When we found our dream abandoned inn bordering Saguaro National Park, it already felt like tile heaven. In some areas old carpeting had been removed, but the original Saltillo tile remained along with various Talavera tiles creating patterned borders on the many fireplaces. As we brought JTH Tucson back to life, we loved the idea of adding our own tile work with Fireclay Tile to continue the inn’s story. In some areas new tile contrasts the existing tile creating scars that give this old building new stories.
One of our favorite tile transformations was this staircase. As soon as we saw it our gut instincts screamed for it to be covered in tile. We repainted the surrounding walls, and chose our very own color palette for Fireclay’s Vigo and Avila hand painted tiles. Through the process we became a little obsessed with their Color-It Tool. We spent days trying different color combos before deciding on the palette which was ultimately inspired by the terra-cottas in the sand, the dusty blues and greens of the cacti, and the ochres and warm grays we found in rocks on the land.
The bathroom in the Ocotillo suite was easily one of the most outdated spaces at the inn. For this bathroom update, we looked to our exterior environment and pulled the blues we found in the native Engelmann’s prickly pear to the walls and counters with Fireclay’s San Gabriel brick tile. This space unfortunately doesn’t have any natural light, but bringing the tile up the wall helps brighten and open the room by drawing your eye upwards.
Another favorite tile transformation was in the Agave suite bathroom. The tiles shrank the room by ending just above the shower head, so we extended the tile all the way up to the ceiling. For fun, we chose a hand painted tile (Sintra) for the floor to act as a sort of rug for the space.
Even in areas where we toned down the existing tile work, tile still played an important role. Take the Saguaro suite bathroom below for an example with floor tiles in Ivory Ogee.
In the Agave suite we used large Antique Star & Cross tile throughout the living room and bedroom. Antique is one of our absolute favorite finishes offered by Fireclay Tile (because terra-cotta is our one true love, duh). This finish also has so much variation which we love. As described it gives the tile an antique or vintage quality.
For our main living room, we continued with the Star & Cross shape, but this time in Ivory.
The living room started as a dark and moody place, but with a little paint and our new tiled floor this room came to life.
We’re saving the best (in our opinion) for last in this post with our absolute favorite tile we used. It’s called Fallow, and we used it in a custom color way for our dining room floor. As you can see from the before and after images below, this dining room came a long way! It’s now one of our favorite spaces. We love how the tiles mimic the arch that we added for the pantry, and the arches of the dining chairs.
Thank you to Fireclay Tile for sponsoring this post, and allowing us to create the inn of our dreams.
Want more information on fireclay tiles? Click the link below to contact us.