Fired Earth

We painted our entire flat ourselves and used the money we saved on labour to buy some lovely, expensive paints at Fired Earth. Our Victorian flat has some settlement cracks in the walls and ceilings. We did a little bit of mudding and sanding before we painted, and what a difference! These paints are thick and smooth — they mask imperfections. The colours are absolutely beautiful, too. Each room takes on a slightly different look at different times of day, depending on the light. I’ve never had people complement me on the colour of the walls before, but they do now. We were also able to effectively cover up some pretty intense colours with only two coats. I’d highly recommend these paints. They make such a big difference to how your house looks, so it’s worth it to spend a little extra. Their tiles look fantastic, too. They’ve got tiles that will match the look of the antique ones in Glasgow closes.

As far as tile shops go, this has the advantage of being central and having a wide range of styles. There is a preponderance of earth tones, and the nature of tiles don’t strike me as entirely appropriate for my Glasgow bedsit, but I enjoy browsing here and dreaming of that Tuscan villa and warm pottery beneath my bare feet…
It is rather expensive, and aims at an affluent market– Tedesco’s, out in Springburn is better for bog-​standard tiles– but these are far more elegant and stylish.

Okay, so if you’re thinking about doing some home re-​decoration — please make a trip to Fired Earth. Before we get any further, I should tell you that it’s not cheap. But this shop will make even the interior design challenged excited about tiles and paint. I mean, seriously, they have sparkly tiles. Sparkly ones!
Sparkles aside, at Fired Earth you’ll find a great selection of wall tiles, floor tiles and mosaic tiles. They also have an absolutely gorgeous selection of paints, including authentic National Trust paints. You can buy these in small or big pots too, depending on how rich you’re feeling.
The staff are really smiley and friendly, and didn’t mind at all that I was just having a bit of an indulgent browse. (You know, dreaming of a day when I’ll have my own flat AND be well-​off enough to buy my tiles from Fired Earth. Ahhhhhhh).

For all your tile needs, Fired Earth is the place to go — I didn’t even realise this place existed until our landlord last year redecorated our kitchen. We needed to sort out a time for them to come by and drop the tiles off, so I stopped off whilst in town. What a tiny wee tile shop!
The staff were very friendly, and even knew what I was talking about when I basically garbled a spiel about our landlord and tiles. I even got a sneak peak at the tiles — not exactly my first choice in tiles, however, I was only going to be in the flat for another 2 months… (Yellow — like egg yolk yellow — tiles for a white/​brown kitchen? Er… no thanks).
We sorted out a delivery date and the tiles arrived. Perfect — well it would have been if they hadn’t been THAT ‘lovely’ yellow…