Decorating & Design
10+ Times Tile Had A Major Moment
Published on December 13, 2023
For those who wish they could tile an entire room but may not have the budget, take heart. These rooms show how tiling just one area in a room creates a dynamic focal point and keeps a busy tile from feeling overwhelming. Scroll down for some spaces that use tile to amazing effect.
What makes this tiled wall extra intriguing is the stepped border of the diamond-shape tiles, which helps subtly define the open-concept kitchen and ease the transition to the living area.
In this kitchen, stained glass tiles laid in a stacked bond pattern create a one-of-a-kind kitchen, and creates a cohesive effect with the navy cabinets.
In this kitchen niche, a French bistro–style patterned backsplash tile was the jumping-off point for the saturated palette. To balance the bold choice, designer Ami McKay added in plenty of white oak millwork and simple pendants as a calm counterpoint to the look-at-me tile.
This backsplash benefits from not only a glossy gray hue, but a groovy texture, to give white cabinets some extra punch.
Viewed through an arch, a tiled wall in a range of whites gives depth to this kitchen, and it’s a quiet counterpoint to the “electric Cookie Monster–blue island,” according to designer Ben Leavitt.
This tile proves small spaces don’t have to be afterthoughts. “We gave this tiny utility space its own graphic hit,” says designer Nam Dang-Mitchell of this walk-in pantry, where cool diamond-patterned cement tiles up the style quotient.
In this laundry room, a herringbone tile accented by dark grout adds a crisp note to rustic barnboard-style storage cabinets and grey appliances.
Navy subway tiles are a nod to signature maritime colors — an appropriate choice in a Halifax kitchen. The tiles’ glazing varies in intensity, so some tiles have a darker hue, giving it an artisanal look.
This groovy Pop Art tile is a fun note in a laundry room where denim blue cabinetry and a quirky backsplash give new life to the room’s white envelope.
Dsigned by Senior Interiors Editor Stacy Begg, this show-stopping feature wall of hand-painted ceramic tiles makes the kitchen of former editor Beth Hitchcock’s Toronto kitchen an H&H favorite.
The homeowners’ love of sea glass was the inspiration behind the frosted-glass backsplash in this P.E.I. kitchen, and it doesn’t take up a lot of real estate to lift to this white kitchen.
This bathroom bedecked with Popham Tiles turns a wall into a work of art, creating a European-style wet room set under a skylight that illuminates the diamond pattern.
The Egyptian tiles behind the stovetop were the inspiration for the color palette, as well as a natural focal point in this circa-1845 cottage kitchen.
Designer Andrea Armstrong clad this kitchen wall in a small-scale, exotic tile for a dose of wow-factor. “The tiles are the showstoppers in here for sure,” she says.