Happy New Year

We hope you had a lovely Christmas! The West Columbia store reopened this morning at 7:30am, and the Northeast showroom will reopen tomorrow, Tuesday, 29 December, at 10am.

As for our adjusted store hours this week:

West Columbia will close at Noon on New Year's Eve

Northeast will close at or around 2pm (please call)

The West Columbia store will reopen Monday, 4 January at 7:30am, and the Northeast store will reopen Saturday, 2 January and stay open only 10am-1pm that day. They will resume a normal schedule on Tuesday, 5 January, opening at 10am.

As a reminder, our regular business hours are:

West Columbia (showroom and warehouse), Monday-Thursday 7:30am to 6pm and

Friday 7:30am to 5pm

Northeast (showroom only), Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm

Christmas Hours

CHRISTMAS HOURS:
The West Columbia store will be closing at noon on Christmas Eve.

The Northeast showroom will be closing no later than 2pm on Christmas Eve (please call).

West Columbia will reopen Monday, 28 December at 7:30am and

Northeast will reopen at 10am on Tuesday, 29 December.

We hope you have a wonderful and safe Christmas holiday with your family and friends!

What? Don't you have garland on your tree made of Poly Cord Strapping and mosaic tiles? ;o)

Progress Report

We're happy to report that our West Columbia showroom renovation is progressing nicely.

Scott's office has been moved to allow for more room on the showroom floor...

One of the shop bays has been closed in and tiled over with slate to build office space...

And, we've been working on some minor things too like re-sealing our granite countertops, cleaning and repairing our samples, etc. Can you see the difference in the granite below? Some granites, like this Lido Venetian Granite countertop, benefit from enhancing sealers. The lighter portion of the granite on the left hand side of the photo below has not been enhanced, whereas the darker portion has. It really looks a lot better. Stop by to see our work today!!

Showroom Redesign Contest

It has begun! Have you picked up your packet yet? Creative Tile's West Columbia Showroom Redesign Contest began Sunday, 1 November and ends Monday, 30 November. All Midlands residents are eligible to enter, including employees and contractors of Creative Tile and Precision Tile. The prizes are: $500 to first place and $250 to second. Click the page below for more details, and stop by either showroom to pick up a packet. Can't make it in to see us? Send an email to Becca, and she'll forward a packet to you. We do suggest, however, that you make time to visit the West Columbia showroom to get a better understanding of the layout and what you have to work with in the contest. We can't wait to see what you have in store for us!

Schluter Systems Roundtable and Demonstration this Friday!

Nadeau

Our newest tile line, on display at the West Columbia store, comes from Nadeau who specializes in unusual and high-end natural stone mosaics. Even though some of these may be cost prohibitive installed as a full kitchen backsplash, we could easily work one of them in as a framed panel, creating a beautiful centerpiece. Remember, we can fit all budgets and job sizes from a simple laundry room floor to a whole house. These new products from Nadeau, available only at Creative Tile, are on the cutting edge of today's tile industry and are certainly worth a look!

This one looks to me like the scales of a dragon's back...I can see it used in a kitchen similar to Brantley Manor's on Lake Murray; heavy, dark wood, stained glass windows, crests of arms, etc. Reminiscent of the stories of Katherine of Aragon's youth, this design looks like the walls of a Moorish castle. Dainty and beautiful: Crema Marfil and Dark Emperador Daisies... As seen in Camelot... I like this one because of its clean look. "It's Creative Tile! They've gone plaid!" (I'll mail a 10% off coupon to whomever can place that quote, my family notwithstanding. ;) Look at this though! Can you believe they've made a plaid mosaic?! It's beautiful! The plaid mosaic (left) uses a combination of five different marbles and strips of North Dark Green Slate. The mosaic on the right is made using Honey Onyx and Dark Emperador marble. M.C. Escher, eat your heart out! Clean marble polka dots, perfect for a little girl's bath!

Come visit us today to see all of our new products, designs, and ideas! ~Becca

Stone mosaics and more...

