Revamping your home can easily be done on a budget, if you’re clever with the materials you use and where you use them.
Tiles are amazingly versatile, and can be used on floors and walls to improve the look of your home and make spaces appear larger and more airy, as well as being functional. Tiles are also protective, helping to maintain your floors and walls, and when used judiciously can increase the value of your home.
Large tiles make a small room look bigger
Want to make a big difference to a small space? Use large tiles!
If a room is quite small – many bathrooms, particularly in older Irish houses, are on the bijou side – then using big tiles is a simple trick that doesn’t take any extra effort.
- Bigger tiles fool the brain into thinking the space is much larger than it actually is. You can’t alter the size of the space, so you have to maximise it by being clever.
- Large tiles can often be more visually attractive than smaller ones, both on walls and floors. They also give a feeling of quality and can completely transform the finished appearance of any space.
- Larger tiles mean fewer grout lines, so they’re far easier to clean in any room.
If you have tiling skills yourself, or are using an experienced tiler to lay the tiles, you can experiment with the layout: Large tiles set in a normal pattern will give an illusion of space, but you can also make clever use of a couple of ingenious ways to lay them out.
Diagonal Pattern for floors
A diagonal pattern can be made by laying the tiles down at a 45° angle, so their widest part is facing you when you enter the room.
This plays a trick on the eye, creating the illusion of a big room with a lot of floor space. This is particularly handy for narrow little rooms, such as bathrooms or utility rooms.
Always remember to purchase extra tiles when installing, because larger tiles — even though they can be extremely tough — can sometimes crack more easily than smaller ones while they’re being put in place.
Running Bond Pattern
This works with big rectangular tiles, and can be used inside the home or outside for patios and paths. The rectangular tiles should be laid with the widest part perpendicular to you as you enter a room. This makes the grout lines appear to spread across the length of the room, making it look bigger than it actually is. Think of the old adage that wearing horizontal stripes makes you look fat, and you’ve got the idea!
Need Help?
We have a massive selection of large tiles at the Tile Design Showroom on Tramore Road in Cork, and you’re more than welcome to call in for a chat about what kind of texture and finish you’d like and a tour of the options available to you.
You may want a reflective surface, such as marble or high-gloss, to bounce light around and increase the sense of airiness in a room. Some natural materials may require maintenance as time goes by, so we’ll make sure you know which materials will work best for you.
Bring us the dimensions of the room you’re working on and Tile Design’s expert staff will be happy to give you advice; letting you in on all the designer secrets they’ve picked up over the years.
Call to the Tile Design Showroom and you’ll get plenty of inspiration; choice and experienced service.
Call 021 235 5202 or see www.tiledesign.ie for more information.