More and more bathroom renovations are utilising the concept of uncluttered, open space. Traditional bathroom components, such as shaving cabinets and toilet fixtures, are now being incorporated into the actual wall. Apart from offering a pleasing aesthetic tone, this also helps to promote accessibility in a living area that is essentially heavy foot traffic.
Because of this, there has been an explosion in attractive and intelligent tile designs and concepts coming onto the market, fuelled by upcoming small suppliers and new brands. This has also meant a resurgence in more traditional tile systems that haven’t been seen for decades. Penny tiles (also known as subway tiles) and traditional mosaics, have once again come back to being in vogue.
With an endless supply of tile designs and options to choose from, we recap on the big winners of the tile revolution so that you can start dreaming up your bathroom design ideas.
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More Variety
The need for almost everything in our daily lives to be tailored specifically to the individual, has meant that tiles are now more readily customisable than ever before. There is now a huge diversity of choice in materials, colours and shapes, and even manufacturing processes are being specifically tailored! For instance, 100% recycled materials have proven to be a great option for the more environmentally conscious among us.
Other tiles, such as the famous “Barcelona hexagon”, or the irregular crystallisation effect, allow for these unique and creative applications with relative ease, as they can be highly personalised. But even standard mosaics, which only allow for a very basic shape, have been intelligently coloured to now incorporate either a natural gradient effect or a particular pattern.
Heated Tile Floors
A novel concept for those cold, winter mornings. Thermostat controlled heating underneath the tile floor is fast becoming a necessity, rather than a luxury. With most modern bathrooms now including an overhead heating system as a standard feature, tiled floor heating can doubly guarantee that getting out of the shower in the winter will be a pleasure, rather than a pain.
Best of all, most of the floor heating systems being used now have timed controls fitted. This is great for ensuring a warm, tiled floor every morning or evening, without the inconvenience of having to turn it on and wait for the system to work.
Glass Mosaics
Despite not being a particularly new concept, the traditional glass mosaic is now being used in very imaginative ways to create intriguing and attractive designs. A popular item now is the implementation of 5 to 6 cm wide strips of glass mosaic. These strips help especially with breaking the monotony of large squares with a small, creative element.
And as mentioned before, the once maligned penny tiles have now been given a remarkable facelift. There are a lot of great glass-based, penny tile mosaics being implemented across the country that offer a colourful, more systematic design style.
Penny tiles are a hit with inner-city dwellers too. Their celebration of the retro aesthetic, along with distinctly industrialised visuals, create a unique urban look that seamlessly complements those looking to distinguish their more rustic terrace house with a contemporary interior.
Feature Walls
More commonly seen in bedrooms or lounge rooms, bathroom feature walls have now become an integral focal point for custom bathrooms. Feature walls are particularly being used to promote a multi-dimensional look, whilst helping to draw focus to important areas of the bathroom, such as vanity walls.
Tiled feature walls can look superb, as they are capable of uniquely providing both texture and colour contrasts to existing walls.
Revitalisation of Porcelain
Porcelain tiles have once again overtaken ceramic tiles as the preferred trend in recent times. Porcelain tiles are great because they offer their own individualistic elements, whilst also providing a contemporary, clean and stylish sheen to any bathroom.
Porcelain is also completely resistant to water, effectively guaranteeing a floor that will never become susceptible to damage of any kind. They are also incredibly durable, requiring a lot of force to crack, and can accommodate different kinds of grout rather easily, when compared to other materials.
With a vast selection of amazing and affordable products now available in the market today, there’s never been a better time to realise your dream bathroom. And as always, you can count on the team at JLT Renovations, for knowledgeable consultation and efficient implementation of all tile layouts and custom bathroom designs.
