Omaha blogger Archives - Phillips Tile & Stone

December 7, 2024December 7, 2024

Merry Christmas, thankful for you!

It’s been a tradition of mine to include parts of our family’s year on the business Christmas blog. It’s important to me for clients to know we are a family business. Once we’ve done work for you, you’re now apart of the Phillips Tile & Stone family. This Christmas, I decided to have a Top 5 for the business, and a Top 5 for our family. This year was full of hard, but when I go back and remember, it was full of good as well. We are still praying for the healing of family members and friends. In the middle of hardships (death and health issues for family and friends), we saw God’s provision and blessings. I’m incredibly thankful for the HOPE Christ brings during trials. Without further ado, here are our business and personal Top 5 for 2024!

Phillips Tile & Stone Top 5 for 2024

We took Phillips Tile & Stone back to the basics this year. The last few years we have been working with builders, but this year our projects came directly from residential homeowners again. It was an answer to prayer to see how God provided each project.
Any business owner will tell you hiring is difficult. Our crew is skilled, talented and dependable. We are so thankful for our guys and their loyalty to Phillips Tile & Stone!
The past 5 years have been a dream come true, as with YOUR votes, Phillips Tile & Stone has been voted Best Tile Installer in Omaha! To see our name mentioned with some of Omaha’s biggest names is humbling and unreal. Granted, I think tile isn’t a niche most are looking at entering, so I’m sure that makes our odds of winning much better. 😉 Most of our days are spent installing quality craftsmanship and not ‘building a business’. Earning this award definitely lifts our spirits.
Our favorite project this year might be a heated tile floor, a large project that our oldest was able to help with. Under Trevor’s keen guidance, our son gained an appreciation for what Trevor and his crew do everyday!
One of my favorite things about owning a construction company, is having the ability to bless others with this business God has given us.

Phillips Family Top 5 2024

Because of our amazing crew, this year Trevor felt comfortable taking a week long vacation as a family of 8. Our kids fulfilled dreams of flying, sailing and seeing the ocean. The Oasis of the Seas was perfect for us. We made so many amazing memories. Our 2 and 4 year old’s now play airport/pilot regularly. The littlest boys have asked if our next cruise would be “…in 10 minutes?”
Our oldest three boys played Baseball from December-August. They traveled for tournaments and learned so much. Baseball season is full, but so good. Elsie’s been in gymnastics for a full year and the younger two are loving attending all their siblings basketball, baseball, flag football and gymnastics events. Soon, those littlest two will be playing all the sports and our life will get even more full!
Our oldest turned 13 and his dream was to watch Elly De La Cruz from Cincinnati Reds play. So we drove to Chicago to do just that. We saw some sites and ate great food, too.
This might seem like an odd one, but our kids learned the value of hard work. Their pet sitting business allowed them to earn money for Summer Church Camp, baseball lessons and the 13 year old is saving for his first car. It can get wild having up to three dogs at our home, but it’s also an adventure that everyone enjoys.
We have continued to homeschool and each year looks a bit different. This year, Michelle taught at MKS Studio and the kids took music and acting classes. This is in addition to Band. Altogether this year, our kids are playing: trumpet, saxophone, guitar, piano/keyboard, cello and singing in choir. I’m so thankful our children have the opportunity to learn from skilled teachers. Michelle also was able to attend the NMEA Music Conference in Lincoln because of MKS Studio, which was a full circle moment being able to watch All-State perform.

I can’t count how many church bathrooms we’ve remodeled…

Thank you for allowing us the honor to serve with construction services. Thank you, Lord, for providing. Thanks for reading, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From,

The Phillips Family

November 23, 2023November 21, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving! Plus FREE Family holiday fun ideas!

Happy Thanksgiving to you! Whether you are having a quiet day relaxing or a day full of plans. We hope you are thankful for all the simple goodness life can bring.

This year has been full of watching our six kids grow. We enjoy watching them participate in many different activities. Our older kids are also busy with their pet sitting business and lawn care business. We have a 12-year-old who is very excited to be saving up for his first car, and we welcome his entrepreneurial spirit. Earlier in the year we added a puppy to the Phillips family. Her name is Evee. We are still home-schooling the kids, so they see firsthand all that go into running a business. We compare homeschooling to business owner life. We all learn to work hard. Life is full!

