Starting today through Wednesday of this week we are running a special Free Shipping offer on our Solana Glass Mosaic Tile Blends available in a 1 inch x 1 inch size. Purchase any one of the six available colors now through midnight on Wednesday February 24th and receive free shipping on any order over $100. This offer for our Solana Glass Mosaic tiles is only available to readers of our blog as a way for us to say thank you for reading our Blog and supporting our company. We appreciate your business and we hope you will continue to support our family business as we work to bring you the finest products in the tile industry.

Upon placing your order in the next few days for our Solana Glass Mosaic Tile Blends use code SGMT2010 during checkout to take advantage of this free shipping offer.

We are happy to be able to introduce our newest line of glass mosaic tile products as coordinating 1” x 1” blends that match our Solana 3” x 6” Glass Subway tiles. Our new Solana Glass Mosaic tile blends come in a 1” x 1” size, they are mesh mounted for easy installation by the Do-it-Yourselfer or the professional alike and they are in stock today for shipment right to your door.

There are six blends colors available and four of the blends colors – Meadow, Smooth Grey, Sand Dune, and Blue Lagoon coordinate colors with our Solana 3 x 6 glass subway tiles. So now, customers of ours for example who are installing our glass subway tiles in their showers can integrate our Solana 1” x 1” glass mosaic tile blends in a shower shampoo niche or as an accent stripe along the back and or side walls of the shower.

Customers installing a kitchen backsplash can also create an accent stripe as needed or use the Solana 1” x 1” tiles as “corner cut outs” when an accent piece is desired in larger backsplash areas.

And for the glass mosaic tile blends colors such as Latte and Cabernet that were not made to coordinate with our Solana 3 x 6 glass subway tiles these colors are very rich and beautiful to stand on their own. Consider using the Latte color as a design accent with our Bamboo 3 x 6 Chestnut color tile for a glass mosaic tile accent with Bamboo subway tiles. The cool part of these new glass mosaic tiles is that there is no limit to the possible design combinations using tiles right from our own product portfolio.

In the next several weeks our customers will have the opportunity to choose coordinating glass mosaic tile blends in a 1” x 1” size in colors to match many of our Solana Glass Subway tile colors. We have created a mix of blends colors to match many of our glass subway tiles as well as blends colors, well, which we just happened to like how they looked together.

The blends will be in stock and will be priced at a level that makes their purchase affordable for most remodeling budgets out there. Our customers have been asking us for more glass mosaic tile choices and we think you will be pleased with what you see when the material is ready. Check back with our Blog often at the beginning of the year when we hope to run a few deals on our new glass mosaic tile blends to get the ball rolling with our new products

We are contemplating doing our part to keep the US economy going by replacing our refrigerator since ours is getting a little long in the tooth. I have to admit I have been trying to avoid the expense but when the refrigerator is louder than my two kids at home I guess I might have to cave in and start looking.

In searching around online and researching different refrigerator products I learn that the average household spends approximately $2,000 per year on energy for appliances and energy analysts predict that an average size family can save $700 per year by purchasing energy efficient appliances. There is great information online about purchasing energy efficient appliances and these are some of the sites I visited.

Energy Star at energystar.gov

Federal Trade Commission www.ftc.gov

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
www.aceee.org

If you too are in the market for appliances or want to know more about energy efficiency in the home these websites are great places to start. And if you can’t find good information here then supplement your research by visiting the appliance manufacturer’s websites to fill in the gaps.

We are still wearing out the sunscreen and wearing shorts and T-shirts here in Arizona while much of the country has pulled their winter jackets out of the closet already. With Halloween just around the corner I saw this scary find over at the L.A. Times Home Blog that might be a good addition to the driveway for those braving the cold while handing out candy to the little ones who come by in a couple of weeks on October 31st.

At more than 3 feet in diameter and made of quarter inch raw steel this $700 Patio Fire Bowl from speedcult.com will charm the neighbors in a ghoulish way. I can imagine walking up to a house with my kids on Halloween night and seeing this ring of fire guarding the candy dish in front of a house!! Hurry up if you plan to add it to your haunted house because it normally takes 2 – 4 weeks to receive once an order is placed.

Looking for an inexpensive way to add color and upgrade a kitchen backsplash, bathroom shower, or tub surround? Look no further and take advantage of our weekend deals offered only though the AnchorBayTile Blog.

For this weekend only through Sunday October 4th, enjoy Free Shipping on orders of $250 or more for our Kona Blends glass mosaic tile. Use coupon code OctKona during checkout and any qualifying order will enjoy free shipping for this weekend only.

Thank you for visiting our Blog and remember to check back often. Each Friday we will try to offer a new coupon on a different item from week to week. Send us your comments or leave on below if you would like us to choose a particular item for our weekly specials.

