Fancy tiles

[dr.girlfriend]

What is the deal with fancy tiles like Walker Zanger?  Can you not just buy them, you *have* to go through a designer or something?  Even the "get a quote online" stuff asked me for a ton of info and then only wanted a business name.

[TBM]

I think most designer tile has authorized dealers that you have to buy through. They usually have a dealer locator on their website.

We couldn't get our backsplash tile anywhere except from the tile shop we went to...it turned out that the particular color we chose was exclusive to that dealer. We didn't even realize that we had ordered a designer tile until we saw the boxes with the name on them...we just liked the way they looked.

[orval]

WE have a walker zanger showroom in ou city (across from a favorite brewery). They do have authorized dealers on their site. I would try one of them

[bhnumbers]

There is a nice tile store nearby, Architessa (I'm in the DC area), where you can definitely buy Walker Zanger without working with a 3rd party designer.

[dr.girlfriend]

Mar 10, 2022 10:48:15 GMT -5 bhnumbers said:

There is a nice tile store nearby, Architessa (I'm in the DC area), where you can definitely buy Walker Zanger without working with a 3rd party designer.

Ooh, I’ll be in DC this weekend! 😁

[bhnumbers]

Mar 10, 2022 13:15:11 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Mar 10, 2022 10:48:15 GMT -5 bhnumbers said:

There is a nice tile store nearby, Architessa (I'm in the DC area), where you can definitely buy Walker Zanger without working with a 3rd party designer.

Ooh, I’ll be in DC this weekend! 😁

it would be a hike from DC proper, but Tatiana at the Vienna, VA location is wonderful to work with

[dr.girlfriend]

Mar 10, 2022 17:49:16 GMT -5 bhnumbers said:

Mar 10, 2022 13:15:11 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Ooh, I’ll be in DC this weekend! 😁

it would be a hike from DC proper, but Tatiana at the Vienna, VA location is wonderful to work with

Ah, yeah, they say they have a D.C. showroom "opening soon" but I guess not yet.  

[bhnumbers]

dr.girlfriend, they do have a Bethesda location and that's much closer to the city. But if your time is limited it might not be feasible. Have fun in DC!

[ellipses84]

If you want to see samples you have to go through an authorized dealer, product rep or showroom. Just think of this as not buying directly from the manufacturer and not that dissimilar as if you wanted a different tile and had to go to Lowes because Home Depot doesn’t carry it. This is how most things work in the commercial interiors industry.

Another option is to find the installer you want and get a bid for installation costs and a set SF material cost with the understanding you will pay the difference in material cost if you choose a more expensive tile. They could get you samples too. They probably won’t want to provide a ton of options though, so narrow it down to 1-3 by the photos.