Tiling Ideas for Bathrooms and More
Tiling ideas come from all kinds of sources – friends’ homes, pictures, quilts, fabric patterns, store displays, magazines, books, TV shows, and web sites. Nature even. Your job is to combine your creative tiling ideas with the practicalities of safety, durability and the availability of suitable tile for your location and purpose.
Subway tile (rectangular)
Very popular nowadays, this early 20th century style has made a big comeback. It was originally used in subways as an easy to keep clean and almost indestructibe wall surface, and it can serve the same purpose in kitchens and baths today. With rectangular tiles, often 3″ x 6″, laid in a running bond brick pattern, the style is slightly more linear than you can get with square tiles, but doesn’t have the excessive number of grout lines that the long thin glass or stone tiles do.
Variations:
many colors as well as white (pale green is especially popular)
grout colors to blend in or stand out
sizes from 1″ x 2″ to larger than standard, including liner tiles as borders or horizontal stripes
set vertically instead of horizontally.
If you want a truly stunning but labor-intensive effect, use small rectangular tiles horizontally or vertically to form “flame” patterns as used in bargello or florentine style needlepoint (picture).
The rectangular shape can also be used in other traditional brick patterns as well as running bond – any brick pattern will work such as herringbone or flemish bond, although you’ll need to do some cutting to get half tiles.
Square tiles
These are a standard shape but they can be found in many sizes from less than 1″ across to over 12″, smooth or textured, glossy to matt, all colors including metallic, or transparent or translucent glass.
Setting patterns include, as well as the normal square-by-square: running brick pattern, diagonal (“on point”), large and small tiles combined, square and liner (long and thin) tiles combined.
Round tiles
These are usually mosaic-size (2″ or smaller), otherwise the pattern would include a lot of grout. Gives a pebbly effect and can look great in glass tile, particularly.
Mosaic Tiles
Small tiles, usually bought already set onto a 12″ square backing sheet for easy setting. They can be square, rectangular, round, oval, or hexagonal. Get them in all one color, stripes, random patterns, even design your own random color blends on a website and get the tiles shipped to you. The small tile size means lots of grout lines, which is good for grip (especially on a bathroom floor or shower pan) but can mean lots of cleaning.
Glass tiles
Very fashionable at the moment, glass tiles are beautiful but more finicky to set than regular ceramic tiles. They are often transparent or translucent, which means you can see the setting mortar behind them, along with any gaps or discoloration in it! White mortar is normally required, so as not to change the glass color.
Stone tiles
Stone tiles come in many finishes, from polished through honed (matte) to tubmled, with rough edges and surfaces. The colors are often variable, and the edges may be uneven, requiring wider grout lines; stone tiles may also require sealing, like countertops, if tey will be exposed to food splatters etc. Tumbled stone tiles may collect dirt in their crevices if used on a backsplash behind a range, for example, so be cautious about where you use them.
Tiling ideas can be used in many areas of your home, but the bathroom and kitchen are the most popular.
