Here’s an interesting work I recently completed on a red Quarry tiled floor at a house in the town of Abington, Northampton. In post-war Britain (more specifically in the 1940s and 1950s), many new homes were built with Quarry tiled hallways and kitchens, so quite a popular feature back then. These floors are typically quite hard wearing and therefore ideal for such high traffic areas; additionally they don’t need a great deal of maintenance but their appearance will degrade over time. In this particular house, the Quarry tiled floor had been covered with linoleum for many years, causing significant patches of visible black mould. The floor also had a loose tile (which I promptly reset to mitigate the potential tripping hazard) and splashes of paint due to a lack of precaution while the house was being renovated. Needless to say, the floor needed a lot of work. Before beginning the cleaning I made sure to vacuum up all of the loose debris from the floor. I then applied Tile Doctor Remove & Go to the tiles, left it to dwell for a short period, and then agitated the area with a black stripping pad, adding water to aid the process. This helped to break down any old and ineffectual sealer, along with the paint splashes marking the tiles, leaving a much cleaner and more refined appearance. I followed this up with Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up to eliminate the odd speck of cement and grout haze dating back to when the floor was first installed; Gout Clean-up has an acid base so it’s not advised to leave it on the tiles for too long, consequently as soon as I was happy it had done the job I rinsed it off with water and give the floor a thorough wash down. I used a wet-vacuum machine to extract as much water as possible and gave the floor a once over with steam cleaner which improves the evaporation of any remaining moisture by heating up the tiles. After completing the cleaning process, I left the house to allow time for the floor to dry completely. Upon my return, I conducted a damp test which showed the floor needed to dry further before sealing so I left an industrial fan in place for a couple of hours to help speed things up. Once I was satisfied that the floor was dry enough to take the sealant, I sealed the floor using Tile Doctor Colour Grow which is an interesting product that will not only provide durable stain protection but also improves the natural colours of the tile. While the floor required a lot of time and work to restore, I think you will agree the results were certainly worth waiting for. Phil Vissian Northamptonshire Tile Doctor

A roof is a very important, as well as expensive, feature of your home. Maintaining your roof is one of the best ways to protect you, your family and all you keep under that roof. Atlas Protects™ is more than a slogan as the company, with decades of experience, has the products and advice to help you reduce roof maintenance. Atlas Roofing StormMaster® Slate and Shake shingles have high performance features that can help resist the many hazards that a roof can face each year. This strength means you, the homeowner, may face fewer maintenance issues. Master The Storms Underwriter’s Laboratory, UL 2218 is a national standard rating system for impact resistance that rates roofing materials from Class 1 through 4. A Class 4 rating indicates the highest level of impact resistance. Atlas StormMaster® Shake and StormMaster® Slate shingles have both earned Class 4 ratings. These shingles are strong enough to earn the Class 4 rating because they are manufactured with Styrene Butadiene Styrene (SBS), a rubberized polymer that gives them incredible flexibility and durability. The rubber-like quality gives StormMaster® shingles the highest protection against impact from hail, which can fracture shingles. StormMaster® shingles are also high wind-rated which helps resist blown off shingles. Loss of shingles due to high velocity wind could lead to wind-driven rain flooding a house. StormMaster® Slate and Shake come with a Limited Wind Warranty that protects a roof up to 130 mph. Black streaks on a roof not only look dirty, but also make a house appear old and reduce its curb appeal. Black streaks are the result of algae growth. Atlas StormMaster® shingles are built with the power of Scotchgard™ Protector, which helps a roof retain its color for years by resisting those black streaks. Atlas certifies this by having regular third-party laboratory testing to ensure an even spread of the Scotchgard™ protective copper granules. Both lines of StormMaster® are backed by an Atlas Lifetime Limited Warranty against the black streaks caused by algae. The Final Word In Warranties StormMaster® shingles are warranted against manufacturing defects with the exclusive Atlas Lifetime Limited Warranty for 20 years. That is the length of the Premium Protection Period for the initial non-prorated labor and material coverage of every new StormMaster® Slate roof installed with the Atlas Signature Select® System. StormMaster® shingles give a house what it needs most; an incredibly impressive appearance and security that shelters everything and everyone under the roof. Read more about the full line of StormMaster® shingles.

Whon Photography
Large urban underground carpeted staircase photo in Indianapolis with gray walls and no fireplace

Gorgeous master bath with dramatic retro "wave" tile. Peak Photography
Example of a 1950s bathroom design in Los Angeles

CUSTOMIZE YOUR INTERIOR GLASS DOOR! Interior glass doors ship for just $99 to most states, $159 to some East coast regions, custom packed and fully insured with a 1-4 day transit time. Available any size, as interior door glass insert only or pre-installed in an interior door frame, with 8 wood types available. ETA will vary 3-8 weeks depending on glass & door type.........Block the view, but brighten the look with a beautiful interior glass door featuring a custom frosted glass design by Sans Soucie! Select from dozens of sandblast etched obscure glass designs! Sans Soucie creates their interior glass door designs thru sandblasting the glass in different ways which create not only different levels of privacy, but different levels in price. Bathroom doors, laundry room doors and glass pantry doors with frosted glass designs by Sans Soucie become the conversation piece of any room. Choose from the highest quality and largest selection of frosted decorative glass interior doors available anywhere! The "same design, done different" - with no limit to design, there's something for every decor, regardless of style. Inside our fun, easy to use online Glass and Door Designer at sanssoucie.com, you'll get instant pricing on everything as YOU customize your door and the glass, just the way YOU want it, to compliment and coordinate with your decor. When you're all finished designing, you can place your order right there online! Glass and doors ship worldwide, custom packed in-house, fully insured via UPS Freight. Glass is sandblast frosted or etched and bathroom door designs are available in 3 effects: Solid frost, 2D surface etched or 3D carved. Visit our site to learn more!

Luxury Vinyl Planks are a great option for water areas like bathrooms, basements, and kitchens. The technology is advancing so that the product looks and feels like natural products like wood and stone.

Chris Golden
Inspiration for a transitional carpeted living room remodel in Phoenix with beige walls, a standard fireplace and a tile fireplace

It is exciting that warm weather is on the way. I know that it’s not likely you’ll be thinking about turning on your fireplace. But it is the time to be thinking about getting it checked and get any type of repairs done now so you can enjoy it when the weather cools off. Here are the top 3 chimney repairs to make this summer: Repair #1: Chimney Cap The chimney cap is a critical component to the chimney. It protects from debris, animals, water, snow, and wind from entering the chimney - Every chimney needs a chimney cap for the same reasons every home needs a roof! There’s another benefit many don’t consider... If you have a woodburning fireplace, sparks can go up the chimney flue and reach the outside causing a potential fire on the roof or any dry debris such as leaves and grass. The chimney cap also has spark inhibiting components that prevent the sparks from exiting the chimney cap. Repair #2 Masonry Mortar is the filling in between the bricks or stone in your chimney. Masonry or tuckpointing is the repair made by a masonry professional in order to build or fix the deterioration or missing mortar in between the bricks or stone. In a repair situation, not all mortar will be replaced. As a result, Superior Chimney works to match the color of the existing mortar so it all looks clean and uniform. It’s best to have the chimney inspected each year as the chimney is exposed to the weather elements on all four sides. If a homeowner waits too long to have repairs done on the masonry, it can lead to the need for a full rebuild of the chimney. Repair #3 Chimney Liner The chimney liner is a very important part of your chimney system. The chimney liner directs all smoke and gasses out from the home. If cracks appear in the chimney flue, this can be a safety hazard as fires can easily ignite adjacent home construction materials. Some older homes were built without chimney liners. We highly recommend getting a chimney liner installed, as required by code, by a certified chimney technician from Superior Chimney. Now that you have your chimney repair to do list, let’s get started by scheduling a chimney sweep. This will include a 14 point inspection with pictures (ever wonder what it looks like up there?). Now you’ll know the condition of your chimney cap, masonry and chimney liner. If repairs need to be made, you can get that done now over the summer so that when cool weather returns (sorry), you’ll be ready to fire up the fireplace.

