Saturday, July 10, 2010

score!

I always have secret wishes on house projects in the back of my mind that when told out loud typically get the eye roll from the hubby. One of them has been carrera marble in the master bath - But even I knew that it was a pipe dream. But as we started to work through the real details of transitioning tile to wood, the shower, etc. etc. the idea of solid surfaces came up and the hubby warmed up to Carrera Marble on the horizontal surfaces - IF we could get it for cheap.

With the ice broken and our mission to find floor tile this morning, I of course fall in love with with 1 1/2" hex carrera marble sheet tile - but the unfriendly staff and a price tag of $75/ SF quickly let the air out of my balloon.

By the end of the day we ended up at Oregon Tile & Marble and talking to the sales staff about a few things. They were so friendly! Which was a big change to the other showrooms we had been visiting all day. We inquired about their 1" hexagon carrera marble sheet tile sample and the woman mentioned they got a new shipment by accident and it was 2" hexagon just earlier in the week. Pricing wasn't certain so they offered it to us for the price of the 1" hex ($14.95) and they would also give us a trade discount for both being in the industry.


Here's a sneak peek

So to make a long story short, we came home with the tile at under $12/ SF... LESS than the price of our lowest quote for standard 2" white ceramic tile. It paid to shop around and I'm in heaven.

3 comments:

Kaitlyn said...

yay!!! That's a great story Han-Mei....and I can totally see Joe rolling his eyes at you! hahaha WOW. We are so similar! Glad you got beautiful tiles for a steal!

tom | tall clover farm said...

Great story, I bet I can name the first tile store as they have a location in Seattle. First the perusal, next the mental assessment of your buying power, and then their assumptions on just how much to engage, followed by attitude as thick as heavy perfume. Yikes, guess I'm still bruised from my last visit there.

HMC said...

Tom, I know how it goes! Oregon Tile and Marble was fantastic to work with.