Ceramic tile

[KathieB]

DH scooped me up after class today and whisked me off to Sedalia for a great lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Afterward we walked next door to the tile and flooring shop to look for some 4x4 ceramic tiles that he needs for bases for some sculptures his students are doing. In looking around, I found some really neat tiles that will work in 1:12 scale!

One design looks like stone in brick size. The individual stones are 1/4" x 3/4" and have grout spaces more in keeping with 1:12 scale than the terra cotta dollhouse bricks. They come on a mesh backing, like the dollhouse bricks, 12" x 12" I figure if I use 4 courses of bricks, that will give me about 48 running inches for a dollhouse foundation. Also found a 4" border that looks like it would make a grand paved sidewalk. Since it's 12" long, it will make 2 such walkways. Both have been ordered. I'll post photos when they come in.

I also tried to order another one that will make a great mosaic foyer/entry (probably for my Pierce). Because the labels were missing, the owner said he couldn't order it, so he gave me the sample board! It's also 4" x 12". The individual tiles are about 5/16" square and also that deep, so I'll probably have to cut a hole in the floor and put a board underneath so as to lower the tiles to floor level. For free, I can deal with it! It's such lovely shades of café au lait and a coral-tinged caramel. (The color in the bottom photo is nearest to real life, at least on my monitor)

This is the whole piece (minus two tiles in one corner).

This is the part of the design that I think will work well in the entryway:

[Tess11]

Great stuff, Kathie! Can't wait to see what it will look like in your Pierce. I was eyeing some glass tiles at Home Depot last week, but they are much too fancy for my Arrow farmhouse, but maybe for the SF!

I love it when we can find things that will wok for the small scale in "real" stores. Seems like it is much cheaper that way, and when they just give it away, well, how can you beat that!