado arrived with a photo. The email started like this:

"I forgot to send you a picture of our tile installation! It looks great! We LOVE it, and get TONS of complements on the tiles!
- Kelly von Stroh, Durango, CO"

Cuban Tiles Create an eye-catching backsplashCuban Tiles make an eye-catching kitchen backsplash
Photo Credit: Kelly von Stroh, Durango, CO, Avente Customer

I grew up not far from Durango in the small town of Aztec, New Mexico. Southwest Colorado is a beautiful area and Durango is a great little city with so much to offer. It was wonderful to meet Kelly and work with some folks from back home. I agree, the cement tile backsplash is stunning! The kitchen color design is excellent. The green in the tiles looks so nice with the dark wood cabinets and gray tones in the slate flooring. Kelly did a great job of letting the tiles be the focal point of the room – the counter and floor aren’t fighting for attention.

If I remember correctly, Kelly liked an installation she had seen on houzz.com. In this project, Avente Tile's Cuban Heritage Design 110 2B was chosen by Buckminster Green, the contractor, for an eclectic kitchen backsplash on their 5th Street Project. Kelly liked the concept; but wanted something in a different color. She ordered three samples in mid-July: Design 140 1A, Design 250 2B and Design 140 3B. Before August was over, she placed her order and decided on Design 140 3B.


Cuban Heritage Cement Tile Backsplash
Cuban Heritage 110 2B Cement Tile Backsplash
Photo Credit: Buckminster Green

Any project can have a 'deal breaker.' An obstacle that can't be overcome or resolved. It is often budget, delivery time, or application requirements. This time it was the cost of freight. The cost of freight for small cement tile orders can exceed the cost of the material. This is a common for small projects when using cement tiles for a fireplace, backsplash or small bathroom. The cost of freight increases even more when you aren't near a large city or major shipping lane. On this order, the freight costs were 45% of the total order cost. Pretty hard to swallow. But, Kelly knew what she liked and she knew she had made the right choice! It wasn't going to be a deal breaker. It's wonderful helping people find tile that they love. It's something they and will enjoy every day! Thanks, Kelly, for being such a great customer and sharing your installation with us and our readers.

The Cuban Heritage cement tile designs from Avente are from patterns re-discovered and saved from from old homes and crumbling estates in Havana. Cuban Tile designs are different from other cement tiles and characterized by the use of elaborate patterns, bold colors and prominent borders, very ofter double borders.

Cuban Heritage Design 140 comes in four standard colorways:


Cuban Tile Pattern 140-1A

Design 140 1A
8" x 8"

Cuban Tile Pattern 140-2B
Design 140 2B
8" x 8"

Cuban Tile Pattern CH140-3B
Design 140 3B
8" x 8"

Cuban Tile Pattern Design 140-4A
Design 140 4A
8" x 8"

You can also customize the colors in these patterns using the Heritage Colors or create your own custom color. As you can see from Kelly's photo, cement tiles provide jaw-dropping beauty and really are show stoppers. If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy some other blog posts where Avente customers share their installation photos. They certainly make my day!

Other Posts With Customer Installation Photos

3 comments:

VTWorks said...

Beautiful job Bill, just beautiful. LOVE getting the "after" photos from clients, so rewarding.

Bill Buyok said...

Sandy, Thanks for stopping by and it really is a beautiful backsplash that speaks to the homeowner. No doubt, a customer really does make my day when they send an installation photo and are thrilled with the results!

Bill Buyok said...

Since our blog wasn't allowing Kelly to comment yesterday she sent me an email and I'm sharing it here:

"Really the kudos go to my husband, Gerald (who is a project direct for Okland Construction), for doing a fine job installing both the backsplash and counter tiles AND was 'flexible' with the freight cost 'negotiations'."

Thanks Kelly for sharing. Our compliments to Gerald, the "man behind the scene," for a job well done!