HGTV visits Joplin company

Images in Tile owner Paul Whitehill said TV crews were at his office, 1520 W. B Street, beginning at 9 a.m. to interview him and film the custom tile murals the company creates. Then they headed off to two local clients’ homes before filming wrapped up at 6 p.m.

With about six hours of tape, “they say we’ll have about a two-minute segment on there,” Whitehill said, adding that he is thrilled about the exposure. “Getting your product mentioned on HGTV is almost like getting your book mentioned on ‘Oprah.’”

“I Want That!” airs at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and features innovations for the home. Whitehill is told the show featuring his company will begin airing in October and will air probably a dozen times in all.

His four-year-old company is getting other national attention via NFL stadiums. Images in Tile’s 12-man crew is working on a mural of former Dallas Cowboys players Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith, commemorating their recent induction into the Cowboys’ Ring of Honor. The goal is for the mural to be unveiled before the Thanksgiving Day game at Texas Stadium.

Southern California artist Mike Sullivan created the drawing and chose Images in Tile to digitize it onto the tiles.

Sullivan also hooked up with Whitehill for a tile mural of former Arizona Cardinals safety and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who was killed in 2004 during combat in Afghanistan. The seven-by-eight-foot mural, to hang in the Sun Devil Stadium field tunnel, will be unveiled Oct. 1 during the Arizona State vs. University of Southern California game on ABC.

“When we went out to install it, there pretty much wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” Whitehill said.