I recently visited a new client’s home to discuss a remodel she's about undergo.
She has some old ceramic tile that she needs to replace, as well as some other modifications needing to be made.
She’s a real estate agent in this area and has been in lots of homes around here - lots. She and I both know the standard look that The Woodlands and other Houston suburban homes have.
She suddenly looked at me sideways and said, "I don't like travertine."
“Good,” I replied. “Me neither.”
We both acknowledged that the “look” of most area homes around here involve travertine floors all over and, well, we’re a little sick of them.
If you remodeled your suburban home 20 years ago, and you live in a hot climate like we do here, it’s quite probable that you have travertine floors.
It hides all kinds of dirt and pet hair and is a natural stone product. Naturally everyone thought they had found gold!
It was installed in many homes around here; and before 2008 when the recession hit, it was going for really cheap, with big billboards showing up off I-45 advertising the deals.
Then, when things slowed down in remodeling and construction, design styles were naturally reassessed. We wanted style that's a little more cleaned up. Something more timeless and, well, less “Old World”-ish.
Travertine typically has lots of beige or pinky-beige mottling that can dictate your color palette in a major way.
Most people paired a color scheme with it that duplicated the travertine throughout the home. There’s usually lots of brown, golds, or other warm neutrals. Now that people are preferring white or other cool neutrals, that travertine presents a problem when attempting to transition into a newer look.
Are you an owner of travertine floors?
There's no doubt that the material and installation were a big investment for you. There's no doubt that after having it installed only within in the past 10 years you’re not in the mood to redo everything again. Doing so would be expensive. And busting out that product is a big giant mess waiting to happen.
So, how you can you live with that floor? How can you live with that product that’s becoming a little dated, a little dingy looking, and something that every other house on the block has too?
I’ve got just the answer:
Pair it with a soft, warm white.
That's right — make the travertine the color in the room. Make it appear as a “sand” color in the scheme. Make white your neutral.
Make it look like...
THIS:
AND THIS:
AND THESE: