Four years ago, when we entered escrow on our now home/property in Portland, I knew that I wanted to have as many local Portland design brands and makers in my home as possible (it’s the Portland way – no city I’ve ever been to supports local like my PNW folk do, I love it). I also knew that there were PLENTY of great companies to choose from, never needing to compromise the design. After working with long-time family and Portland-owned company, Pratt + Larson on the OG Portland house I pitched them the farmhouse partnership. Over the next 2 years, we customized, finalized, and executed so many custom colors and designs that I’m so proud of. I love them all SO MUCH. But ordering as a normal person (non-designer or non-wholesaler) wasn’t that easy. That’s just not how their highly customized tile company was set up. We chatted through ideas to make it easier for any/all of you who wanted these individual tiles or the entire “get the look” samples of each tiled room. And here we are🙂
So if you loved, say, our primary bathroom and want to see that blue color in person, you can now order a set of sample tiles for your project. There’s a set from each room. They come with pretty postcards with photography of our space which made us all really happy. You can see the whole landing page HERE. They did such a beautiful job which isn’t surprising given everything they already do.
Individual Samples
If you just want to test the color of one specific tile you can also now buy a tile for $3. This is something you could do before but the interface made it a little complicated to find, so again, it’s all in one place HERE. And remember that you can take that color and do it in almost any shape (large, small, mosaic, picket, scallop, all the squares and rectangles, triangles, etc). Their customization is truly endless, which as a designer, I obviously LOVE but also if you just want to do something simple they’ve made it easier for you now.
For each room, we customized the color and obsessed about the shape. While these tiles might just look like “blue” to you, in the likes of Meryl Streep a la Devil Wears Prada this blue is not just a normal blue. It’s PERFECT. The amount of green makes it nuanced, the Portland-style unfinished edges drive home the handmade look/feel. The specific mix of proportions makes it so lovely. Even if you don’t want this tonal look, the size and scale of the pattern will help you (and then just choose from one of their 300 colors).
The color variation in this perfect “Levi’s jeans” blue is what gets me. It has such movement and texture but is so soft and classic. I will NEVER tire of this exact color, texture, and layout (running bond/staggered FTW in this house).
The reaction to this bathroom tile is always so fun – people love the green tile border on the base and it makes me feel soooo good. This green is super classic (if not collegiate) and the white here is much warmer than predicted so make sure you double-check all your whites (it looked so white until it was against pure white paint and then we had to repaint).
I honestly don’t think there is a warm yet sophisticated pink tile like this on the market. Sure, there are some zelliges but I didn’t want to go the zellige route in this house. This color is so flattering and warm and while some light pinks can read more feminine but not this one. It’s a real crowd-pleaser.
This tile has proved to be perfect for in here (especially with the medium shade of grout). Granted it’s only been 2 years but it wears so well, and has nice texture and movement so that it is forgiving to all the mud the pups bring in.
This tile, this room, this floor pattern make me SO HAPPY and likely will forever. It’s inspired and reminded me about how much I love color and pattern and while I was worried it was going to be too busy or bold, it’s just perfect. It took us a long time to figure out that exact border pattern with all the bits and pieces so if you feel free to copy it exactly (it’s a classic Victorian pattern, but we tweaked and customized all the sizes to work as our border). This color blue is just perfectly bright, without being too cobalt.
A huge thanks to Pratt + Larson for being such a wonderful company both for their employees and for designers who like to really get something unique. You can sense and feel the quality of the tile and the colors, finishes, and shapes give endless possibilities. If you are in Portland check out their new tile installation at the Portland Airport – it’s a huge mosaic of ferns and flowers that’s supposed to be incredible. I’m very excited to see it next time I’m there.
Again, you can get all the tile samples here. I know you’ll love it all as much as I do:)
*Photos by Kaitlin Green