As for Phillips Tile & Stone, we’ve stayed busy as well, thanks to your recommendations! At the beginning of the year, we installed for two new local coffee shops. In addition to commercial spaces, our crew continues to install all materials for residential and new construction spaces. Our challenges for the year continue to be hiring. We had so many projects coming through and not enough skilled employees. It started to wear on Trevor, so we had to scale back on taking on all the projects coming through. What a testament to your recommendations, all those projects were through word of mouth, and we are so grateful for your support!

We are thankful for the votes this year that allowed Phillips Tile & Stone to earn Best of Omaha. This company truly is still in business because there are so many people who refer friends and family to us. THANK YOU for supporting this small family business. Please KEEP sharing about our excellent craftsmanship! Our desire is to help clients by installing spaces that will last them decades to come.

As we get ready to celebrate Christmas we would like to share some fun holiday ideas we enjoy as a family that are FREE!

Holiday Light Drive. Omaha is beautiful. One of our favorite activates is to jump in the car, PJ’s on. This year we plan on bringing the dog along, too. Homemade hot chocolate in one hand and popcorn in another. Since our oldest got braces this year, I’m thinking we will need to change up our snacks instead of having popcorn. The point is, make it cozy in the car as you drive around admiring the Christmas lights.
I save our Halloween candy and use it to decorate gingerbread houses together. We’ve started simply buying graham crackers and store-bought frosting to let the kids design their own houses. It’s fun to see their creativity come into action. Playing Christmas music is a must during this family activity.
Our family enjoys trying new recipes and cooking together. We enjoy eating, so it all pairs well together. The cold winter months are meant for warm, cozy nights in with new and old holiday recipes. We enjoy checking out Christmas movies from the library to watch, also. Dinner and a movie at home. It doesn’t get any better.

Are there any holiday ideas you’d like to share? We would love to hear in the comments section. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Thank you for supporting Phillips Tile & Stone. We love ya, Omaha.

The Phillips Family plus Evee the dog.

April 19, 2023April 19, 2023

Basement = A Midwest Necessity

As a Midwesterner, you quickly realize we enjoy all four seasons. Each season brings it’s own set of amazingness and challenges. In the summer, we enjoy the outdoors with swimming, boating, camping, gardening and grilling! We also realize the hottest part of the day is sometimes needing to enjoy a few hours indoors cooling off. In the winter, we sled and snowboard and snowplow, ice fish, take winter walks or hikes. We also need a warm place to congregate when the wind is brutal. In the spring we have tornado warnings and in the fall we have Husker football parties!

What do all those activities have in common? They all call for a functional space in your home to serve a variety of needs. Guess what? A great basement fits the bill on ALL those needs. So your next question might be, what does a great basement have in it?

A good basement has these qualities.

Excellent storage
A half bathroom…even better, a 3/4 shower
An inviting gathering place, such as a bar area that includes a sink, seating and a frig.
Proper lighting
Proper Drainage
A focus on functionality
Proper air circulation
A good layout
Proper “exits”
Enough ceiling height

Is there a basement quality that you would add? If we missed something, let us know. It might be worth adding to this inexhaustible list. For if we’ve learned anything. It’s that us Midwesterners, really need a solid basement!

Phillips Tile & Stone has worked on a few basements in since we opened our business doors in 2010. Sometimes, we don’t get a photo. Sometimes, homeowners send us photos. We then turn around and share what amazing clients we have but showing off their new spaces!

Below is a photo of LVP installed by Phillips Tile & Stone. Here is the reel you can see the entire basement transformation!

December 19, 2022December 19, 2022

Merry Christmas 2022

This family business is once again sending our Christmas card on the blog. Our clients become friends. So it only makes sense to send our Christmas greetings out this way. To our friends that sent cards and letters. We adore displaying them in our home. Please don’t ever stop sending your Christmas love.

I will tell our 2022 story by photos. This year has been one of growth and stretching. In our family and business.

