How to Pick Out Tile Floors

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In this post: picking out tile floors for the house

We’ve been busy picking out tile floors for our house!

I’m going to go through what we are picking in our house and then I have a few tips at the end of the post for you!

Below is one of my favorite kitchens and is in an inspiration!

 

The main part of the house is going to be done in a cerused white oak wood floor as below.

In the kitchen, in between the stove and the sink we realized we splash a lot and don’t want to warp our wood floors.

So in between in the sink and stove, we are going to put an arto hexagonal tile in creme fraiche (like below, just not the right pattern)

how to pick out tile floors

Then the brick on the left goes in front of the fireplace in the same room and goes with all of the above.

 

Oh here, I found the hexagonal in the color we are going to use.

 

This herringbone smooth brick below will go in our mudroom/laundry room. Woo hoo! Herringbone! I love herringbone, don’t you?

 

The master bathroom floor will be a carrera marble with a herringbone “rug” in the center similar to below

And then the master shower similar to below with the floor in the marble hex 2-3″ size.

One bathroom will be travertine or limestone like below:

A garden hallway area would be done in a travertine or limestone like below that matches the bathroom above.

from authentic provence.com

 

Then for a powder room I’m getting a little adventurous and going to use a fun cement tile pattern.  This powder room isn’t anywhere near the other parts of the house so I can do what I want.

I like the cement tile below, but haven’t arrived on a final pattern just yet!

So how did we choose our final floors choices?

Here are some tips:

1. Where is the tile going? Think about the floor texture.  Glass floors in a high traffic for instance would not be a good idea – they can break and the floor is super slick.  A super slick floor in the bathroom may not be great because people can slip so you want a matte or textured floor!

2. Budget – This determines a lot of what you can pick.  The ceramic tiles are usually your cheapest option but you can find natural stone at good prices too.  They have some great ceramic tile floors that look similar to marble these days. Glass floors are more expensive. Any thing that has a fancy pattern will be more expensive. That’s why we love herringbone – you can pick a cheaper tile and make it fancy just by laying it differently!

3. What is the style of your home? Are you traditional?  Are you hip and trendy? Are you farmhouse? Are you mid century modern? Knowing your style will help because if you are in the tile store and are wowed by their display but it is not your style… you may not realize like until you take it home and find out OOOH that does not go with my house at all. Go into the store knowing your style will save you time and money.

4. Choosing a size: A larger room should have larger tile. A smaller room should have smaller tile. A 1″ hexagonal tile will look stupid in a 15 x 15 room! And a 24 x 36″ tile will look bad in a little powder room!

5. Do not let the tile store people make you feel bad for going there a hundred times. It’s not your fault they don’t give you enough sample tiles (you need several of the same to make a decision) and their selection or tips on how to decorate suck.

6. Buy Local. Ordering online is not always a good idea. Sure, it’s cheapest per square foot online… but did they mention about shipping? YEAH. So moving rock is expensive. Moving rock across the country is expensive. Shipping rock from China is expensive… it’s HEAVY. I can barely carry a box of it myself, so we have to pay $$$ to have someone else move it.  So don’t be fooled into thinking online is cheaper. It’s always better to buy locally – one, shipping/delivery is WAY cheaper and TWO you can see the tile in person instead of making guesses online and know what looks good.

 

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