This post also comes from my old website and offers you a lot of information about the design of our kitchen floor.
First ideas
Finally: the new house has officially been ours since June 1st and now I can tell you a little about my ideas. The color concept is slowly growing but in the kitchen it is already quite concrete and the tiles will be delivered next week. So it's time to take you into this beautiful room for the first time. It became clear relatively quickly (actually, there was no question at all) that this kitchen was supposed to be anything but white. I'm always so keen on color and trying out new things and now I can really let off steam. But here's a picture of the room as we saw it for the first time. Please excuse the image quality. Unfortunately, we weren't really up to speed at the time and were overwhelmed by our first impressions of the house.
Looking for a low budget solution
One thing first: We renovated our current house very extensively before we moved in. We're doing it differently this time. On the one hand, we would like to move in for our children's new school year, and on the other hand, we would like to preserve as much of the old structure of the house as possible and renovate it carefully, piece by piece. (More on that in another post). There were tiles in the kitchen that didn't fit into any concept at all and we were looking for solutions. The plan was to leave the tiles in and paint them with a screed or industrial floor. Not a very harmonious but a cost-effective solution for the house built in 1899.
And then everything turned out completely differently: firstly, I visited my neighbor Sabine here in Karlsruhe (the Instacommunity knows her under @sabineaigi - So Live I follower under @livingatmolke). Sabine showed me what beautiful things she was planning for her new kitchen: “Look, I really want cement tiles. And the best thing is, you can design these from “Mosaicfactory” yourself!” said Sabine and I was hooked. Cement tiles would be perfect in terms of material and designing your own colors would of course be a dream. When our installer wanted to lay the supply lines for the new kitchen and had to break up a few tiles, we noticed that they could be easily removed from the floor. “What do we do?” I asked my husband. “Get out of it,” he said. And of course I knew immediately what was supposed to go in there. I just had to say goodbye to my marble worktop - it will now be made of laminate. That would have been a bit too much.
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When laying the pipes in the kitchen, we discovered that the tiles could be removed very easily. What luck ;-)
The agony of choice
Once this decision was made, things really got going. Which pattern? Which colors? Coincidence, or rather inspiration, helped here too. And the Mosaicfactory website. The company, which now has 300 employees, has been working with small manufacturers for 18 years. All cement tiles, also known under the “Mosaic del Sur” brand, are custom-made in Morocco. You can easily design the tiles using an online configurator. This is really fun. You can find it at www.zementfliesen.de .
An idea is created in the online simulator
With collections ranging from classic floral tiles to designs by designers and architects, you can find pretty much everything at the tile manufacturer. We also like classic tendril or floral patterns, but then decided on something different. My thought: the material is based on history, but the pattern is modern. I don't like it when you try to recreate something and only half succeed. A reconstruction of the original floor would have been far too time-consuming. I had also already fallen in love with a pattern. In terms of color, we wanted to match the color of the terrazzo, which is in very good condition in the hallway and has lots of reddish sprinkles.
By the way, the manufacturer's service is excellent: all inquiries were answered promptly, friendly and competently. I'm really excited so far. Now things are getting exciting, because next week the tiles will be delivered to the north. It's good that I'm on site and can examine everything directly with the tiler. Of course I'll keep you updated.
Fun fact: just last week I wanted to reorder everything because I was suddenly so unsure. Of course, especially when you choose bolder materials, things can go wrong and so I'm pretty nervous at the moment - but that's normal for me. Are you also excited?
Update:
The kitchen floor is now finished and I am more than happy with the result. It's not a day too pink for me and it feels so wonderful. I would use him again at any time. Maybe not in the bathroom but slowly it will get a patina and become a bit greasy - as it should be. Unfortunately, there are a few stains from strongly staining foods, but that's just how it is. Over time, a floor like this only becomes more beautiful, even if it is no longer quite as perfect as it was at the beginning.
