Merryl - I just finished placing my order for Cloe tile a few minutes ago!

I read an article right before ordering my tile from Chris Loves Julia re: a kitchen they remodeled for a neighbor using their Semihandmade doors. In the kitchen, they used Cloe white tile for the backsplash - and on the oven hood. The comments were funny because MANY of them were asking about the Cloe tile instead of their doors (FYI, I think their doors look really nice). A few of them specifically inquired about how they edged their tile. They told people that the Cloe tile comes with some finished edges (maybe two - but must be at least one end edge based upon how they used it in the kitchen) which allowed them to use those edges facing out. After reading that article, I decided to go ahead and make my purchase. I hope that this info is correct because I don’t want to have to place some kind of edging on the one side where it doesn’t dead end into a wall/cabinet.

What countertops and cabinet color are you using in your kitchen?

Hi demac-our Shaker cabinets will be BM Decorator’s White (a bright white but really necessary in the dark work area of our kitchen).
We will be using Mysterio Pental-also lots of white with defined but slender dark gray veining. Hoping the information you read is correct as I live in NY but could only find and thus ship the tile from Bedrosian in CA. and did not order the trim tile. I guess, at worst, if there aren’t any finished edges I could search out trim/pencil finishing tile that would work with the whites in the tile. Have been obsessively reading about the tile and am now a little nervous since some people insist that their boxes of tile did not include much variety of toning and I really cannot deal
with the thought of a solid, white tile backsplash. Maybe I’m over-thinking and over-reading and all will be as varied and beautiful as I’ve seen.
Having spent the past 3 months of this pandemic, locked down and researching on line I’m hoping that I’m just frightening myself for no reason. And you....what cabinet and countertop decisions have you made. There seem to be so many good choices out there.

I know exactly how you are feeling. My boyfriend (I hate labeling him that way - I feel like I’m too old to have a boyfriend!) was SHOCKED when I told him that I actually ordered the backsplash tile! On one hand, it’s so nice to be able to see all these different countertops/tiles/stains/paints/lights - BUT - on the other hand, it makes decisions difficult. I have COMPLETELY over thought everything. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m trying to basically update my entire house - all at the same time!

I feel like I have an extreme case of ADD right now. I’ve been dealing with some serious health issues for quite awhile - I’ve only been back living in my home for a few months after being absent for quite awhile. I have been a bit overwhelmed with all the things that I want/need to do. I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished very much yet. I had to have all of the carpet removed in order to move back in - and had to purchase an air purification system (I have several autoimmune diseases - with an underlying one called systemic mastocytosis - causes my body to attack itself - and lots of things can trigger issues, including anaphylactic shock and many trips to ER). I‘ve also replaced all mattresses/bedding - and most of my upholstered furniture. Now I’m trying to start on some “fun” projects!

I have spent a TON of time looking at Cloe tile and other similar ones. I will be EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED if there isn’t much variation. I think that I’ve spent more time researching stuff for my kitchen (a lot of it on Cloe!) than I spent studying for my bar exam years ago! FYI - after I posted my comment to your question, I chatted with someone at Lowe’s re: Cloe tile and whether it has any finished edges. I was told that it does. Now, that may be wrong - but the guy spent quite a bit of time tracking the info down for me so . . . ????!!!! Also, I went back and re-read the comments on CLJ - and he/she definitely said that it had a finished edge. FINGERS CROSSED! I would only need around 3 of the edge pieces - so, not much $ - but I’d rather not need to use them. I also watched a video Chris/Julia did on YouTube showing how they built a hood and tiled it w/ Cloe tile. It looks pretty cool - Chris used miter cut edges on the tile for the corners. That‘s helpful because even if I don’t tile my hood, I have a casement window that has a 12” setback (? - I’m sure that I’m not explaining this correctly - probably not using the correct terms of art for it) all the way around that I’m tiling (along with the rest of that wall over the sink). Those edges will look MUCH NICER with mitered corners vs. some other type of edging.

I just realized that I’ve typed a TON - and haven’t answered your Q! My plan is (at least for the next 24 hours - LOL) to have stained lower cabinets with white uppers/stacked. Your quartz looks like it will be BEAUTIFUL! I‘m thinking about installing something similar - I may ”steal” your quartz and cabinet paint selections!!! That could potentially save me 50+ hours of research - thanks! I also need to pull the trigger on refinishing my existing wood floors. And - I have a confession- I’ve committed one of the “seven deadly sins” on Houzz . . . I don’t have one unified flooring throughout my first floor - YIKES! I got a really incredible deal on some European Oak wide plank flooring - and I just couldn’t pass it up. I also couldn’t wrap my mind around wasting money/resources on ripping out my red oak floors (around 500 sq ft I think). So, I have the new wood upstairs - and in my family room/study dining room on main level - but left the existing wood floors in my foyer/kitchen-hearth room/half bath. This decision is really causing me stress!

Just realized that I’ve committed another deadly sin . . . I’ve purchased my backsplash tile - and I don’t even have my countertops/cabinet colors stains SELECTED - much less INSTALLED!!!

