About us

Hello, there! We’re Nick & Kayle, two architectural designers putting down our roots in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

We met in a city we still love; Saint Louis, Missouri. After four years there together, we decided to make a change, pack up our pups and our belongings and move back to Nick’s hometown of Pittsburgh. Our journey here was a bit of a rocky start (Nick got our moving truck’s wheel well wedged onto a gas station bollard… oops!), but we have loved every minute of being in the middle of the trees, mountains and rivers of the Steel City.

As architectural designers, we are both passionate about old homes and historic preservation. Our stay in Saint Louis made us both appreciate the brick, mortar, ceramic tile and beautiful woodwork that make up the fabric of the city there, and we knew we wanted to find a bit of that in a place we could call home.

We searched long and hard for a house that had in tact historic features, and found what we were looking for. The name of the blog comes from two of the main features we love in this home - the ceramic tile fireplaces and the oak that was used to make the floors, paneling, doors and millwork throughout the house. Our home was built around 1910, and we lovingly refer to it as a slim foursquare. You can click here to see a tour of our house from when we purchased it.

As we journey into creating a home of our own, you can catch us here with updates, sources for products, tips and DIY projects, and what is likely to be a whole lot of foolery from our two canine companions, Wyatt and Hanley. Who knows, maybe they will have their own segment on Ceramic & Oak someday.

We’re excited that you’re here with us. Thank you so much for stopping in.