You may have seen Tile Studio Esher and our top tips featured in the Independent (see bottom of page) and The Evening Standardrecently. They were really helpful articles on how to turn a dated bathroom into a modern shower room, featuring tiles from Tile Studio Esher. They have lots of great tips including one from us so I thought I’d write a blog post on Castelnau’s top 5 tile design tips. I’ve gathered these tips from our excellent shop managers, Mariano and David who between them have over 40 years experience in the tile industry, so you are in good hands!
Tile Design Tips 1. Use the same colour tiles on floor and walls. The bigger the tile the better to make the room feel larger.
Create an illusion of more space with the same colour. The bigger the tile the less grout lines so the larger the space will feel. 600×600 is a great size and don’t be afraid of putting large tiles on walls. They look fabulous!
Tile Design Tips 2. Use rectified tiles. A rectified tile gives you a much tighter ground joint, resulting in a more modern and contemporary look.
A rectified tile has a completely straight edge, so when laid, the finish is smooth. Non-rectified tiles are press cut so have a very slight indentation at the edges. You will notice the difference if you look carefully, especially over larger areas.
Tile Design Tip 3. Hectic life? Kids? Dogs? Busy household? No time to clean the floor every day. Fear not! By choosing a tile with more texture and movement the “busy lifestyle” is less likely to show. On plain glossy tiles however you may notice that lifestyle more. Wood effect porcelain or natural stone style tiles are perfect for this.
Tile Design Tips 4. Mix up the textures and patterns. You can’t decide whether to go for gloss or matt, plain or patterned right? It doesn’t matter. Combining the two looks great.
Tile Design Tips 5. Installing rectangular tiles vertically will make your walls look taller. Perfect for attic bathrooms or where you don’t have much height to play with.
These are our top tile design tips. We would be happy to answer any more questions about tiles, worktops, glass backsplashes, grouting and laying tiles. And also help you with your tile design, just drop us an email: info@tilestudioesher.com
And here are a couple of extra tile design tips for you:
The correct tile grout can make all the difference. Choose carefully from one of the many coloured grouts available. Remember you don’t always need to match the grout to the tile. A contrast can look great.
Look at this amazing gold grout used in Argentinian restaurant; Anahi in Paris. Read the full article here.
A glass splashback can look as beautiful as tiles and is very easy to keep clean. Our glazier will colour match to the colour of your choice.
And last but not least; test whether your natural stone tiles need sealing or resealing by simply sprinkling some water on them. If the water sinks in or darkens the stone, then they need to be sealed.
