If you’re here for the first time, welcome! I’m Jana Bek, an Ann Arbor based interior designer with an emerging lifestyle line of home décor, textiles, & lighting. I have a love for bright colors, bold prints, and designing spaces & home décor that help transport you to your dream destination.

I’m so excited to be participating in my fifth season of One Room Challenge & and a huge thanks to Linda of Calling it Home for organizing!

Here’s a look at my most recent past ORC’s (and you can tour all of them in links below):

Home Office / Breakfast Nook & Great Room/ Atlanta Apartment / Living Room

This round, I’m taking on our kitchen, it currently has a dark 90s dated look, that's completely out of sync with the bright and airy spaces that surround it.

The granite counters are staying, so the new tile for the backsplash was key to our kitchen’s success. It had to be light & beautiful. The wrong pick would just be another 90s version of what we already have.

I immediately knew I wanted to incorporate Fire Clay Tile into the design! They have the perfect line of stunning tile, and a great company story.

Justina Blakeney's Master Bath featuring FCT Deep Blue Hex tile

Each tile is made by hand and that level of craftsmanship really shows. They strive to be as sustainable as possible by consistently using recycled materials & local resources; & their customer service is absolutely top notch (with a great trade program to boot)! They also offer free samples, which not surprisingly resulted in the trickiest decision: choosing between so many beautiful options.

I was able to narrow my selection to a few pieces that fit well with our space, but since my photographer assesses color all day, Marta's opinion was the deciding factor. We went with Kiwi; a pale, yet vibrant shade of green that will beautifully complement the tones in our granite counters.

The original plan was to paint all of the cabinets, but the tile selection proved to be the real game changer leading us to replace the upper cabinets with floating shelves.

Now the tile will go all the way to the ceiling!

It’s going to be a ton of work, but it will be so bright, & make for a complete transformation. Here’s an inspiration image of the look we're trying to achieve:

Coffee Bar in FCT prickley pear glass tile, photo by Malcolm Fearnon

We’ve already made a lot of progress, the demo is complete, the drywall has been repaired, and we're starting to build the floating shelves. The kitchen already looks brighter!

Another awesome bonus about FCT? Since they hand craft each tile, you have the option of glazing or bull-nosing the tile edge so you can forgo a separate trim! My choice: a 3”x6” tile, in a classic subway pattern with a glazed edge. This will be a clean and elegant look.

I know I’ve gotten you pretty hyped up about Fire Clay Tile & you are in luck! They’ve just partnered with two other awesome companies (Joybird & Twyla) in an incredible $5,000 giveaway! Head on over for a chance to kick start your own room makeover!