FARMHOUSE MOSAIC / TERRAZZO FLOOR

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Crafting Mosaic / Terrazzo floors: A Unique Farmhouse Project

Nestled on a serene farm, this house stands as a testament to the beauty of repurposing and thoughtful reconstruction. Originally a tear-down, the owners chose a path less traveled—rather than starting from scratch, they rebuilt the home with reclaimed and repurposed materials, giving new life to old elements. This commitment to sustainability perfectly aligned with our approach to the flooring project. For the farmhouse floor, we created a sweeping tree mosaic using precut tesserae made from offcut waste UHPC (Ultra-High Performance Concrete). By incorporating these repurposed materials, the project not only reflected the owners’ ethos but also highlighted our dedication to blending artistry and sustainability.

The mosaic was first hand-drawn onto the concrete canvas, setting the stage for a unique creation. Over the holiday season, the Stone Design team and the farm’s family came together to bring this vision to life. This project was as much about connection and creativity as it was about craftsmanship—a true collaboration that celebrated the joy of working together to create something beautiful and meaningful.

substrate preparation

Given its location as the rear entrance to a working farm, this space needed more than just visual appeal—it had to be highly functional. The room serves as a wet room, looking out onto the picturesque farmyard while performing the practical role of storing freshly harvested vegetables and enduring the daily ebb and flow of muddy boots from collecting eggs. To meet these demands, we installed electric heat beneath the floor. This heating system ensures the floor dries quickly, making it easier to clean and preventing dampness from lingering in the high-traffic space. It adds both comfort and practicality, transforming the rear entrance into a warm and welcoming space that seamlessly balances utility and artistry. Once the uncoupled membrane and heating wires were installed, we poured a fiber-reinforced concrete layer to serve as the canvas for the mosaic. This specialized concrete mix was chosen for its enhanced flexural strength, which allows the floor to accommodate natural movements of the building without cracking. When paired with the uncoupled membrane, this combination ensures long-lasting durability and stability, even in a space subject to frequent use and environmental shifts. The result is a foundation that is as strong and reliable as it is beautiful, perfectly prepared to showcase the intricate mosaic design.

The Process of Cutting Tesserae for the Mosaic

To create the intricate tree mosaic, we repurposed UHPC (Ultra-High Performance Concrete) offcuts, transforming them into small tesserae. Using a tile saw, we carefully sliced the dense UHPC tiles into precise pieces. Various shades of the material were thoughtfully chosen, cut, and then meticulously sorted into trays to streamline the creation process. This sorting step allowed us to efficiently place each tessera, ensuring the design flowed naturally and the transitions between shades were seamless. While traditional tile nippers are often used in mosaic work, they proved ineffective for this project. The fibrous and ultra-dense nature of UHPC made the material too tough to cut by hand, highlighting the need for precision tools like the tile saw. This challenge underscored the uniqueness of working with UHPC—its strength and durability, while ideal for the floor's longevity, required an adjusted approach to crafting the individual tesserae.

Bringing the Mosaic Tree to Life

At the top of the farmhouse property stands a magical dogwood tree , a towering symbol of strength, beauty, and connection—that became the inspiration for the mosaic centerpiece. Once the artwork was sketched onto the floor, the real magic began. Over the course of a week, three generations of the farm's family and our Stone Design team came together to breathe life into the design. Countless hours were spent selecting just the right shade of tesserae from the carefully sorted trays and adhering them to the floor piece by piece. Each moment brought its own rhythm—filled with farmhouse meals shared around the table, music playing in the background, and drinks in hand as we all worked, laughed, and told stories. The result is far more than just the art itself. The sweeping mosaic tree represents a celebration of creativity, connection, and craftsmanship. It is a testament to the memories created during its making—a tangible reflection of the collaborative spirit that made this project so special.

Encapsulating the Mosaic

Once the mosaic was complete, the next step was to pour a polishable concrete around it—an essential process that both protected the mosaic and elevated its visual impact. The polished concrete created a stunning contrast to the intricate texture of the tesserae, allowing the tree mosaic to stand out as the centerpiece of the room. This technique also addressed a common challenge with traditional mosaics: their highly textured surfaces, while beautiful, can be difficult to clean and often wear inconsistently over time. By combining the mosaic with terrazzo and polished concrete, we were able to achieve a floor that not only looked incredible but was also practical, durable, and easy to maintain. For Nolan Mayrhofer of Victoria Stone Design (VSD), this project was a culmination of years of honing his craft. Nolan began his career as a mosaic artist before transitioning into the world of concrete and terrazzo, a journey that gave him a unique perspective on how these mediums can work together. A recent trip to Spain, where he explored the extraordinary works of Antoni Gaudí, solidified his vision. Gaudí’s masterful blending of mosaics, stone, and concrete inspired Nolan to see these techniques not as separate disciplines but as parts of a larger, integrated art form—one that offers infinite possibilities for aesthetics and craftsmanship. The farmhouse floor is a perfect example of this multi-tiered approach. It represents a seamless fusion of art and functionality: a mosaic born of creativity, surrounded and preserved by concrete, and polished into a lasting legacy. This project exemplifies the endless potential of combining traditional artistry with modern techniques to create something that is both timeless and enduring.