Take 10% off of our Soho 3” x 6” subway tile in any color this weekend. Perfect for tiling a kitchen backsplash, tub surround, or bathroom shower, our subway tile is a great addition to any home. The Soho 3 x 6 subway tile comes in either a regular straight edge or a beveled edge with all accompanying trim and decorative pieces available.

For this weekend only take 10% off any completed order for our Soho Subway Tile in the 3” x 6” size. Use coupon code SeptSubway when completing your purchase during checkout and the discount amount of 10% will be deducted from your order upon order completion.

Thank you for visiting our Blog and also for your continued support of our family run small business! Have a great weekend.

Tired of granite, marble, soapstone? Looking for a new high end countertop for your kitchen that will be different than what you see in the other houses in your subdivision? Look no further.

Metallo Arts has custom made pewter and zinc countertops that are stunning, and I am not just talking about the cost, which can be up to $400 per linear foot.

I have seen other metals used as countertops, but none of them have the detail and patina that pewter and zinc do. It would give any kitchen an old world feel, unlike some of the more shiny metals like stainless steel which are decidedly modern in their aesthetic. The website calls it living metal and points to its antibacterial properties as a selling feature. Though, I think that most people who are attracted to these counters are not really worried about its antibacterial properties.

While the price of these counters puts them out of the reach of the average homeowner, I could see spending the money to use on an island or other small accent area in the kitchen.

I think I may have written it a million times, but we are in the middle of a full kitchen remodel. The plans have been drawn, the cabinets and appliances purchased, the flooring is just waiting to be installed. The planning is the fun part, I think. Though I hope that it is replaced by the fun p[art of actually using the kitchen when all is said and done.

In the latest issue, Consumer Reports talks about the secrets of successful kitchen remodels. One of the reports that spoke to me was avoiding the hype, what to buy instead of the trendy items. I know from experience that when you start really looking at kitchens you can get sucked into the vortex of the newest, hippest, trendiest items. After all the work you don’t want your kitchen to be outdated any time soon.

Here are their tips:

1) Avoid pro style appliances.

I think that this is a tough one. If you are remodeling and thinking of the resale value of your home, you need to consider what your neighbors have. If in your neighborhood there is the expectation that houses will have a pro-style range, you will be doing your home a disservice by not installing one. I have discovered, however, that having one high end appliance is the way to go. If you have a 36″ Viking range, that will be the focus of attention in the kitchen. The other appliances can be faux pro-style stainless steel clad and be had for thousands yet.

2) Speed cooking. These are cookers that combine microwaving with conventional cooking. I personally did not even entertain buying one of these. I have enough trouble cooking without adding this to the mix. A convection oven is as high tech as I am going.

3) Multimedia Refrigerators. Yes, they look cool, but according to Consumer Reports, the do not literally cool as well as their traditional counterparts. I love how Consumer Reports says you would be much better served with a conventional refrigerator and a pad of sticky notes.

4) Trendy Counter tops. If you want your countertops to be maintenance free, you might want to skip some of the more trendy options out there, like poured concrete. I love the look of concrete, but after hearing about its susceptibility to cracking and staining, it was out of the running for me. And though I love the way it looks, so was soapstone. The need for oiling and the easy scratching, even though they can be buffed out, was more than I was willing to do. I’ll take granite. It is timeless and durable.

5) Pricey faucets and sinks. Have you seen some of the prices? Here you need to do your research. It is important to spend the money on a quality faucet that will hold up to daily use, but many of the higher priced sinks are no different than their lower priced counterparts.

Other things to avoid, according to Consumer Reports — turbocharged dishwashers, appliance drawers, green flooring that is not durable, and one stop shops.

We all love air conditioning, but most of us don’t know all that much about it.

1) Consider the type of air conditioner that you need. There are window units, through the wall units, portable units and whole house/central air units. Window units being the easiest for a homeowner to bring home, install, and use, not to mention the least expensive. Whole house units require professional installation and duct work in the house and is well beyond the scope of almost every DIYer.

2)Look at the EER. EER stands for Energy Efficiency Ratio. It is a measure of a particular air conditioning units efficiency. The higher the number the less energy the unit requires to run and therefore the less money it costs to operate.

3) Pick the right sized air conditioner for your room. The cooling capacity is measured in BTU/hour. BTU/hour stands for British Thermal Units per hour. The higher the number, the greater the cooling capacity. It is important to pick the right sized air conditioner for your room.

There is more to determining this than square footage alone. Consumer Reports has a worksheet available online to help you determine the right size unit for your needs.

4) Cost to run the unit. Most stores have an estimate on the sales tag of how much the unit will cost to run. They base this number on a woefully inadequate kilowatt hour charge. A much better way to determine the probable cost of running the unit is to look at your last electric bill and find the kilowatt hour charge for your area.

5) Determine the features that you want before you go shopping. Cooling speeds, adjustable vents, and easily accessible filter for cleaning, and the manufacturers warranty are all important to consider.