Finally, some fun with color

on FEBRUARY 20, 2018

Any of you who have been with me on this journey of house building know that I’m a teeny bit obsessed with cement tile. Cement tile was first used in Spain in the mid-1800’s and proliferated in the turn of the century. The more common term for it is encaustic cement tile, which sports bright colors and patterns. I associate it with spanish colonial architecture.

Encaustic painting is an art process where pigmented wax is burned into a surface to produce an inlay. From my understanding, these tiles are called encaustic due to their brightly colored patterns and intricate designs which are typical of inlay, but the process for making them is a bit different. Pigments are pressed hydraulically into the tile and sink down into the top layer of fine portland cement. Not only are these tiles naturally durable due to their material, but if chipped or scratched, because the pigment goes down below the surface, they retain their color and patterns.

I can pinpoint the moment I fell in love with this tile. In 2012, we took a trip to Mérida, the capital of the Yucatan, with a few friends. Wandering the cobblestone streets, you are confronted with brightly-painted, stuccoed buildings in myriads of colors. Ducking into a courtyard or building to escape the heat, you’d look down to see these gorgeous tiles; smooth and cool to the touch with crazy patterns and color combinations. To say I only fell in love with the tile is a misnomer. Mérida was delightful and we strongly considered it for our resting place, but the beach was calling, so we kept looking. I fully intend to go back and spend more time there.

But today we are talking about tile. In general, our vision for the styling of the inside of the house is to make it a blank canvas. The walls will all be an off-white, and the majority of the floor and surfaces will be concrete. I intend to dress it up with the furniture, lights and art on the walls, but it will still be a relatively cool and clinical look. This also makes things a bit cheaper because everything is so simple. My one exception is the tile. In the main living space, I had the idea to create a “rug” of tile under where the dining room table will be. These tiles will be inset into the concrete floor which will be awesome for cleaning and provide a much needed visual break in the sea of concrete. We’re also going to do tile in both bedrooms because it will be awesome.

Luckily, there is a local shop that makes these tiles right in Todos Santos! La Perla Mosaico has a ton of beautiful designs and they even do custom tiles. The process of choosing tiles and colors is a bit overwhelming already, so I opted for the premade designs. Maybe when we get our feet under us, we can think of something custom, but right now, too much choice is my enemy and I feel that if I open myself up to custom, I’ll never be able to decide.

Most of the color schemes we are going for are on the cool side. This is not just because I tend to gravitate towards blues and greens anyway, but also because it will be a nice contrast to the red bricks. To decide, I first chose a pattern and then used a photoshop-like program to play with different color combinations.

It may be a while for us to get to this detail as money is starting to get tight, but our builder will make sure we have the proper space for these and when we’re ready, we’ll have them made and installed by La Perla. I’m excited to have some bright colors and only slightly nervous that I’m choosing too much blue and green. One thing I’ve learned in this house building thing is that you just have to make decisions and move on. Luckily, we have a little more time for this one.