Some of the tile reps are getting a jump on our showroom remodel and are bringing us new products. It's been like Christmas here this week unwrapping items from Nadeau, Arley, A&S Marble, and more! Here's a sampling of some of the new items, and I'll get more posted later today. ~Becca

Textured glass approved for use on the floor: I like the one on the right. It reminds me of a bird's nest! :)Bisazza glass mosaicsThe Ilva Athena line is our newest Argentine import. A solid, rectified porcelain, the manufacturers have developed a way to keep the pattern on the tiles from repeating, giving the Athena line a true, random Travertine look.

Ilva Athena OlympusIlva Athena Sparta

More textured glassThe Happy House series My new favorite from the Happy House line: I love this blue and think the planks would be absolutely beautiful installed in a brick pattern in a foyer, mudroom, or master bath floor!

Honey and Cream Onyx chair rails, broken stacked mosaics, pencils, and more: Dark Brown Onyx Red and White Onyx New Marble basketweaves, herringbones, and listellos!

New products, new showroom...

Work has begun to improve Creative Tile's West Columbia showroom. Although plans are underway to host a Showroom Redesign Contest starting 1 November, the guys have already begun to move the administration office to allow more space for vignettes and tile racks...

HBAGC Table Top Night 2009

Celebrating Oktoberfest, the HBAGC hosted its annual Table Top Night at Seawell's in Columbia. Going along with the German theme, we featured Schluter Systems products...

1. Becca made houses, hopefully resembling German Timberframe homes, using Ditra, Kerdi, and tile...2. Becky (left) stands in our Bavarian themed booth...

3. Bin Wilcenski of the HBAGC...

4. Alan Clayton, of The Home Improvement Guide, stopped by for a visit...
Although Becca did dress in her finest Bavarian apparel, she managed to escape being photographed! :) It was a nice evening to visit with colleagues and reintroduce the Schluter System to Columbia contractors.

Definition of the day...

Coming from a question we had yesterday:

(From Wikipedia.com) Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta (Italian: "baked earth",[1] from the Latin terra cocta) is a clay-based unglazed ceramic[2]. Its uses include vessels, water & waste water pipes and surface embellishment in building construction, along with sculpture such as the Terracotta Army and Greek terracotta figurines. The term is also used to refer to items made out of this material and to its natural, brownish orange color, which varies considerably. In archaeology and art history, "terracotta" is often used of objects not made on a potter's wheel, such as figurines, where objects made on the wheel from the same material, possibly even by the same person, are called pottery; the choice of term depending on the type of object rather than the material. Plain unglazed pottery is often also called terracotta.

In our little corner of the world here at Creative Tile, Terra Cotta can refer to Solistone's Handmade Terra Cotta Collection (shown above) or Zumpano's Mexican Saltillo. Both are clay based tiles, unglazed in many cases, and sunset-orange in color; perfect for creating your own wine cellar grotto, sun porch, Spanish-influenced foyer, or Mexican-styled kitchen!

Pat Phillip's fireplace... she did it herself!

HBA Table Top Night

Join us next Thursday evening, 8 October, at Seawell's in Columbia for the HBAGC's annual Table Top Night. This year, the evening's theme is Oktoberfest, hence the German styled house models below made out of Schluter Systems' Ditra and Kerdi products and some of our left over tile. :) We will be featuring Schluter Systems products and advising contractors on installation of these items. We look forward to seeing you!!

It's Cookout Time Again!

It's cookout time again...or this time sub sandwich time! Join us tomorrow, Friday, 25 September at 5:30 at our West Columbia location!

Desert Sage Quartzite Shower

Designed and installed by Lex Kisteneff. Shower features: 12" Desert sage tile, offset pattern, with a tumbled broken border in the same material and bone grout.

Fun on Fridays

Haven't joined us yet at one of our Fridays After Five events? That's OK...we'll have more! :) Join us the last Friday of every month to talk with installers, contractors, and our designers. In August, we displayed and demonstrated our newly stocked Tuscan Leveling System for natural stone tiles. We always have burgers or barbecue, chips, cold beer, and fixin's. We're trying to line up some educational instruction from companies such as Schluter Systems, but in general, our cookouts are simply a chance for friends and colleagues to get together, discuss business, and relax. Plan to join us Friday, 25 September at our West Columbia location starting at 5:30pm.