October 31, 2020
Versatile and hardwearing, tiles give you limitless options when looking for wall and flooring materials. You have plenty of tile patterns, colours, designs, shapes, styles, and sizes to create a custom living space.
Coupling an excellent range of tiles with various tile layouts can help you emphasize or downplay various aspects of your home.
We’ve put together a round-up with 12 of the most popular tile patterns to help you breathe new life into your home.
The tiles are laid side by side, forming a straight line, and the grout lines to create an even grid pattern. It’s a basic tiling pattern that fades into the background when you wish to highlight other design features in a room.
Rectangular tiles give the room a modern look while square tiles lend a more traditional look.
For the best results, buy tiles that have the same batch number to avoid slight colour variations. Adding a framed accent transforms a grid pattern into a statement piece.
Vertically stacked Subway tiles accentuate the height of the room because they make your walls look taller. In this layout, the slim tiles inject geometric appeal to the room.
Vertically stacking large format tiles extends your floors and walls in both directions. Vertically stacked white tiles create a simple yet stylish all-white wall.
The brick bond pattern resembles a brick wall to give your space a staggered yet unified look. Each tile is offset such that its edge lines up with the centre of the tile directly above and below it.
The brick bond pattern is a typical pick for walkways, backsplashes, and floors. It has the added advantage of hiding imperfections such as crooked walls since the offset grout lines deter the eyes from small flaws.
You can also use the pattern to create the illusion of space and height or when working with handcrafted tiles.
Also known as hopscotch, this pattern entails framing a large square tile with a small square tile on each corner. The tile arrangement creates a spinning pinwheel effect and is a popular choice for small bathrooms and ceramic tiles.
The resultant subtle pattern allows you to use accent tiles or colours. You can use one small tile or create one from four mosaic tiles for an added effect.
This pattern is labour intensive as it entails subdividing larger tile into tiny corner pieces, but the results are worth it.
Herringbone is a striking floor and wall pattern that draws the eye through a given space. It comprises rectangular tiles angled at 45 degrees to the surface to create a V-shape.
In a vertical herringbone, the wall pattern points towards the ceiling while the floor pattern points inside the room. In the horizontal variation, the wall design points across the room while the floor pattern points towards a wall.
Using contrasting grout colours highlights the unique design that’s popular in backsplashes, floors, walls, and bathrooms.
A step ladder is an elaborate form of herringbone tile pattern that adds direction and movement to your space. The tile pattern uses alternative vertical and horizontal rectangular tiles to create the stepping stone on a step ladder.
The dynamic pattern makes your space feel bigger and becomes the focal point of any given area. A step ladder pattern is a perfect choice for backsplashes, bathrooms, showers, or a feature wall.
Checkerboard is the more vibrant and dramatic version of the stacked tile pattern. The tile layout alternates same-sized light and dark squares to create a chessboard effect.
You can opt for a subtle effect and use tiles with closely related colours or go all out with the classic black and white tiles. A diagonal checkerboard floor pattern creates an arrowlike effect that makes the room appear wider or longer. It also downplays walls that aren’t perfectly square to make the room look wider.
This layout is also known as Basket Weave. The tiles create the effect of weaving over and under each like the fibres on a straw basket. It entails laying a pair of rectangular tiles to form a square then rotating the next pair of tiles 90 degrees. Repeating this layout creates a series of alternating vertical and horizontal tiles on subsequent rows.
Some tile designs come with a mosaic with tiny squares to accentuate the woven basket effect and ease the installation process.
Cross hatch tile design works best in small areas such as shower stalls or powder rooms.
As with most geometric patterns, hexagonal tiles give your space a bit more pop. These six-sided tiles fit together seamlessly to create beautiful eye-catching walls and floors, even in the absence of bold colour and patterns.
The honeycomb structure allows you to get creative with colourful shades and employ various patterns and styles to create a truly custom finish.
Create balanced vertical rows or tip the tiles on their corners to create horizontal rows for a statement wall piece.
Hexagon tile patterns are common in transition floors, bathroom walls, floors, kitchen floors, and feature walls.
A close cousin to Herring’s bone, this layout uses small rectangular tiles whose short ends are joined at a 45-degree angle.
Chevron tiles are pre-cut and fit seamlessly to create a pronounced V-shape with a sharp centre line.
When used over a large surface, this layout creates a texturized pattern that runs horizontally to give your space a chic, classy feel.
A Chevron tile pattern can highlight a room’s focal point without overshadowing it. Your choice of tile and grout colour determines the design’s outcome and strength.
Contrasting tiles become the room’s focal point, while subtle colours achieve a quiet look that lets other design features shine.
This classic tile layout also answers to Versailles and used pre-cut and pre-bundled tiles that appear random. It features an appealing combination of small and large tiles with a perfect fit.
Thanks to its free form, this dynamic layout lends itself to indoor and outdoor use and delivers a classic, timeless look.
It hides layout imperfections well and can be used in backsplashes, floors, foyer, and bathroom walls.
As the name suggests, each tile in this layout offset the tile directly below or above it by a third of its length. This pattern creates strong diagonal lines with a staggered effect.
The offset method is popular when using large-sized tiles as it helps prevent lippage and cracking and hide imperfections well.
The pattern works well with one to three colour designs to create a beautiful result.
Since the 33% offset layout is used with large tiles, it makes for fewer grout lines, accentuating your space while giving it a cohesive feel.
It looks great on backsplashes, countertops, accent walls, flooring, and showers.
Your choice of tile patterns gives the home a classic, timeless look, a modern contemporary design, or a little bit of both.
Jupp’s offers a wide range of tiles and luxury vinyl tiles fit for bathroom, kitchen and outdoor. If you’re handy with the grout, you can install the tiles yourself. Or you can have a professional team, like ours, sweat the small details as they make your home come alive.
