A brick is a brick is a brick...not

A brick is a brick is a brick...not

November 19th --  Today may be a record day for the greatest number of posts to this blog.  

About two weeks ago I visited two different tile places to select the tile for the floor and walls for all of the bathrooms and the wall tile for the kitchen.  That was a real experience.  Fortunately, at the second location I worked with a designer who was amazing and made the process relatively painless.  However, neither of these two tile places had the tile that I wanted for the south wall of the kitchen....

As shown in the rendering below by the kitchen designer, the left section of the kitchen, which is against the original south brick wall of the house, will have exposed brick.  However, the original brick was construction grade and not suitable to have around the counters or sink.  So, I went in search of brick tile.  There are two ways to go here...ceramic or porcelain tile that "looks like" brick, or actual brick that is cut thin to create a brick veneer.

The "looks like" brick tile, was really pretty lame and disappointing, especially since  there are examples of "looks like" tile that is really amazing.  For example, below are tiles that "look like" wood floor (the "tumbleweed" color in the middle of this photo is the floor tile that I have selected for the second bath on the upper level).

So, today I ventured to a very industrial part of the city to a place that advertises itself as "more than a brick yard," and in deed it was.

This place is more than a brickyard as it had actual showrooms of more different types of bricks than I have ever seen.  The designer who helped me specializes in architectural brick (who knew?), and I came home with two samples.  Not only does brick differ by color, but also by size, finish, texture and several other variables that I can't even begin to remember.

So, I narrowed my choices down to the following two:

This brick sample is called "Pawnee" and to the left is a sample of the painted white maple cabinet and in the foreground is a sample of the nordic black antique granite that will be the counter top.  

This next brick sample is called "Sedona" and again to the left is a sample of the painted white maple cabinet and in the foreground is a sample of the nordic black antique granite that will be the counter top.   

These two samples are very similar in color, with the Pawnee being a bit more red  with some black and the Sedona a bit more on the brown side.  The Pawnee is a larger size brick, while the Sedona is smaller.  

How on earth will I decide between these two?   

I am meeting with my contractor and architect on Thursday, and I am hoping they will help me to make the decision.  

In the meantime, please feel free to weigh in by sending your choice to me by e-mail. 

 Stay tuned for the great brick decision of 2013!