Coast Tile & Marble Supply
Mike Eisele, Head of Design

Designing a kitchen or bathroom, regardless of what the home remodeling shows on television would suggest, can be a tricky proposition. More and more homeowners these days desire a focal point in the space, something that will immediately draw everyone's eye as soon as they walk into the room. But with so many different material options available, as well as multiple elements to the renovation, it is easy to end up with a project where the backsplash clashes with the countertops or the flooring, creating a sloppy look.

That's where the experts at Coast Tile & Marble Supply can step in and help turn a lackluster remodel into a stunning one. A third-generation family company in business since the 1960s, its team specializes in flooring as well as accent pieces, working with everything from tile and hardwood to natural stone and marble.

"The idea is to have someone walk into the room and have their eyes catch something interesting like a unique pattern or elegant mosaic, and then gaze at the rest and see that the whole concept works so well together," says Mike Eisele, head of design. "You do need the showstopper, and we help our customers pick that first."

We spoke with Eisele to learn more about accents and how Coast Tile & Marble Supply can guide homeowners down the right path.

Are a lot of customers looking for a focal point in the kitchen or bathroom when they decide to remodel those rooms?
Absolutely. Nowadays with Pinterest and Instagram, a lot of people will come in and ask for something exotic or exciting in a certain area, and they look to us to help them decide where to put it. Once we've established what the focal point is going to be, they want us to help them find the right pieces to complete the whole aesthetic feel to the room. We do see them wanting to pick the accent first, so that's our starting point and then we help them get to the finish line.

What are some of the popular choices for a focal point in a kitchen?
For the longest time people were doing subway tile with a 3-inch accent band that would run across the whole backsplash. Now, it's typically a choice between three different options. If you have a range hood, something that has a little more space to it, you can do a 2 foot-by-2 foot boxed out area right behind the stove, where we would draw the attention as a focal point. If not that, then we do the full range, which is one of my personal favorites. You go from inside the range all the way up to the ceiling and that really creates a nice look. Finally, if you want to go really bold you can do the entire backsplash in something more exotic, and then we would have to be very careful in managing their countertop, cabinet and flooring selections.

How about in a bathroom?
A bathroom is the same kind of idea. It was an accent band for the longest time and it has transitioned over to the back wall of the shower or the wall behind the vanity. There are a couple different points in a bathroom that you can choose as your accent areas, and then you work around those to add complementing features that are a little more subtle for the rest of the bathroom.

Are homeowners getting a little more adventurous in terms of the colors they're choosing?
Definitely. We're seeing people move out of the traditional whites and grays and they're starting to introduce more vibrant colors. Serving the Shore area, we've always had the beachy blues as a popular color, but it's been exciting to see people do more greens and vibrant oranges and different colors that really pop. People are definitely getting out of their comfort zone.

What are some common mistakes you can help customers avoid?
A lot of times people will come into our showroom and fall in love with all of these different accent pieces, but when you put them together, it can be a little bit much. That's where we try to guide them to do it in an eloquent way; to not over design the area. That is one of the things that makes me the most proud of our team. We care about making sure you get what you want, but we want to make sure you're going to love it in the end, too. We don't just want to push product out the door, we want to do it in a way that is going to be beautiful, and as our saying goes, "make your decorating dreams come true."

What does it mean to you to be the third generation of a family business that was founded by your grandfather?
My brother and I are fourth generation in the industry and third generation here at Coast Tile. We've seen it all and we're constantly looking to see how we can improve and make the design process and the customers' experience even better. That was always my grandfather's goal, my father's and uncles' goal, and now that is our goal. We're so blessed to even have the opportunity to be in business for so long, and to carry it on has also been a blessing.

Coast Tile & Marble Supply
3168 Fire Road | Egg Harbor Township, N.J.
(609) 646-9346
CoastTile.net

Published (and copyrighted) in House & Home, Volume 22, Issue 3 (Spring 2022). 
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