The Insider: inspiring tiles from Bert & May

The Conran shop is usually out of this blog's price range... but this story is only partly about Conran.

The rest of it is about Bert & May, a new company (but also not so new, more of which shortly) specialising in beautiful reclaimed and made-to-look reclaimed tiles. Bert & May today launch their collaboration with the Conran Shop, with whom they have exclusively developed a hue named Azure Blue, inspired by the French Riviera.

They've woven Azure into a range of geometric tile designs featuring an array of other blues. Rather lovely, don't you think? Especially on a living room floor... And if you can't afford enough tiles to do that, you could get busy with a stencil and some no-prep Annie Sloan paint... (I'll be writing more about Annie Sloan anon, since I've just done one of her paint effect classes).

Brits don't generally do tiles on bedroom or living room floors – it's not, of course, an idea that would ever have originated in a country with chilly winters. But underfloor heating has changed everything. If you fancy the idea, you might also find inspiration in this incredible 70s-heavy house in Mali, tiled pretty much all over.

Alternatively, you could also limit your tile numbers, as I did in the recent downstairs loo makeover, which made two salvage yard floor tiles centre-stage. And two tiles are eminently affordable.

But I digress.

My first contact with the company now known as Bert & May was a couple of years ago, when the company's co-founder Lee Thornley dropped me a line.

The email explained how his passion for beautiful reclaimed tiles had come about. And it was quite a story... Lee (Bert) and his wife Amelia (who is not, incidentally, May) met on a Spanish course in Andalucia. Both had quit their respective "rat race" lives in the UK (his words) and wound up there, searching for something new. They found each other, and in under three months of meeting had decided to open a hotel in Spain together. But when their search for a beautiful old building to renovate was unsuccessful, they decided to build their own "old new" version. The hotel Casa La Siesta has since been voted one of Tatler's top 100.

But the building process had opened up another new door for Lee: reclaimed tiles which, as he puts it, he now "rummages around Europe for", and the skill of reproducing said tiles beautifully. And a few years later, with business partner, Harriet Roberts (she's May) here we are...

Bert & May's Azure Blue Majadas costs £7.50 each (plus vat).

Azure Blue Churriana also costs £7.50 each (plus vat).

But aside from the Conran collection, these designs also caught my eye.

The Ortuno tile costs from £7.50 apiece (plus vat). And take inspiration from this bar decor using the tiles: why tile a full wall?

This is the base of a bar – but why not the base of a bath?

Another commercial interior to be inspired by: I love the idea of framing a window, or indeed another architectural feature, with a tiled column or two.

The Zorita tile is priced as those above.

And these ones, above, Monochrome Esparza (£9 each, originals) remind me a little of the pair I picked up for the loo, don't you think?

bertandmay.com

Post by Kate

The Insider: so, apparently carpets are back

According to a reliable source (OK, well not really – it was the PR for a carpet company) wall-to-wall carpets are back in vogue.

But no need to take their word for it: the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) confirms that carpet sales are growing at their fastest rate since 1996.

Do you have carpet? Are you hankering after some? Dreaming of ripping yours up? I live in a house of bare floorboards and not enough rugs. In fact, we have just one rug the size of a tea towel. And I get cold feet. But could I live with carpet? I'm sure I'm not the only one to have been conditioned by years of beautiful interiors images to see carpet as a bit incongruous in most situations. Perhaps these will change my mind...

It's an easier transition if you think giant rug rather than wall-to-wall fitted. This one is from Alternative Flooring. It's called Sisal Bouclé Bitterne and is priced at £35.95 per square metre. Sisal was big in the late 90s when I had my first sisal carpet (they were everywhere in the 90s) and lovely as it was underfoot, it loved crumbs. Refused to give them up even to the Hoover on full blast. A tighter weave, like this, may not be quite so hungry.

Colourful carpets can be overpowering and garish in the wrong setting. Choose bold and work a room design around the carpet rather than trying to make it fit into an existing scheme; use it as the starting point for your palette and accessories. It's not for the faint-hearted, but matching the carpet's drama by colour-blocking with different bold shades on the walls works brilliantly.

And who could resist a striking stair-runner? Not me. This design, Quirky Skinny Black is also from Alternative Flooring and costs £96 per square metre. If you can't stretch to that, I love Abigail Ahern's clever DIY trick of using assorted rug runners and staple-gunning them to your stairs. She shares a how-to in her book A Girl's Guide to Decorating (Quadrille).

 Too much – or too cool?

This big design of this floor-filler shapes the rest of the room, picked up in the walls as well as the cushion on the bed and working well with the equally strong wall-to-wall glossy wooden under-window cabinets to unify the hint-of-70s appeal.

Now we're talking. Like the lavish and brilliantly ridiculous bathroom carpet in the top image, this is my idea of carpet heaven. Deep pile, open fire, crazy 70s circular sofa... That's surely the way to enjoy some wool under your feet. Just need my own chest-rugged Magnum look-alike to recline with now...

Images: Alternative Flooring; Hideaway by Monarch Carpet Mills; M Design Interiors; NewSpirit-Square; ABC Rugs

Neisha Crosland's vinyl floor tiles

Vinyl flooring has been getting better and more interesting in recent years – and is a brilliantly affordable way to get yourself a stylish floor. I have my whole ground floor done in dark grey vinyl, which I love (though it's not quite as good at hiding muddy dog paw prints as I'd hoped...). 

Now the textile designer, Neisha Crosland, has brought out a range which is on sale at John Lewis.

It looks just like old-school ceramic floor tiles, doesn't it? Except you won't break your cereal bowl if you drop it in an early morning daze on this flooring, which costs just £47.89 for 12 tiles (seen individually, below) at John Lewis.

"A painted floor in an old house inspired this Celtic Cross design" says Crosland. "I think it works very well as an alternative to a chequerboard pattern." The tiles come in Charcoal, Sage, Stone or Turquoise. They are available from next month at Harvey Maria. Understated and classy.

From my own experience, vinyl flooring is excellently practical but I wouldn't advise trying to fit it yourself. It shows the tiniest bumps on whatever's underneath it (including joins between MDF boards), so needs very careful preparation of the existing floor to look slick. It can also be more fragile than one would expect and can tear; but only if you drag, say, kitchen appliances across it. Until I had mine fitted, I didn't know you could also get colour-matched caulk, or silicone filler (which may mean nothing if you are not a DIY nerd like me) to give the edges the tidiest finish. A good idea.

Above, an example of Neisha Crosland's more traditional tile designs – these vibrant beauties are the Haveli collection.

Above, clockwise from left Find alternative vinyl flooring also worth checking out from: The Colour Flooring Company, who sell a range of gorgeous vibrant colours in sheet vinyl form, Zazous, which also supplies Victorian-reminiscent patterns and Cath Kidston, whose trademark florals as well as her cowboy print and different coloured dotty designs now come in floor tiles.