How to embrace the power of pattern tiles in your home!

How to embrace the power of pattern tiles in your home!

Is it me or am I the only person who is delighted to see pattern taking centre stage in interior schemes again? For far too long, our walls and floors have been clad in simple natural effect products with nothing more engaging than the odd 3D textured stone here and there. Please don’t get me wrong, natural stone effect or subtle textured products are always an important part of an interior designers armoury, but you can’t deny that nothing can excite a scheme more than a bit of pattern!

So where do you start when considering using pattern in your home or project? Well lets first consider the attributes that are associated with pattern and think about how they can help us to create something special.

 

Pattern is great for adding an immediate style or theme to a space.

A hallway can really set the tone for a home when the floor features patterned tiles. An ageless approach would be to clad the floor in a tile that would have been popular at the time the property was built. Patterned field tiles, borders and corners can create a lot of interest in a relatively small traditional space.

 


 

Alternatively use a more unusual pattern. Possibly a design that is slightly reminiscent of a traditional floor, but that features more contemporary colours and designs. This can add some real personality to a traditional space.

 

 

Use pattern to enhance a theme.

Small delft style, blue and white patterns add a traditional Scandinavian vibe, or a romantic French feel to a room. Whilst geometric, moorish style patterns can inject a Moroccan feel to a space. This approach is great if you have a preferred style you like to embrace as pattern can really anchor a design scheme into a set look or feel.

 


 

Use pattern to draw attention to certain areas of a room or to zone open-plan spaces.

You can use patterned tiles to create rug effects within larger spaces. This acts not only as a great anchor to groups of furniture, but it also can delineate different zones within an open plan home, making the whole space more intimate and interesting whilst still practical and hardwearing.

 


 

Using pattern to attract attention.

You can really draw the eye to an area of a room by cladding it with pattern. Placing patterned tiles on a floor and on a section behind a mirror in a bathroom for example will creatively unite the floor and walls within a room, whilst also focusing attention on the area around the mirror.

 


 

General tips for using pattern in a room.

Not all pattern types work well in all spaces. If you want to use pattern in a small hallway, consider the impact a border will have on the space, it will actively draw your eyes in making the space appear a little smaller. If you have an awkward shaped floor, pattern can help disguise nasty angles and nooks and crannies. Choose a pattern that is even in design and colour so it flows across the floor and doesn’t cut it up into a grid, as this will just highlight the nasty shapes or awkward angles within the room.

 


 

If you want pattern but you’re frightened of it, choose a subtle design in a single colour way rather than a full on carnival of colour and pattern. Alternatively keep your floors plain and add a splash of pattern to selected areas of wall. A section behind your cooker, or even a full wall of pattern behind a breakfast bar area can look wonderful and let’s be fair, if you tire of it in a few years it isn’t that difficult to change!