Big Bold Color Choices

This summer we were inspired by all of the uncharacteristically bright sunny days here in Portland to make some big bold colorful concept boards for our showroom.

Just because the summer is ending doesn't mean the fun should end! 

 Strong color choices are great for accent walls and smaller spaces like powder rooms.

Or if you're more adventurous, you can use big bold colors anywhere!  Here's a great gallery from Martha Stewart with lovely ideas on how to use bright colors in your decorating.

There is nothing like a blast of color to make a space feel more upbeat and fun. If you're looking for inspiration on how to use color in your designs try Pinterest or Houzz for some great images.

Pop into our showroom in Portland, Oregon for a factory tour or just to brighten up your day!

"The Drab Age is over. Color is coming into its own again. Until very recently people were literally scared out of their wits by color. Perhaps this was a hangover from our Puritan ancestors. But whatever the reason, brown, grays and neutrals were the only shades considered 'safe.' Now we know that lovely, clear colors have a vital effect on our mental happiness."  - Dorothy Draper

The Pratt & Larson Bevel Tile

The Bevel tile is a timeless classic. Made famous in the Paris Metro stations in the early 1900's it still remains a popular choice for today's kitchens and bathrooms. Pratt & Larson offers three sizes of Bevel tile: 3x6, 4x8 & 5x10 plus squares in 3x3, 4x4 & 5x5. Download our brochure here.

Metro Bevel tile in a Paris subway station - from wikipedia

By 1910 those old Paris subway stations were getting pretty ornate.

A white glaze is a popular choice and it can work with installations of any style, from traditional to contemporary. We have a wide range of whites to choose from in glossy, crackle, satin or matte.

P&L 3x6 Bevel tile in a glossy white.

In a flashy metallic glaze like C607 shown here it creates a dramatic, luxurious effect.

From Rebecca Reynolds and the Kitchen Design Network

Craftsman Metallic glazes C600 & C607

The beauty of ordering a Bevel from Pratt & Larson is that you have hundreds of colors to choose from and each of our glazes creates a different effect.

Watercolor glazes pool at the lower edge of the bevel emphasizing the dimensions of the bevel.

W43 Bevel bathroom 

 In the image below you can see how the Watercolor glazes pool at the bottom edge of the bevel, accentuating its shape. In the darker colors this effect is more pronounced.

Watercolor Glazes W43, W87 & W1 

R-gloss glaze series has the most color options, from white to bright with a beautiful glossy sheen. These glazes are a little more opaque and soften the lines of the bevel slightly.

R-Gloss glazes RUW, R62, R147

With their soft sheen the Satin glazes are a beautiful choice for the Bevel tile.

Satin glaze S3

There are so many beautiful variations you can achieve with Pratt & Larson tile. See your options at a showroom near you and order some Bevel tile samples for your next project.

Indigo, Navy, Midnight. Blue by any other name.

A few years back i wrote a blog about all the deep dark blues that were turning up on my favorite design sites. Two years later and the deep dark blues are still going strong and i thought this topic was worth another visit. 

Here's an update to that original post.  

Indigo, Midnight, Navy.  These beautiful dark blues have been appearing in all my favorite design sites and magazines lately.  I've put together some pictures of these midnight beauties along with the Pratt & Larson tile they inspired me to order up in our own collection of deep blue glazes.

Filigree C in  W96

The soft texture of this rich navy blue painted wallpaper lead me to try our Filigree patterns in a deep blue Watercolor glaze. It gathers and pools in the recesses becoming deep and dark and pulls away from the delicate pattern, leaving it with a hint of the palest of blues.

Indigo Diamond wallpaper from Galbraith and Paul 

Scraffito C in PW1 with Charcoal

The strong contrasting pattern of this Galbraith & Paul wallpaper has a similar feeling to our Scraffito Series. Here we've highlighted the pattern of the tile by applying an accent color with a technique called PolyWash.  

Carpet squares from Flor

P&L's 2x6 Herringbone in R147 (glossy) and C340 (matte)

For a quieter look like the subtle stripes of these carpet tiles from Flor try a tone on tone pattern. Here I used a glossy glaze and a matte glaze in very similar colors to create a subtle herringbone chevron pattern suitable for use on the floor. 

Kitchen design by Miles Redd

6x12 Field in R147

Texture A in W10

Texture B in W11

Maybe you'd like the whole room in that beautiful deep sea blue? Use our field tile to fill your walls with dramatic color. We can make sizes as large as 6x18! Add one of our new Textures to your field tile for a one of a kind look. 

From Martha Stewart Living

Can't decide which blue to use? Pick a blend and use them in one of our mosaic patterns. There are almost 100 different mosaic patterns available from Pratt & Larson and they can be ordered in any combination of our beautiful blue glazes. Find the right blue for your next project at a Pratt & Larson dealer near you.

Follow the links in this post for downloadable brochures on each of these lines from P&L.

Pratt & Larson Mosaics

If you came to our booth at Coverings in Las Vegas this year then you know we've been hard at work on our mosaic patterns. We cleaned up the shapes, tightened up the grout lines and sorted through the patterns; imagining them in all sorts of fresh color combinations. There's a new brochure with images of these patterns for inspiration and it also has black and white line drawings to use in designing your own color combinations. Download the brochure here. 

Choose high contrast colors for bold patterns, and bright colors for a touch of whimsy.

Go with low contrast and pale color combinations for a quiet subtle look. 

With our hundreds of glaze colors to choose from there is no end to the variations.

Change the colors,

or change the scale. There's so many options.

Use the line drawings to design your own color combinations. 

Just tell us where you want the colors placed and we'll send you a sample.

And there's so many colors to choose from....

Coverings 2014

It was so wonderful to see everyone at Coverings this year! It seemed like everyone was in good spirits and having lots of fun. We got lots of terrific feedback on our new products too. Here's a little recap in case you didn't make it to the show this year. Not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas after all!

Building the booth

The outside of the booth featured factory images

The tiled entry

Building the booth was quite an undertaking! It took a week of hard work at the convention center to put it up and getting to that point was months in the making back in Portland.

From the very beginning

Our focus this year was on new Sales Tools for our vendors. We offered the newest version of our Sales Tools Credenza and a great new way to show our tremendous color palette and our shapes and sizes in new framed display panels.

The Sales Tool Credenza with the 2x4 Color Palette Panels

The Color Panels also come in 2x2's which allows you to show all our colors in a smaller foot print

The Shapes and Sizes Panels show our best selling field tile sizes and shapes and all of our mosaic sizes are grouped together so you know which ones come mesh mounted.

The Mosaic Package

The Mosaic Package is a fun new way to display our huge assortment of mosaic patterns. The package comes with 20 Mosaic Pattern 12x12 display boards for the wall and a floor box that can either hold 32 more display boards or 56 white pattern tool boards. With the rising popularity of mosaics this is a terrific new package for any showroom.

The Mosaic Package

Large display panels show off new product

We had lots of new product to show as well! This wall featured large displays of our new pieces. Larger format tile has been very popular lately and we have some new sizes available like 6x18! We also presented the new Textured tiles at the show along with our new dimensional tiles - like the new 5x10 Bevel and the Recessed Frame series. Check out the new Catalog Addendum available on our website. 

Michael Pratt & Tim Roberts inspecting the booth before the show opens

The booth was packed for days!

We took in the sights

We found a little time for fun at the Art Tile Party

Packed up and going home.

We found a little time to take in the sights and we had fun at the Art Tile Party and before we knew it, it was time to pack it up and go home. We hope you had a great time at the show too! Let us know if there is any info you'd like about our new products or how to order the new sales tools for your showroom.