I may be permanently “banned” from Houzz after this post!! LOL! ;)

So sorry to hear about what you have been going through medically...severe illness in the Time of COVID must be simply overwhelming.I do understand the need to focus on something positive and look forward to something beautiful; even to almost the point of obsession. I would imagine living with something you have no control over makes it necessary to gain control in other ways. OK now, just went to Lowe’s and picked up Cloe in the 5” square (only size they had) and now truly freaking out. Of the first 9 I took from the box, all are the same off white and most have ONE edge with what can only be described as the glaze dribbled lightly and unevenly down the side. Certainly not a finished edge and certainly requiring a pencil/trim tile to hid the basically unfinished edge. I can handle that but have more of a problem with the colors in this box. Guess I will have to unpack basically the whole thing, lay it out on the kitchen table and pray I see various shadings because my husband might go MIA if The CA shipment needs to be shipped back. Calming down now and going to unpack more tile. Maybe I’ll open another box and see if the colors are different there. Like you, I often feel “shamed” by these young, determined women who with mood boards, DIY skills and the life organizational skills that launched Apple. It may be that I’m just too old for all this but this will be our last home and after a year basically locked in the kitchen, I hate the dark, 10 yo Cherry cabinets and blotched, brown toned granite countertops and just feel I “deserve” a light, bright kitchen. I simply cannot conceive of how much work you have recently done on your home...how much you have already accomplished and all while dealing with the side effects of what sounds like a chronic illness. Know I should be paragraphing but too lazy...
Anyway, cudos on scoring the wide plank floors. The fact that they are laid mostly on a different level IMO, makes it all fine. As for the fact that you also laid it in some rooms on the first floor...well...if when all else is completed they truly make you nuts I’m pretty sure the old floors could be stained to match (at least in color) the new flooring). Ripping out and relaying even more new flooring sounds exquisitely painful and unbearably overwhelming. I’m just going to deal and live with the builder’s red oak floors. LOL about your “out of Houzz ordained” ordering. Understand it well and don’t actually think it makes any difference. If the damned tile wasn’t so hard to get I wouldn’t have ordered it yet either. I know that it is not difficult to match it up to the quartz countertops and,I would imagine, marble as well. We saw soooooo many white, touch of gray, maybe touch of taupe slabs that I was simply overwhelmed. Do love the one we chose but am sure I could/would have loved any number of others. As for cabinet colors, don’t think I’ll ever be sure of the “right” color as hour by hour, the light in the kitchen changes and looking a a 12”x12” swatch of the color choices, taped to the old Cherry cabinets is never going to tell me exactly how a whole kitchen will look.Just assuming it HAS to be much better than what’s there now. Off to unpack other boxes of the wrong sized tile in search of the hopes for caring shadings. Stay well and safe and will let you know how how it goes.

Well, my heart sank when I read your message re: Cloe square tiles at Lowe’s. The whole reason I (like you) purchase this tile was because of the variation. If there’s no (or not much) variation, I would have just purchased a less expensive tile (actually, I would have purchased something else). It’s irritating to hear about the edge - that doesn’t sound “finished” to me. I’m really confused about why CLJ would have told people that (plus, the guy at Lowe’s told me that there were finished edges (he made it sound like at least two). I only have one side of my backsplash (U shaped kitchen - sort of - one outer wall has a greater than 90 degree corner - fun!) that needs a finished edge - so 18” of backsplash. REALLY don’t want a pencil edge. Currently, I have a slate backsplash (def need updating) and that didn’t require any edging. :(

I also want to apologize if my post came across as “whining” about my health issues. It’s been a ROUGH road. I started having serious issues at 19 (SEVERE endometriosis - dr did 13 surgeries BEFORE my hysterectomy- shouldn’t have - caused hypertonic pelvic floor disorder). I continued “collecting” diseases over the years - all the time saying that it seemed like there had to be some underlying reason why one person would be diagnosed with SO MANY idiopathic diseases (or God hated me). I finally stumbled upon my mast cell disease one sleepless night at 2 a.m. - and was CORRECT! Unfortunately, this wasn’t before I was diagnosed with lymphoma - went through treatment - and have been recent told that most likely I didn’t have it! Apparently, this disease can cause something that “mimics” it unless a specific type of stain test is performed. Not fun.

FYI - if it would have cost less to install red oak ones downstairs - and then refinished old ones/stained new ones to match for about the same price - I would have done so. Don’t get me wrong, I really love the European Oak wide planks, but I would rather it was continuous matching floors on main level. There are some AMAZING looking refinished red oak floors that I’ve seen! My new wood floors can be refinished 3 times - but I’d rather not have to add the expense of that to my existing ones right now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find something that coordinates well enough so either it’s REALLY CLOSE - or - just is similar enough to look good together (I’m worried about trying to match and failing miserably!)

I would love if you wouldn’t mind posting some photos of the contents of your box of tiles at your convenience. My fingers are still crossed that somehow you were just “unlucky“ and pulled out some matching ones and there are other varied ones still waiting inside to be discovered. . .

Thanks!

On the way out but would be happy to send photos of the tile when I return BUT have no idea how to post them here. If you can explain, will sent them out later. BTY, you did not come across as whining, just dealing with lots of stuff simultaneously.

I look at Houzz on my iPad - and I do not use the app! I don’t like it at all. I can’t remember exactly what the differences are rt at the moment. All I know is that I downloaded the app after I‘d been looking at house they the website for a few months - and I deleted it in less than 24 hrs.

Anyway - on my iPad, there is a photo button along bottom of discussion box - has camera and says ”photo” - there are 8 items along the bottom and it’s the 5th - towards middle (Houzz photo button is next to it). So, I take a photo - then when I’m in the discussion box I simply click on the photo in ser button and I select “photo library” at the top of choices. Then simply hit the photo(s) I want to insert - and then hit “Use” at the top of the individual photo I’ve selected. It’s then inserted into the discussion box.

Thanks!

Sorry but I’m working off the Houzz app on my iPad. I took the photos but cannot get the photo button to work as part of the discussion. Not sure if this is comfortable for you, but if it is, would be happy to email the photos to you. Do understand it may not be something you would want to do.

That would be fine. Let me figure out how to send you a private message with my email. I’ll let you know when I’ve done so. I’m heading into a dr appt right now. Thanks!