The solid walnut staircase rises up from the elegant, herringbone patterned hardwood floors and pairs beautifully with the figured walnut back-paneled wall. The custom railing serves as an exclamation point to the rich design.

This bedroom and full bathroom are part of an adventuresome project my wife and I embarked upon to create a complete apartment in the basement of our townhouse. We designed a floor plan that creatively and efficiently used all of the 385-square-foot-space, without sacrificing beauty, comfort or function – and all without breaking the bank! To maximize our budget, we did the work ourselves and added everything from thrift store finds to DIY wall art to bring it all together. A partial double closet bar adds a little extra space while still leaving room for longer hanging clothes.

This modern bathroom wall is a very dark grey tile made from recycled stone dust. Its color is PB 3106 Dark Grey and is in the brushed texture.
Example of a mid-sized minimalist master gray tile and stone tile bathroom design in Miami with gray walls

Exterior, brick, lime, limewash, painted brick, architectural finish

© Ascendant Imaging
Inspiration for a large transitional master white tile and porcelain tile porcelain tile, beige floor, double-sink and wallpaper freestanding bathtub remodel in Charlotte with furniture-like cabinets, green cabinets, a two-piece toilet, white walls, an undermount sink, quartz countertops, a hinged shower door, white countertops, a niche and a built-in vanity

Custom Surface Solutions (www.css-tile.com) - Owner Craig Thompson (512) 430-1215. This project shows new 12 x 24 tile installed vertically with offset layout pattern on wall and floor. Includes shower box with linear glass accent tile back and vertical glass accent band. Tile edges are finished with Schluter Jolly satin aluminum profile edge trim.

Example of a mid-sized classic carpeted hallway design in Minneapolis with white walls

I recently made a trip down to South Molton, a small town which sits on the River Mole. The river, actually a tributary of the River Taw, gets its name from the two small towns it runs by, North Molton and South Molton. Anyway I digress, my client asked me to take a look at a Chinese Slate floor in her house, as it was in dire need of a good clean due to the original sealer having worn off over time allowing the dirt to become ingrained in the tile. As this particular type of floor is naturally quite rough, I advised my client to have the Slate milled flat. This would not only make the floor easier to clean on a regular basis, but also it would reduce the hazard of people tripping over the exposed edges. However, the milling procedure is expensive due to the need to use a special grinding disc formed of diamond segments, which is then attached to a rotary machine and used on the stone. My client decided against this, instead opting for a thorough clean and seal. This would be the first time the floor had ever received a proper clean – it had not even been cleaned when the tilers first fitted it! My choice of product for the cleaning was Tile Doctor Pro-Clean, a high alkaline cleaner which, along with Slate, is suitable for use on other natural stone floors such as Limestone, Granite and Travertine. The product, diluted with clean water, was applied evenly to the floor using a Polybrush, as well as a rotary machine fitted with a buffing pad. This also helped to remove any remaining old sealer although, as aforementioned, the vast majority of the old sealer had already worn away. Following this, I cleaned the grout using Tile Doctor Grout Clean-Up and a long-handled stiff grout brush. Grout Clean-Up penetrates below the surface of the grout to lift out grout haze and general dirt. After completing the cleaning I rinsed the floor several times with clean water to remove any trace of cleaning product. The floor was then left to dry completely before sealing, as any moisture left over on the floor could have impacted on the sealer. When I returned to seal the floor I opted to use Tile Doctor High Shine Sealer, which is suitable for use on textured natural stone floors, as well as textured ceramic, textured porcelain, and a range of others. Five coats of High Shine Sealer were applied, providing the floor with durable surface protection and a nice high-sheen finish. This dramatically improved the appearance of the floor to the point that it is hard to believe this is the first time it has been treated to a proper clean and seal! Both myself and my client were very pleased with the results. Chinese Slate is one of the most beautiful and characterful types of stone for tiled floors, so it was very rewarding to be able to make such a difference here.

Self
Inspiration for a small modern wooden straight staircase remodel in Louisville with wooden risers

Beautiful custom runner to match the unique measurements of this staircase.
Small wooden curved staircase photo in Minneapolis with wooden risers

Large country u-shaped medium tone wood floor kitchen photo in Milwaukee with white cabinets and a peninsula