Finding tiles for sale to bring in your home gives you an easy-to-maintain and handsome surface to floors in both small and large rooms. Tiles can define the texture of a room and emphasize the soft warmth or cool crispness of your overall decor, whether you opt for cut stone or ceramic.
Choosing the right kind of tile and the correct way of installing them can prove to be a concern for some just because of the wide variety of sizes and styles available. If your goal is to make a smaller space appear larger, you can follow these few tiling tips for a small home.
Consider the size
Floor tiles can be found in squares and rectangles of 12, 16, 18, and 24 inches since they are no longer just being manufactured strictly in 12-inch or smaller squares.
Professionals agree that, with the possible exception of 24-inch tiles, large tiles convey a greater sense of space even in small homes. They also suggest that without grout lines, there is less interruption of the flooring space, creating the illusion of a larger space.
Small tiles result in increased grout lines which can create a floor that looks fussy or busy. Some designers also suggest that you use the same color or nearly the same color of grout as a tile to increase the visual expanse of a floor.
Pick the right color
Many designers claim that light colors can convey a greater sense of space than dark tiles, although the impact of the color of your floor ultimately depends on the colors you used throughout the room. Lately, there even have been claims that the “light equals large” equation is purely mythical, so just try to experiment with colors on your own and see what works best in the scheme of your decoration.
A strong contrast between the tone between the floor and the rest of the room can make your space seem cramped or constricted such as designing an accent wall in a vivid color. To compromise, make use of very small colored accent tiles at the corner junctions of neutral ones The eye tends to travel a long distance from one accent to the next if your tile is larger.
Choose shapes creatively
Try to mix rectangular and square tiles in the same texture and color to provide a subtle variety of visuals without affecting the sense of space drastically. It is going to take some skill to construct seemingly random patterns of various sizes of tiles, but it will be more effective in expanding the visual space than creating edgings or borders.
You should also probably consult the help of a professional when mixing tile sizes so they are all of the same caliber or thickness.
Orientation can be effective
Changing the orientation of your tiles, for example, laying them diagonally, is one of the most effective strategies for using large tiles in small homes. Rather than doing a checkerboard pattern, opt for a diamond pattern to prevent the viewer from measuring the space in tiles down as opposed to tiles across.
A room with many doorways, alcoves, and other interruptions, however, can be very limiting if you do diagonal patterns. A room with wall space that is frequently interrupted presents many challenges when laying tiles diagonally because it can impose limitations on using very large tiles. A floor with many cut-down or partial tiles looks constricted rather than spacious.
Key Takeaway
If you ever come across a good sale for tiles, don’t hesitate to buy them for your home. Even though your home may be small, you should still give it the tiles it deserves and makes it appear larger than it is.
Space is only as limited as the way you tile it. Follow some of these tips, use them the way you would like, and even change them to suit your space.