Palm Springs, CA, is no stranger to the sun. With a hot desert climate, the resort city sees more than 300 days of sunshine and less than 5 inches of rain each year. Pretty favorable weather, wouldn’t you agree?

For one couple of homeowners, whose home needed some updating, they decided to transform their outdoor patio into a modern hideaway with a clean aesthetic, complemented by decorative tiled floors. “owner of Kaidan Erwin Interior Design in San Francisco, CA.

“From the moment I set foot into our home, I could see and feel what it needed to become,” the designer went on to explain. “All of the elegant ‘good bones’ were there, they just needed to be properly fleshed out with strong attention to detail and made current, but not in a ‘retro’ design-style way. I wanted everything to look both current and timeless throughout the house; we're doing multiple phased updates and refinement renovations throughout the house and grounds.  I wanted the patio flooring to have a strong pattern, something that made the patio look and feel special, like a ‘destination’ space, something that would draw you to it like a magnet. And I wanted a fairly large pattern.”

Erwin knew he wanted a decorative pattern, but didn’t want anything too common or traditional. After searching through various tile designs from many different manufacturers, he ultimately selected 8- x 8-inch cement tiles from the Dekko series in the color “Carrera” by Tesselle in Riverside, CA. “I knew I wanted black and a soft, almost white. I looked for months for the right tile, but only found designs I had seen over and over and over again for years that didn't quite fit stylistically what I had in mind, which was something on the edge between a traditional encaustic Moroccan tile design and a more contemporary design,” explained Erwin. “The vast majority of tiles I found were too traditionally Moroccan. Beautiful, but not what I wanted. Traditional Moroccan designs would take it into a more expected and ‘older’ design direction and a super contemporary design would look like an inappropriate add-on to the existing house and grounds by someone who wasn't paying attention to the existing home design.

“I was just about to bite the bullet and started working on a custom design with another company when I just happened to come across the Dekko Carrera design from Tesselle online,” the designer went on to say. “I knew immediately that I had found the design I was looking for -- a sophisticated design that wasn't too traditional, wasn't too contemporary and that was a sizable pattern. I contacted them the next day.”

Erwin used approximately 500 tiles from the series for the 230-square-foot patio and walkway to and from the pool area. “I worked directly with the wonderful Karin Jaske of Tesselle, who also designed the Dekko pattern and many others at Tesselle,” he said.

“Cement tiles are air-dried, not kiln-fired,” said Jaske. “Each tile is hand-pressed and the color layer penetrates the top ³/₈-inch of the tile.”

The project, which was successfully completed in about three months, has received “amazing” feedback from neighbors and visitors, as well as the homeowners. “Everyone was totally professional, easy and enthusiastic to work with,” said Erwin. “Our own response was the one that mattered to us most, though we are super happy that Karin was thrilled with the outcome and it gave Tesselle and the pillow designer, Mazizmuse Design Co., some nice photos of their work for their websites and business.”