What Were They Thinking Thursday? - Bad Tile Design

Today's "What were they thinking? Thursday" is featuring the design and scale of tile, anything from backsplash, to shower walls, to flooring.

Backsplash

Here are examples of what not to do:

This would have been a decent neutral palette if it wasn't for that stripe of brown linear tile.

Be careful of too many patterns and colors, for resale you want your backsplash and counters to be as neutral as possible to go with any future color palette.

Just....what were they thinking.

Too many colors, patterns, and textures going on here.

Being creative and DIY projects can be a good thing, but some things are better left to the professionals.

Not sure what's going on here.

Suggestions:

This white subway tile backsplash is neutral and light. The marble design below the venthood gives the area a feature piece without being overwhelming or color specific.

A great neutral counter, cabinets, and backsplash.

This blue subway tile is beautiful. Because this is a smaller area to work with, the color is not too overwhelming. The tile is also a good scale for the space.

You can go with a pattern tile backsplash. This works because even though the pattern is a medium to bigger scale, it is still in a neutral color and becomes a feature of the room.

This kitchen incorporates the tile onto the vent-hood and entire wall, however because it is a neutral palette and medium size tile it works well in this room.

Bathrooms

What not to do:

Never, never glue anything to a permanent fixture in your home. First of all this looks tacky, and second this is a home buyer's nightmare.

(uglyhouses.com)

There is a lot going on here for such a small shower. You need to think of the scale of your space. There are too many patterns and textures for this small shower. A medium scale tile in a single pattern for the walls would work well here.

Suggestions:

This is a great use of scale and pattern. I love the white subway tiles with a simple band of tile in a smaller scale. Then notice the feature of stone just around the tub. A good use of mixing tiles in scale and texture.

Again a beautiful neutral tile on the walls, with a little more pattern on the floor but still in a neutral gray & white palette.

Here they incorporated white subway tiles around the perimeter of the bathroom as well as the interior of the shower, with a different patterned tile just on the shower floor.

Love, love this tile. Even though there is a lot of tile space for this room and in a small scale, because of the neutral gray and white soft palette it blends together and works nicely.

The busier and darker floor tiles work well here because the rest of the space is light and neutral, just beautiful!

(jhinteriordesign.com)

Check out this bathroom :). Now this may seem like it breaks the rules, but I think it works because even though there is a large amount of small mosaic tiles on the floor and walls, the colors create a larger pattern that carry your eye throughout the room.

I also think the color palette works well, this is definitely a bathroom you would not be soon to forget!

Flooring

What not to do:

Besides the dirty grout lines, this tile is much too small for this space.

Even though this is a nice entry space, because it is so large it calls for a much larger tile than the 12"x12" tile used.

Your grout should also be as closely matched to your tile color as possible, or a shade darker. You never want to go too light, this will only make dirt much more apparent.

Suggestions:

This is a great scale of tile set in a brick pattern for this kitchen.

In kitchens or larger open areas a large tile like this 12"x24" tile works great. Beautiful!

-Cassie