Driving Miss Stacey: The Quilted floor, Apollo and an Orange Crush Quilt

Hi All - Greetings from the UK

I wanted to share with you my daughters entry floor. And Apollo!

She lives in a house that is 145 years old in England.

This floor reminds me of my Orange Crush quilt that I made from a Bonnie Hunter mystery a few years back.

Ohhhh it is so very cold on the feet. OF course the day that I arrived the high temperature was 32 degrees and snowing. I had to do some research on these types of floors and it is interesting. They are called Minton tiles.

My Orange Crush Top

Minton's Ltd, was a major ceramics manufacturing company, originated with Thomas Minton (1765-1836) the founder of "Thomas Minton and Sons", who established his pottery factory in Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in 1793, producing earthenware and from 1798 bone china.

(source: wikipedia)

Victorian era geometric floor tiles are based on the patterns found in medieval churches and cathedrals (think Westminster Abbey). Some have put this influence down to the rising middle classes of the Industrial Revolution attempting to add 'class' to their houses by imitating the houses of the aristocracy that only master-craftsmen were able to create.

During the Victorian era, it was common to tightly pack tiles together without any grout lines. This was related to the ongoing development and availability of cement. Because of the lack of grout lines, it was beneficial to a tiled floor's stability for the tiles to interlock and hold each other in place.

Later tile patterns from the Art Deco period show tiles arranged with differing shades to create an isometric projection on the floor.

The neat thing about these tiles was that the homeowner got to design or personalize their own floor or pick out a pre-fabed one. Look at this assortment of centers.

They are also used in many government buildings in the United States in Washington DC