Tiles Right At Home

We’re having our pool resurfaced and wanted to change the border tiles to a style and color we liked better. But when we got the bid for the cost of the tiles and labor to install them, we discarded that idea. The tile above is the one that surrounds the edge of the pool and was made for Daltile in Mexico. Until I took a photo of the pool tile up close I didn’t really appreciate the design in this tile.


Before I learned the cost was prohibitive, I picked up a sheet of these blue green tiles with crystals which Gary and I both liked and thought would look super around the edge of our pool. If I had time I’d make tiles, but we need to get the pool filled before the rainy season and home insurance requires pools to be filled to be insured, so we have a short deadline. When I turned the tile over I was surprised to see these tiles are made in Korea. These crystal tiles remind me of Peter Gregory’s most recent beautiful crystal work. Now that we know we won’t be using these tiles and I’ll return them. Still it was fun to dream and learn these tiles were made in Korea.

The spotter tiles will be covered with the new pool surface so we still need 15 new spotter tiles which are placed on the steps and the bottom of the pool. The spotters are installed to show the dividing point between the shallow and deep end of the pool for child safety reasons. They are also installed on the steps for safety since water depth is hard to judge because surfaces appear closer or larger in water than they really are. We took a trip to the local tile store to see if we could find some spotter tiles which would coordinate with the tiles currently surrounding the pool.

I found out pool tile surfaces, colors, and styles are constantly changing much like clothing styles change. Natural stone and earth tones are popular for pools now instead of the shiny glazed surfaces of the tile which our pool currently has. There are almost no shiny pool tiles available unless we get the starfish or mermaid type tiles and those don’t appeal to us, especially since they wouldn’t coordinate with the tiles along the edge of the pool.


We discovered a few extra tiles in the storage shed out back, but a darker, solid color spotter tile would show up in the bottom of the pool much better than the tiles along the edge of the pool. We also found a few of these tiles which are spares for the entry way. The entry way tiles were made in Italy, but they are too light for spotter tiles.


Then miraculously we were putting in ceiling fans in the bedrooms and Gary discovered an ice chest in the attic. He looked inside the ice chest and found these dark blue tiles. Not sure why these tiles were saved in an ice chest in the attic, but I think they will work for our spotter tiles just fine. These dark blue tiles were made in Japan. Hope you enjoyed my tile tour around the globe. Who would have thought, though, that I'd find tiles right at home. Once we get our pool filled I’ll post some photos. Comments and suggestions are welcome.