Imagine if your little brother was a top-ranking executive for Interscope Records in Los Angeles. The perks could be almost endless, right? Front row concert seats, backstage passes, the Grammy’s.
Well, Chuck Reed is a top-ranking executive at Interscope Records, but lately this whole “perk” notion seems to be leaning his way quite a bit. That’s because his older brother, Jimmy Reed, is known as the best there is worldwide when it comes to custom glass mosaic tile design and installation.
And without question, the best example of Chuck’s good fortune can be found shining behind the grand piano in the living room, where Jimmy Reed custom designed, fabricated and installed a masterful floor to ceiling, 15 foot long mirror glass mosaic feature wall.
Jimmy Reed is best known for his artistic designs and custom installations of luxury glass mosaic tile pools and spas throughout the United States and sometimes beyond. Jimmy’s many talents amount to a special combination, with glass mosaics considered the most difficult surfacing material to work with, and mosaic glass water features perhaps the most technical and difficult place to install them. The point is that Jimmy Reed is a masterful tile designer and installer of luxury spaces inside and outside.
There’s plenty on display at the executive of Interscope Records beautiful home, an urban escape hiding out in the hills of Sherman Oaks. The footprints of Jimmy Reed can be found nearly everywhere, most notably his use of blue stone for the kitchen counter top surfaces, as well as for the outdoor patio and prime barbecue spot. There’s the liberal use of Oceanside Glasstile in the kitchen, and the beautiful, custom handmade tiles from Bob and Matt Harris at Malibu Ceramic Works that adorn the bath.
But there’s nothing as unique, artistic or special as the incredibly custom, 15 foot long, floor to ceiling, glass mosaic mirror feature wall for the Chuck Reed’s living room, also on the lower level. Jimmy Reed fabricated the entire feature wall starting with sketches of the random tile shapes and sizes he would use to fit his intricate grid of hidden geometric patterns of mirror glass mosaic tiles.
“There’s definitely a big ‘Wow’ factor when people see it for the first time,” said Chuck Reed. “Whenever we have guests over they want to know all about it.
“What’s funny about that wall is that for years after I bought the house it was painted with old school hot rod flames. But as the years passed and I got married, started having kids, I said ‘we got to do something else there.’ So I called Jimmy, he comes over and I ask him what color he thinks we should paint it. He’s like no way, we’re going to put a mirror glass mosaic feature wall right there.””
The mirrored glass mosaics arrived in boxes and had to be pieced together like a puzzle on the wall as they went. It took Jimmy Reed a lot longer to design the intricate patterned wall than it did to install. Reed expertly floated the mirror wall, pressing each glass tile firmly in epoxy-adhesive, then used an epoxy-based grout to make sure his artistic mosaic mirror feature wall will stand the test of time.
“The wall is just incredible,” says Chuck, who also credits his big brother Jimmy for getting him into the music industry. “What’s neat about it is that when you stand further back it looks like it has this water effect to it. But as you walk closer and closer toward the wall you start to slowly see the individual pieces. There’s something really awesome about that. Jimmy’s a creative perfectionist. He never takes a shortcut.”
