Choosing the Right Size Tiles

When you are looking for the right tiles for your home décor, there are many visual factors to consider; the material and the colour are obvious considerations, but many people overlook the impact that can be made with different sized tiles.

As a generality, it is often said that if you want to make a room seem larger, you should use larger tiles. These give a more open effect, as there are fewer join lines to draw the eye, and the overall effect is less fussy.

However, in some circumstances you may need to think beyond such a generality; for example, if you have a narrow corridor or galley kitchen, you may find that using large tiles set in a simple block at right angles looks too repetitive – and may even accentuate the narrowness of the area. One excellent solution to this is to use a mixture of different sizes to create a pattern which breaks up the narrow and elongated floor.

One popular pattern which uses different sized tiles is known as the Versailles pattern, which uses two different sized square tiles and two different sized rectangle tiles, as in the diagram below.

If you are tiling a large area, you may find it easier to use large tiles for practical purposes, however this can make a room appear too large. The natural solution, then, is to use smaller tiles to break up the pattern.  Mosaic tiles can be used to great effect in this way; they create a beautiful accent or feature, and provide an excellent contrast against larger tiles.

This effect is not restricted purely to the floor space; by using the same techniques on your wall, you can make the room seem taller by simply breaking up the columns of your larger tiles with a vertical stripe of mosaic, or wider by using the mosaic horizontally.

By thinking carefully about the size of your tiles, as well as the colour and material, you will be able to create a range of stunning effects to emphasis and accentuate your space in exactly the right way. When you’re searching for tiles on the Tile Mart website, you can use the Dimensions option on the left hand side to narrow down your search to the right sized tiles, making it easy for you to find the right tiles every time.