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SPONSORS
PREFERRED FLOORING, |
“Tile represents greater ease of upkeep than wood or carpet,” says Kim Miller, a partner with Tricia Burchette in Preferred Flooring of Raleigh. “And you can really use your imagination in creating designs with tile.” The two exercised their creativity in selecting tile for flooring, baths and the kitchen backsplash in NHI Dream Home. It is the third year that the design duo has contributed their talents to the fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. “It is such a wonderful cause,” says Miller, who recently lost a family member to the disease. “Everyone pulls together and does what they can. It’s a real team effort on our part.” That team effort is showcased in the results of Preferred Flooring’s endeavors, beginning with the impressive “marble” floor in the foyer. In fact, what appears to be marble is actually a faux marble porcelain tile that gleams throughout the expansive entryway. The tile gives the home the best of both worlds: the beauty of marble combined with the strength of porcelain. “Porcelain is very durable,” Miller says. “It is much stronger and more durable than ceramic tile, and there are endless opportunities to create different looks.”
Other trends in tile are toward the use of natural tones and the look of stone. The kitchen, breakfast room and family room floors have the look of stone; Berber carpet inset into the family room’s flooring is an unusual touch that creates the look of an area rug in the space. Miller and Burchette capitalized on the subdued, natural trend in the rustically opulent master bath, selecting tumbled stone 4x4 inch tiles for the shower pan. “It’s important to have some texture in wet areas to prevent slippage,” Miller explains. “We are very focused on providing the right materials for the right application for the space.” Porcelain tiles in two different sizes were used for the master bath walls and flooring. In the ground floor bath adjacent to the billiards & card room, blue mosaic glass sheets form the wall covering, Miller says, with 13x13 inch porcelain tiles creating the floor. “In this bath, we clipped corners of the tile and inserted glass sections to create a pinwheel pattern,” she explains. This innovative combination of tile and glass represents yet another design trend in the industry. Miller and Burchette both especially enjoyed working with Byrd Tile Distributors on the project. “Byrd was so generous in working to create such beautiful tile at the lowest possible cost, in order to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,” Miller says. “It definitely would not have been possible to do this without them.”
Preferred Flooring continues to focus on
bringing its customers the most current designs and the highest quality of
materials. “We’ve been in business together for 10 years,” Miller says.
“We love what we do and we really enjoy working with our customers.”
Indeed, the two are in the business of creating flooring for individual
“dream homes” every day. ▪
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In the foyer, 18x18 inch tiles were laid
on the diagonal, with 2x12 inch mosaic strips separating the tiles. “The
tiles and the mosaic seems to be woven together to create a pattern,”
Miller explains. “It is a very sophisticated look.”