Bright colors are popping up in tile designs this year, taking center stage in decorating schemes rather than acting as backdrops for other elements a room. You’ll also find a wider selection of textures to bring added dimension to a normally two-dimensional decorating item. For those who prefer a solid white bathroom, you’ll still find these materials; you just have more choices in shapes and textures.
While we’ve typically relied on neutral tones as safe tile choices, especially when renovating to prepare a home to sell, this year the bright jewel tones have shown up, mainly as accent tones in a backsplash or tile accent around a fireplace.
Rather than rely on curtains or upholstery to provide the inspirational print for a room, we are seeing exciting prints show up in tile designs and being used from floor to ceiling. Wallpaper does not fare well in bathrooms where the glue is exposed to moisture and tends to peel but now that we have so many exciting print designs in tile, we can enjoy bursts of flowers in ceramic or porcelain that will last for the lifetime of bathroom design.
New Room Applications
Tile installation in bathrooms and kitchens has been commonplace for ages; however, we are now starting to see tile installations on the sides of kitchen islands and the backs of bookshelves. This year’s trend in using shelves instead of cabinets in both kitchens and bathrooms has lent itself well to featuring a wall tile design.
In kitchens, the countertop has been extending up the wall, replacing the backsplash, but tile has been showing up in new spots in the kitchen. Add it above the normal backsplash area where you would normally find a cabinet or apply it to the side of a cabinet.
Fun Shapes
An easy, “safe” way to add style to a white or neutral tile scheme is to integrate this year’s trendy hexagon shaped or wave textured tiles. If you are trying to keep costs down on your project, it only takes a spattering of these unique tiles to add interest to a bathroom design. Try them in an inset shower caddy or a mosaic above the bathtub. And glass, mosaic tile designs come in every color and make great accents to wrap around the perimeter of the room.
And mosaics have been more creative featuring chevron patterns, penny-shaped designs, natural stones in rounds and rectangular patterns. A spattering in small areas livens up a solid tile installation on the floor, wall or trimming out architectural features in the room.
Given all the new textures and colors now available in tile, the most difficult part of your planning may just be narrowing down your tile options. Find inspiration in showrooms or online decorating magazines. This year’s trends break away from the common grey tones of the past few years and let you have fun with color, texture and patterns that reflect your design taste instead of being locked into the limited color scheme we’ve had of late.
