Six Designs Inspired by Tile

I’m working with Floor & Decor on a few posts for the blog around the three main things they carry: wood, tile, and stone. I’ve already shared my experience with wood (and bamboo), and for the other two posts, I thought it would be fun to put together a bunch of designs inspired by tile and stone. I went to my local Floor & Decor and picked up a whole bunch of my favorites, then came home and played around with paint swatches, wallpaper samples, and other design elements to create different designs.

Today I’m sharing looks inspired by ceramic and porcelain tiles, and in a future post, I’ll do the same for marble, slate, and travertine tiles.

And yes, I totally want to make all of these happen in real life now.

Subway and Hexagon Tile

Pick a color. Any color! Subway and hex tile are classics that go pretty much anywhere with pretty much everything, and they’re cheap to boot. We had both of these in our first house.

• White and Black Mixed Hexagon Porcelain Mosaic Tile

• Bright White Ice Subway Ceramic Wall Tile

• Colorhouse Paint Collection for Serena and Lily

Penny Rounds

I imagine this in a cheery kitchen with vintage (or vintage-inspired) green appliances. A tulip table and colorful shaker chairs form a little breakfast nook, and retro/vintage accessories (bread bin, kitchen scale) in shades of green and blue dot the space.

• Light Blue Multi Penny Porcelain Mosaic Tile

• Tucker Chair (Assorted Colors)

• Vintage Green Stove

• Paint (Mirror Lake Green, Miami Grass, Trattoria Teal, White on White)

White Arabesque Tile

The tile is a classic decorative shape and it can take star billing if you keep everything else simple. If you want to have a little more fun with your decorating, it pairs up nicely with figurative wallpaper — especially when it’s hot pink. I’d love to see the two in a powder room with wood floors, brass fixtures, and a sink dropped into an old piece of furniture that’s been painted in a rich ochre. A vintage wooden stool with turned legs would make a fine stand for a plant or a stack of fresh towels.

• Arabesque Lantern White Porcelain Mosaic Tile

• Gunstock Oak Hardwood

• Brass Faucet

• Paint (Everard Gold)

• Chinois (Peony) Wallpaper

• Vintage Turned Wood Furniture

Gray Glass and Striated Tile

Here we’ve got that same tile shape again, but in a very different design. This time it’s sleek in glass, and I’d pair it with long horizontal glass tile in a shower enclosure. Tile with some depth to it (thanks to inkjet printing!) would counteract all of the glossy surfaces elsewhere, and paint or accessories in cool greenish blue shades would finish off the room.

• Arabesque Fleur Gray Water Jet Cut Glass Mosaic Tile

• Eramosa Gray Porcelain Tile

• Pure Shadow Glass Tile

• Paint (Winter in Paris, Smoke Infusion, Seafoam Storm)

Spanish Red Tile

If you have inherited a house with this tile, you likely either love and embrace it or curse it and wish it gone. It goes rustic with warm, worn woods and creamy white tones, or you can take it boho with plants everywhere, natural textures and a smattering of jewel tones and gold embroidery. And if your taste runs like mine toward pink and feminine? Yep, that’ll work too. Peachy pinks like the paint and wallpaper below look fantastic with the earthy red of the tile.

• Spanish Red Tile

• Queen Anne (Blush) Wallpaper

• Pink Linen Fabric

• Paint (Posey)

Wood-Look Tile

I’m not a huge fan of faux-wood tile in large expanses because the grout lines look a little off (wood does not and should not have grout), but they can be great in basements and bathrooms. Our bathrooms have hardwood flooring, and they are not a good mix with kids that sometimes (often) splash water around and don’t clean up after themselves, leaving you to find puddles hours later. Not that we would know anything about that. *ahem*

Anyway! I think the key to pulling off wood tile is to let the wood be in the background by pulling attention toward other design elements (either texture or pattern). Pair one of these plank styles with one of the wallpaper designs — your choice.

• Quarter Sawn Oak Wood Plank Ceramic Tile

• Moritz Gris Wood Plank Porcelain Tile

• Whythe Toile Wallpaper

• Mughal Leaf (Noir) Wallpaper

• Ziggurat (Seaglass) Wallpaper

Of the designs above, do you have a favorite? How about any that you would do completely differently (a least favorite)?