Tile Style, Part III: Don’t Be a Square When Choosing Your Tile
Wednesday, March 9th, 2016
When building or remodeling your kitchen or bathroom, you will most likely encounter the “tile selection” phase of the design process. For some, choosing the right tile is as simple as pointing to A, B, or C on a swatch card of previously selected tiles. For others, choosing the right tile requires a bit more deliberation because the options are endless.
Your floor, wall, or backsplash tile can be as subtle or as boisterous as you wish, but keep in mind that re-painting a wall is much easier (and much less expensive) than re-tiling one, so loving the tile you choose the first time around is important. Because of this, we began Tile Style, a blog series that will walk you through the different steps of great tile selection and help you decide what style of tile fits your home best with minimal effort.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can be anything but square when choosing your tile by taking a look at five other popular tile shapes.
Arabesque Lantern Tile
Arabesque lantern tile is a relatively new design. It’s unique symmetrical shape can turn any kitchen or bathroom into a breathtaking work of art. Arabesque tile is perfect for those who prefer an “all white” look. Its unconventional shape adds flair to a more conventional design while still adhering to the overarching color scheme.
Hand Painted Tile
If you really want to make a strong impression, hand painted tiles are they way to go. The focal point in this kitchen backsplash was created by tile that was intricately painted with colors that complimented the kitchen’s color scheme, but contrasted the surrounding horizontal subway tiles.
Hexagon Tile
If you’re tiling or re-tiling your bathroom floor, consider hexagon-shaped tile. While it’s different than your typical square tile, it can still keep your bathroom traditional. In this beautiful home, we used white and black ceramic hexagon-shaped floor tile to make this bathroom floor pop. Learn more about the benefits of choosing ceramic tile for bathrooms.
Diamond Tile
While some might say the diamond is simply a slanted square, the diamond tile gives kitchens and bathrooms a visual effect square tile cannot achieve. Its shape is perfect for walls as it draws the eyes up with its arrow-like qualities. Replacing the tips with squares of a contrasting color, like we did in this bathroom remodel, gives even the simplest space character.
Subway Tile
If you like the look of subway tile, but want to give your room a little twist, keep the subway-style, but change its dimensions. Last year, my wife and I renovated our kitchen, which included laying new backsplash tile. We wanted a shape that was unique, but not so unconventional it would go out of style quickly. After running through our options, we decided on a long, narrow, rectangular tile in natural white marble.
McCamy Tile Tip: When building or renovating your kitchen or bathroom, think about modifications you can make in order to preserve the beauty of your new backsplash tile. For example, instead of cutting electrical outlets and light switches into the backsplash, we used light rail trim to conceal the electrical plugs and moved the light switches to outside walls. This gave us a wall of pure linear tile that extended the perception of the room’s space.
If you choose a skinny rectangular tile like we did,
vertical and
herringbone (in additional to horizontal) are two different tile placement options that could add an interesting dynamic to your room.
One of the most enjoyable parts of building and renovating your home is choosing a design you love. At McCamy Construction, we give you exclusive access to our design professionals as you pick out your finish materials in the comfort of our design center. If you’re interested in another finish material not present at our office, we’ll be more than happy to arrange an appointment to visit a retail establishment that carries exactly what you’re wanting. Click here for more information on our building and design process or contact us directly at 865-247-7068.
Did you miss our previous Tile Style blog posts? Don’t worry. We’ve got you covered.
Tags: arabesque tile, bathroom remodel, bathroom tile, diamond tile, hand painted tile, herringbone tile, hexagon tile, kitchen backsplash, kitchen renovation, subway tile
