Tulips and Hearts

Learning grout color is everything.

This mosaic coat rack was created by a group of friends as a gift for our dear friend who had moved to the East Coast. We wanted her to know that we were still thinking of her three years after her husband’s passing. Her husband had died too young, too fast, and we all missed him deeply.

One of the West Coast friends created a simple tulip design to commemorate our friend’s favorite family Springtime tradition-The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. We worked together at my house over several sessions to complete the project. Even though the design was simple, those tiny tiles in the background took some time to carefully place.

As in all mosaics, the next stage in our process included the cement and grout. Grout color can change the look and expression of a piece so I had to be sure I got the right color for this project. I decided to run a test by creating a couple of mosaic valentines that would also help me to later remember this special project. These little magnetic hearts were the perfect mini-trials to help make my grout decision for the big coat rack. As you can see, we chose the dark grout in the end. Over the years, I have discovered that when in doubt, always go dark.

All three of these mosaics have found their way to their special places in this world. Two are on refrigerators (mine and the project’s designer) and the coat rack is in our dear friend’s hallway next to the kitchen.

#gofindyourplaceintheworld #homeisthelove #mosaics #heartsandtulips #PNW