Our kids played a lot of sports (soccer, baseball, basketball and flag football), they learned new instruments (saxophone and trumpet), they went on field trips, tried summer camp for the first time, swam a bunch and learned more as we homeschooled together. They performed in plays. Our kids also grew in entrepreneurship. We are thankful they enjoy working hard and seeing the fruits of their labor.

As a family, we went on a couple trips.

Phillips Tile & Stone kept busy! We installed for a new business opening in Bennington called Cup & Cone, it’s a super cute new coffee and ice cream shop, be sure to check them out! We installed and designed spaces for homeowners. Our crew learned new skills as we shifted the business a bit. We were once again humbled by your votes for Best of Omaha.

As Christmas quickly approaches and then a New Year is set to arrive, we want to take a minute and thank you for using Phillips Tile & Stone. Thank you from our family and our crew’s families. We enjoy serving you with exceptional craftsmanship and design assistance.

The Phillips Family & Phillips Tile & Stone Crew

November 25, 2022November 25, 2022

A Thankful, Small Business Saturday

We hope you are finding many reasons to be thankful for this year. Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving. As much as I tried, I couldn’t slip away to write a Thanksgiving blog post. We have so much to be thankful for this year. So with a grateful heart, I will still write because a thankful heart is good year-round.

This year our sixth baby was born. Birth is a miracle and we thank God for the blessing of children. We celebrated our third consecutive Best of Omaha Tile Installer win! We are so grateful for the clients, family and friends who take the time to vote for Phillips Tile & Stone! We thank God for renewed health, provision and another year of memories.

Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday. We strive to give our clients the best installation price, while also installing quality. We don’t play a number game, so there won’t be any glitzy sales or promos. We’d rather spend our time installing amazing spaces for our clients. So even though we aren’t having a discount day, please continue to show support to local, small businesses. Your referrals, likes, comments, and continued support help provide a purposeful living for several local families. Thank you for trusting Phillips Tile & Stone with your construction needs!

Trevor & Michelle Phillips and the Phillips Tile & Stone Team

July 6, 2022

Omaha and the best it has to offer!

How is your summer going? Have you been swimming yet? Have you cooked burgers on the grill? Vacation? I’m amazed how quickly these months pass.

For the past two years, starting in July, our company has participated in Best of Omaha. It’s a fun competition amongst local businesses to earn the people’s vote as BEST in our awesome city. There are categories of all sorts. YOU, as the consumer, have the ability to recognize these hard working small businesses by voting every single day (or just once) for them!

Phillips Tile & Stone would absolutely adore your vote for Best Tile Installer in Omaha! If there are other categories you think we fall under, by all means, type in Phillips Tile & Stone in that additional category!!

Basically, this is telling the company you appreciate them without spending any money.

Here is our quick voting code. The link might go to your spam box, so check there and then vote!

In the meantime, Phillips Tile & Stone will continue to install amazing spaces! We love ya, Omaha.

June 21, 2022

Happy 12th Birthday, Phillips Tile & Stone!

As you would celebrate anything that you’ve put years of hard work into…today we celebrate Phillips Tile & Stone’s preteen era!

For the past 12 years, we have been installing beautiful spaces either locally, in small towns nearby or a few times our crew as even traveled to install masterpieces in residential or commercial spaces.

The timeline of Phillips Tile & Stone will always blow my mind. We were married in 2009. The economy was terrible and after much looking Trevor decided to start his own business after the company he was with couldn’t survive. Phillips Tile & Stone was created in 2010. In 2011, we had our first baby! Those first years of marriage and business owning and parenthood were HARD. We are so incredibly thankful for our clients, employees, subcontractors and referrals. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Jeremy- Phillips Tile & Stone Subcontractor

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021

Merry Christmas from the Phillips!

“It’s the best time of the year,” that’s what our 8 year old likes to say! Merry Christmas from the Phillips family. We hope you are enjoying all the coziness this season brings. Is anyone else in disbelief we are already in December? January will usher in a New Year. To us, it felt like 2021 went incredibly fast. Every year we realize how fast a year can pass. We hope you conquered personal goals and made 2021 the most successful it could possibly be despite everything going on. If we have learned anything, we’ve learned grit and determination and prayer go a long way during difficult times. If 2021 was a difficult year for you, we’d be honored to pray for you.

