2012年6月10日星期日

Making sense of tile's versatility

Choosing tile for your home once meant picking from among a handful of pastel ceramic squares. Would it be dusty pink or dusty blue? If you were feeling bold, maybe mint green or pale yellow?

Today, we're surrounded - some might say overwhelmed - by choices.

Porcelain tile is now made to realistically look like everything from aged wood and rough fieldstones to sleek Italian marble. Tiles made of glass, cork, mirror and even leather are taking the place of traditional ceramics. In all shapes and sizes,Ekahau rtls is the only Wi-Fi based real time location system solution that operates on any brand or generation of Wi-Fi network. they are being used not just in kitchens and baths, but also in entryways, mudrooms and more.

High style can be had for an increasingly reasonable cost, with mass-market retailers offering trendy glass tile for as little as a few dollars per square foot.

Amid all these possibilities, the biggest challenge is to choose something you'll continue loving for a decade or more.

"There's so much decorative tile out there now," says Matthew Quinn, principal of Design Galleria Kitchen and Bath Studio in Atlanta. But "some of it," he says, "you can just tell in three or four years this is not something you're going to want to see every day."

Unlike paint and wallpaper, tile isn't something easily and affordably changed every few years.

Here, Quinn and interior designers Brian Patrick Flynn and Mallory Mathison share ideas on embracing tile's new possibilities while still creating a timeless effect.

All three designers are fans of using tile all the way up to the ceiling, rather than the more old-fashioned approach of doing partial tile walls with a snub-nosed edge.

"It makes the entire room more cohesive, and it can also give the illusion that a space is larger than it actually is," says Flynn. "One of the easiest ways to shrink a room visually is by chopping it up; many times, for me, tile used in just one area quickly chops up a space."

Flynn has done kitchen walls in floor-to-ceiling tile, and Mathison recommends tiling a single wall from top to bottom in an entryway for a striking effect.

"You think of tile more in utilitarian applications," she says, "but it can be a beautiful accent."

Flynn loves using tiles made of "unexpected materials,Welcome to polishedtiles. such as leather, cork and wood. Leather tiles can be used on walls and ceilings, but in lower-traffic areas. Cork is a dream because it helps soundproof a space, plus it offers a really warm, organic texture instead of the sleek ceramic surfaces we're used to seeing."

"Wooden tiles are rather pricey,Find everything you need to know about kidneystone including causes," Flynn says,Professional Manufacturer for ceramictile. but Quinn points out that manufacturers such as Porcelanosa now offer porcelain tiles that look strikingly like real wood. They are durable, resistant to moisture and need no maintenance.

Mirrored tiles are another option,We looked everywhere, but couldn't find any beddinges. and Mathison promises they don't have to evoke the 1970s. She uses large mirrored tiles mounted only with mastic, not grout, with no visible lines between them.

Traditionally, a homeowner chose a particular tile and used it throughout a space. Quinn says clients love the effect when he alternates large and small tiles in various patterns.

Simple changes like using "two different size subway tiles - 2-by-4 and 3-by-6 - alternating stripes of one and then the other," can make a bathroom more stylish and interesting, without becoming outdated quickly.

Another option, he says, is using different thicknesses of the same tiles, so that some rows of tile jut out further than others, creating "really cool, undulating patterns."

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