12.21.2010

The Pebble Floor Project

Simply Salad, Downtown Los Angeles

California St. Residence, Burbank (Kitchen)

California St. Residence, Burbank (Living Room)


The great thing about working for a construction company is that you get to work with many fabulous designers and then crib their best ideas after you learn how to build it/install it correctly.  Our local favorite, ras-a, inc. We have collaborated on a few projects with ras-a, inc. (see above) and we just can't get enough.  Besides the fact that the principal designer is lovely to work with, his clean, form-follows-function designs are never over the top.  (I can't stand over the top.)  No matter how big or small, each project has something special to showcase and they are well thought out.  Great use of light,and smart, eco-friendly details...
So, the detail we cribbed for our bedroom?  Pebble flooring.  I know what you are thinking.  "Doesn't dirt get trapped in it?"  "Isn't is a bear to clean?"  "What does it feel like when you walk on it barefoot?"  The answers: No, the marine grade 2 part epoxy that the pebbles are mixed and embedded in is used as a final top coat so it fills in any "holes" and is super easy to clean.  (Vacuum, broom or Swifer it and you are good to go) Hey, we put it in a restaurant and it passed health inspection. It passes the test on high traffic, high soil, commercial applications, so residential applications are a no-brainer.




There are tons of color-ways to chose from, and because the pebbles are smooth and small in size, it feels like a dimpled foot massage...
In  any case, we had horrific carpet in our bedroom.  The kind that deters one from inviting people over because it is gut-wrenching to look at.  It was way beyond what a steam cleaner could have rectified, so we moved all the furniture out, snapped on some construction masks, ripped up that nasty carpet and went to town.  You can order all the materials you need for pebble flooring on line, but we picked our pebbles up from a local building material store (Bourget Bros.) Then we made a Home Depot run for the small concrete mixer and a steel trowel.  The rest was just mix and spread out evenly with the trowel.  I won't lie, I was grateful that the room was small, but  the end result is very satisfactory.  Happy Troweling...


4 comments:

  1. I wanna come over and massage my feet on your bedroom floor :) maybe in 2012 when I'm travelling again.

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  2. You are welcome to come massage your tootsies on our floor anytime! BTW, why are you still awake? We are such night-owls...

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  3. I know this is an old post but I came across it in doing research for this flooring inside my home. May I ask how this floor has help up after a few years? I currently have porcelain tile floors in my mid century modern home that are a nightmare to keep clean with my 3 large dogs and this was suggested as a suitable replacement for ease of maintenance.

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  4. Love your loose pebble floors! Exactly what I've been looking to install but unable to find the information. Hopefully you're able to answer a few questions that, after much searching, I haven't been able to. What size pebble was used, was it mixed in doming or casting epoxy, was the pebble coated with something after it was layed, how did you prep wood subflooring (if wood subfloor used)? Thank you so much for sharing.

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