Squared Away : In Praise of the Permanence of Tile

Why would someone want to live surrounded by tile--to lounge on tile sofas, eat dinner while seat ed on tile chairs, sleep on a futon atop a wedge-shaped tile platform?

Charles and Sonya Shooster of Beverly Hills like the simplicity and durability of tile and don’t think of it as cold or hard. “In the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Rome, many tiles remain intact,” Charles Shooster says. “We like to think that our house might have some of that permanent quality.”

Shane Gibson of Geo-Tile (formerly Eurocraft Tile) in Van Nuys and craftsmen Jeff Gibson and Bob Momcilovich worked a year installing marble floors and ceramic tile on all surfaces in one bathroom, two bedrooms and the living-dining room of the home. Gibson also designed and built the tile furniture.

Because tile’s unforgiving angles demand precision work, the job “was truly a challenge,” Gibson says. “We couldn’t take any shortcuts. Before we could begin, we had to straighten a few walls so that they would be plumb and the tile would look perfect.”