Words to walk on…

“One can not think well, love well or sleep well if one has not dined well.” Words to live by or in this case walk on. This wonderful Virginia Woolf quote was a must for this client. I love designing under the table mats not only because I think vinyl mats function so well, (chairs slide – spills wipe up), but because I can frame the table with art. Most of the time dining tables are viewed with the chairs pushed in under the table giving the perfect opportunity to design around them creating a nicely composed element in the room.

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Small works…

This is one of my favorite small mats. The client had installed this beautiful hand painted Spanish tile in the back splash. I couldn’t resist repeating it on the floor – hand painting it into the mat. The result: a beautiful cohesive component that helped bring focus to the back splash tiles. Below the picture is a sample of a digitally printed version I offer on my website.

Wall to wall mat…

This is the first time I’ve designed a mat that filled the entire floor, edge to edge. Usually mats move slightly like area rugs so I don’t like them to butt against anything. However, because this mat was going to be adhered to the floor, it wasn’t a problem. This kitchen and the entire house had a southwest theme so the design of mocked stone tiles seemed appropriate. I handmade stencils and then dry brushed faux tile finishes. The background itself is a beautiful soft faux giving the overall appearance of a rustic southwest blanket. The mat was an inspiration for the client to redo the cabinets and paint the walls. Scroll down to see the ’before‘ picture – you won’t believe your eyes. This is one for the record books. I don’t know who had the harder project – me or the client. 

Getting something from nothing…

What do you do when the room offers very little… there’s no color, style, or theme. Believe it or not, the hardest mat for me to design is when I can do anything I want. Check out below the ‘before’ picture of this kitchen – I got nothin’. To make matters worse, the client wanted a very large mat, one that would drop over the kitchen island donut style – a cool idea. In the end, I decided a Tuscan style design would work well with the gray stone tile. The result (see the next photo) was this rustic, playful mat where the art flowed around the island totally stylizing the kitchen. Sometimes you get something from nothing. Words to live by.