Decor Tiles

Decor tiles carry a pattern or a surface design rather than a plain glaze. This is a small range of 17, led by 125x250 mm and 200x200 mm tiles, with a few at 65x200 mm, 100x200 mm and 75x300 mm.

Finishes are matt, gloss and glazed. Colours include black, grey, taupe, beige, green and white, plus several multi-colour designs. One has an encaustic look. Where a listing states a use, it is walls.

A pattern does the talking, so the room should stay quiet. Put decor tile on one wall, a splashback band or a niche. Keep the other surfaces plain, with one metal finish and no more than three materials. Pick one accent colour from the pattern and repeat it once elsewhere.

• Lay a dry run of at least a metre. Patterns that look balanced on one tile can clash across ten.
• Check the direction of any pattern with a clear top and bottom.
• Mix tiles from every box to even out tone.
• Choose grout close to the background colour of the tile, so the pattern leads.

Straight stack suits a patterned square. A half offset on a rectangle can interrupt the design, so test it before you commit. Joints of 1.5 mm suit rectified edges, with about 3 mm for standard tile.

To estimate boxes, measure the wall in square metres, subtract openings, and add 10% for cuts. Add 15% if the edges are handmade-look, and a little extra on a pattern you want to match. Divide by the box coverage on the listing, usually 0.5 m² to 1.0 m². A 2 m² splashback with 10% becomes 2.2 m². At 0.5 m² a box, that is five boxes.

For calm neighbours, look at subway tiles and square tiles.