Our Newest Vignette

Our new Craftsman Vignette is complete! 

At the top is Cascade Blend # 1, our tile and stone mosaic series, and Intaglio pattern A 3x8 in C203 which has a lovely soft texture.

Here's a close up:

From there it switches to a warm Bas-Relief pinecone in C92 with C205 for the counter and trim.

 Here's a close up of the Bas-Relief:

It's anchored with a great base cabinet of C70 Wall Relief and a beautiful DW52 hand painted pinecone border.

The pinecone decorative relief border is hand painted in Duochrome for a tone on tone effect.

As always it's even better in person, so stop by the showroom to see for yourself!

In the Factory - Bold Color!

Why pick white tile when there's all these great color choices out there! This week there's a number of jobs moving through our production facility using some really bright bold colors. What fun!

Big building blocks of color! 

These 6x12 field tiles are in some of our most intense R-gloss glazes, and they are using our Box Cap in a bright yellow to tie them all together.

Dress up your field tile with some playful mosaics. These colorful circles look like candy!

This basketweave mosaic has a little added spark with tiny colorful half by half dots dropped into the warm gold glaze of 1x2's. You can use as many colors as you like in our mosaics, in any combinations you can imagine. 

Brighten up your next project with some great bold color combinations and take advantage of the hundreds of colors we offer on all of our tile. 

What's New in the Pratt and Larson Outlet Store?

The outlet is full great stuff right now and there's tons of it (literally!) The key to creating a great project from the Outlet Store is to check back frequently. You never know what you'll find!
Here's just a tiny sampling of what's here now, but it changes quickly so stop by soon.

There's loads of field tile in great shapes, sizes and colors

including these outrageous gold 6x12's!

There are boxes and boxes of mosaics waiting to be blended into fabulous combinations and patterns.

and at a great price!

If you don't feel inclined to make your own mosaic table there's this great green striped one all ready to go and 40% of the sale benefits Mercy Corps!

Very vintage pink and purple hex and subway, use one color or both! 

 These Tempest Tileworks murals look great with a P&L textured border for a frame.

And there's loads of accessories to finish your job with all the right details.

Stop by the Showroom to find the perfect pieces for your next project.

Skutt Kilns

Skutt kilns just released a new Cone 10 test kiln called the Glaze Tech. We got to try one out and it's a great new tool. Check out their video featuring our very own Andy Balmer - Research and Development guru. There's some neat shots of our factory and showroom too!

Visit their site for more infomation on this great little high fire test kiln - http://www.skutt.com/glazetech/

Color Palettes and Inspiration

Where do you get your inspiration? This blog started with a single tile that caught my eye on the work table in the showroom.

KJ Patterson deco in Ivory, Persian and Rust

Something about this combination of colors really clicked for me. So, I went off to see if Pratt & Larson made colors like this too.

We do! C23, C72 and C35 are great craftsman matte glazes with a very similar feeling to the tile from KJ Patterson. Any one of them would be a great field choice to go with this deco. Actually there are a number of vendors with similar glaze colors, and each one brings their own look to the palette.

                              Seneca Tile                                                      Motawi Tileworks

But of course, you aren't limited to ceramic tile. You could completely change the look and use these colors in a totally different material, like this sleek glass tile from the Chiaro series by Grid.

The bright light blue seems closer to the original tile color but I think I like this darker shade of blue a bit more.

Having spend so much time looking at these colors, I'm suddenly seeing them everywhere!
Passing through the factory I noticed these circles:

P&L 3/4" dots

 and then there are these hexes on the showroom floor:

Seneca Tile

and then i came across this bedroom picture on line:

Martha Stewart Living paint palettes

So many ways to interpret a single tile or color combination. When something catches your eye you can use it as a jumping off point to start your project, even if it's not strictly related to the project at hand. A pretty tile might help you pick the paint colors for your bedroom. A favorite dress might help you decide the colors for your bathroom remodel. Bring in all your inspiration when you come visit our showroom, spread it out on a worktable and let's see where it takes you.

In the Factory

A stroll through the shipping department is a great way to see how clients are using our tile. Each table is covered with tile heading to a specific part of the country and sometimes the trends are very different in each section. Occasionally someone uses our tile in a totally unexpected way which is always exciting. Here's a peek at what's heading out of the factory now.

Papillon

Intaglio Q in a beautiful blue (W11)

                A random liner layout (not so random really!)               Palmetto & Architectural Trim

As beautiful as these tiles look in our factory, nothing beats seeing the completed projects. Send us your installation photos so we can see how your projects turn out installed and lived in!

Construction Zone!

Demolition has started on our newest vingette.

Stay tuned for progress updates!

We've got a new look!

A great new color palette for our building, just in time for Autumn.

New Showroom Installations

The dust has settled, we've pulled down the caution tape and we now have two new floor pads installed in the showroom. Thanks to the guys at A&B Tile for doing a beautiful job with the installations!

First is the new floor pad by KJ Patterson. Her tile comes in a variety of clay body colors with inlays of different colors forming the patterns. You can customize all her patterns by choosing your own color palette.

I love how using the decorative border on only two sides works with the Jerusalem Gold stone frame to make it look like Persian carpet tossed on a stone floor. 

The second floor pad is by Ticsa. Their terracotta pavers are stained and waxed for a beautiful antiqued effect. Dress them up further with a beautiful medallion or one of their many decorative borders. 

Their decorative tiles come in several color options. 

Come in and see these installations for yourself! They're even better in person.

A Thank You Party

We wanted to tell the contractors and installers we work with how much we appreciate their business and their fabulous tile setting skills, so we threw a little thank you party. Thanks everyone for all your support and patronage! Robin made delicious Pulled Pork sandwiches and there were Bratwursts from Tails & Trotters, baked beans and lots of beer. A good time was had by all.

Making the Baked Beans

Setting up the buffet

The Bucket o Beer attracts a crowd

Grab a Bratwurst!

Great sandwiches!

Hanging out with MP

Cleaning up

Thanks again  to everyone!