2021 brought some highlights for us as a family/company and those highlights are…

-Finding out about baby #6, we are due in March of 2022! We are excited and praying for a healthy baby.

-Moving. We are so thankful we found a house with the market as crazy as it was. Is? Who is keeping track. 🙂

-Squeezing in a few family trips before summer ended. It was crazy, especially after moving trying to make all the trips happen that had previously been scheduled, but so glad that we made that effort.

-Winning Best of Omaha for Phillips Tile & Stone, THANK YOU to all who voted!! It’s not lost on us that YOUR votes are what made it happen. We will continue to provide and install exceptional craftsmanship and value to YOU, our clients.

-We are thankful for the connections we’ve made here in Omaha. We are finding so much joy in deepening our roots in this wonderful city we’ve been planted.

Thank you for being our family friend or a friend of the company. We appreciate you all so incredibly much. Merry Christmas!

The Phillips Family and Phillips Tile & Stone Team

Merry Christmas from Phillips Tile & Stone and the Phillips family.

November 25, 2021November 11, 2021

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year I look forward to this holiday a little more. There is something endearing about a holiday that’s sole purpose is to “Give Thanks.”

No matter the weather you are experiencing as you celebrate this wonderful holiday. Whether you have decided to dress up or down. Let’s take some time to think about what we have to be thankful for. Since this is our company blog, I’ll come at it from the perspective of Phillips Tile & Stone, but please, take your own situation and think about what YOU have to be thankful for.

So with that, here are 10 things we (Phillips Tile & Stone) are thankful for as a company.

Best of Omaha– 2022 Tile Installer: THANK YOU to ALL of YOU who voted! We are deeply honored!
We are thankful for our subcontractors who demonstrate their craftsmanship abilities day in and day out. Without these guys, Trevor wouldn’t be able to accomplish half of what he does. Because of these craftsmen, we can take on more projects and help more clients! Thank you men!
Word of Mouth- we are thankful for all of you who share the Phillips Tile & Stone name! It’s not easy owning a small business. However, our supportive clients make it worth it.
The people we get to meet and help, it’s amazing. We GET to help families and businesses by creating and installing functional and beautiful spaces.
We are thankful for 11 years of business. Trevor started Phillips Tile & Stone in 2010. Thank you to ALL who have utilized our growing company and services.
We are thankful we get to run this business as a husband and wife team.
This company helps teach our kids the meaning and value of hard work.
We GET to help make Omaha beautiful. Need to set up a free estimate? Let’s make your space beautiful.
We GET to create jobs and careers! We are honored to teach, train and create job opportunities locally.
It’s truly amazing what can happen when you set your mind out to do something. We are thankful for the lessons we’ve learned and the growth that has taken place since we were 26 year old’s and starting Phillips Tile & Stone!

It’s your turn now, we hope you take the time ( it only takes 10 minutes or so) to drum up 10 things you are thankful for. I guarantee it’ll change your mindset and help you enjoy this wonderful holiday with new perspective.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!

Here are a few pictures of what we are thankful for.

October 4, 2021October 4, 2021

Let Freedom Ring!

Do you ever admire an individual who marches to the beat of their own drum? Do you secretly wish you had the gumption to be as confident as they were? Some types of people fit this bill might be visionaries, entrepreneurs and artists first come to mind for me. What about you? Where am I going with this?

There is freedom in being apart of the team of a small business owner. Did you know you join a work family? Where your name is known and the boss texts you instead of mass corporate email blasts. It’s a place where your ideas could lead the company to exciting places and where your hard work goes appreciated and seen!

We have this rare privilege of linking arms with some incredible craftsmen, laborers, designers and builders to create luxurious spaces our clients tell their family and friends about. It’s an honor to have these incredible people on our team, but WE NEED MORE! The projects are there, the work is there but the laborer’s to install these masterpieces are lacking. Are you ready to join a unique team of laborers and craftsmen? What we do isn’t construction, we install functionable artwork, everyday. Are you ready to join the Phillips Tile & Stone Team? If so, fill out our contact form and we will get in contact with you!