Reinvent Your Home

A bathroom's tiles often cover a large expanse, and they have the capacity to alter the room's ambience. The right tiles can also make a bathroom appear more spacious. Here are some tile tips if you want your renovation to achieve this effect.

Create a Sleek Look

If you have a small space, you may wonder if you should choose big or small tiles during bathroom renovations. The benefit of going with a larger size is that the room will appear more open with fewer grout lines. Small tiles can make a compact bathroom feel congested as the grouting can form a busy grid pattern.

If you do want small tiles, you could place them in limited areas as a decorative splashback or on the back of a recessed shelf in the shower.

Large-format tiles can then go elsewhere, on the walls and floor. To create unity, repeat the tile proportions on both surfaces. Or you could repeat one measurement. For example, lay large square floor tiles and use rectangular wall tiles, with the short edge equal to the square tile edge.

Go with Pale Colours

The colour of the tiles is also important. Light hues are most reflective, and they give the impression of a bigger room. However, white can look clinical. To add ambience, you could choose pale sage, blue or grey. These earthy and natural shades are relatively soft, so they will still reflect light.

You can use moody, dark colours in a small bathroom as well. While they can visually shrink a room, they also provide dimension and a sense of depth. Use the dark hue lower in the room, such as for the flooring. That way, the room won't appear top-heavy.

Visually Alter Room Proportions

If you create horizontal or vertical lines on the walls or floor, you can alter the perception of how big the bathroom seems. To make a wall look wider, place rectangular tiles horizontally. Or, to make the ceiling appear taller, place them vertically.

You can also use the lines of patterns to alter the perception of space. A diagonal herringbone design can make a surface look bigger. You can also use a running bond design, which has a strong linear stress. You can lay the pattern so that it runs upward or sideways. If you have a long, skinny bathroom, you can lay the running-bond emphasis horizontally to balance the room's proportions and make it look squarer. 

For more info about bathroom renovations, contact a local company.