Steven arrived at Emerald Hill about 330 pm. Pedro has already tiled the kitchen floor and pantry. He is troweling cement onto the slab in the mudroom, laying tile.
Pedro speaks little English. Steven speaks un pequito Espanol — points to his head and says “this is what I imagined the kitchen floor would look like. It’s beautiful. Gracias.” Both men smile. Pedro goes back to laying more tile.
Steven sets foot on his new kitchen floor for the first time.
Magic.
Above, looking across the kitchen floor, completely tiled, from the family room.
Pivoting 180 degrees from the feature photo above, standing at the kitchen side door, looking over the tile back toward the family room. The floor is a chameleon with light from different directions, subtle, revealing texture and character, defying the ordered grid of tile upon tile with shadow, color; it is far more than “just gray.”Standing in what will be the office, looking through the pantry corridor into the kitchen and the mudroom beyond, following that straight line between tiles all the way across the “main highway” of the heart of the house.Outside on the driveway, Pedro raises a cloud of porcelain dust as he grinds a slot into a tile that wraps around a doorway.And he begins to lay the tile into position.Pedro trowels cement onto the mudroom floor.And sets a tile into place.Back outside, Pedro freehands the cut into another floor tile.And uses a tile saw to cut yet another floor tile.
