Victorian Hearth and Surround

This custom tile job was a real treat to work on. Clients hired us to create tiles around a gas insert in a gorgeous Victorian home built in Elora in 1896. The home has four vintage fireplaces – three of which had extant tiles. Our challenge was to make tiles that fit in thematically with the rest of the fireplaces and the house, but that had a bit more of a personal feeling. The clients wanted local flora represented. A number of designs were considered. The client ended up choosing a final design which featured snowdrops and a trillium!

We also included some of the design elements of the existing tiles in this project. We used a similar scale of tile for both the surround and the hearth. We took the colour palette from elements of the other tiles. You can see one of the extant fireplaces in the photo gallery below.

Finally, the design includes a few joyful and humourous elements as well. A snail and a beetle explore at the foot of the snowdrops, and two tiny stylized skulls appear as a heat warning at the corners of the hearth!