A Southern California Surfer Brought Ocean Currents Into Her Kitchen With Striped Concrete Tile

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Blending artistry with resilience, Concrete Collaborative creates hand-poured concrete surfaces built to withstand everyday life—from graphic patterned tiles to vibrant terrazzo—infused with a distinctly modern sensibility.

For most homeowners, a glimpse of the Pacific through the window is connection enough to the coast. But for Leah Bradley—a lifelong surfer raised by a professional wave-rider in Southern California—capturing that seaside essence indoors was just as vital. What she never anticipated was needing two attempts before her kitchen truly reflected the shoreline she adores.

Half a decade ago, the interior and landscape designer and her surfer husband settled into a mid-century ranch in Costa Mesa with their three children. Bradley's primary ambition was to unlock better spatial flow and inject a relaxed coastal sensibility that honored her roots.

She removed two non-structural partition walls in the kitchen, uniting it with the foyer and dining room. Engineered oak flooring replaced the tired vinyl, and she introduced an island alongside bespoke oak cabinetry. To ground the lofty pitched ceiling and flood of natural light from the skylights, Bradley swapped the white porcelain for unglazed terracotta beneathfoot. Yet after settling in, she found the combination of timber and clay tile had produced a monotonous expanse of warm earth tones. "I realized the space was craving a touch of color," she recalls.

Bradley set out to reinvigorate the room with something that resonated more deeply with her saltwater soul. Fortune intervened when she discovered Domino's collaboration with Concrete Collaborative—a collection of hand-pressed concrete tiles in ready-to-ship palettes inspired by sun-drenched coastlines. Strikingly beautiful yet remarkably tough, they bring an artisanal soul to any room and perform beautifully outdoors as well.

The practical upside was equally compelling: low-maintenance concrete could weather the daily rhythm of a household of five without compromising on aesthetics. "Our kitchen is the heartbeat of the home—kids perched on the counter helping with dinner, paint supplies spread across the island on creative mornings," Bradley shares. When it came to choosing a hue, the answer was intuitive. "I either need to be out in the water or to feel like I am," she laughs, describing the shade she selected—fittingly called Rain. "It's a whisper-soft blue that feels serene and absolutely right for our beach house."

Rather than laying the four-by-four tiles in a straightforward solid field, Bradley experimented with understated motifs, including a sporty checkerboard. In the end, she gravitated toward alternating stripes, weaving Concrete Collaborative's Blonde shade between the Rain rows for a gentle rhythm that wouldn't compete with the mid-century bones of the architecture. "The kitchen feels airy, inviting, and full of breeze," she observes.

An unexpected delight: the clean vertical lines guide the gaze upward to a row of floating shelves where Bradley arranges beloved souvenirs from the couple's surfing expeditions across the globe—carved wooden objects, well-thumbed books, and vintage artwork. "These pieces were disappearing against all that brown," she explains.

Today, "the tiles echo the ocean so naturally—those hints of seafoam cream and Pacific blue flowing together," she says. "It mirrors the movement of the currents." Even a narrow band of stripes below the picture window draws the eye toward what lies beyond: a rack stacked with the family's surfboards, always at the ready. For Bradley, the kitchen now lets her make waves just as skillfully as she rides them.

Domino x Concrete Collaborative

Domino x Concrete Collaborative

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