When it comes to renovating your home there can be a few decisions along the way that cause a problem. One of these being finding wall and floor tiles that compliment one another and make sense in the space. Lucky for you, we’re here to help, and offer some advice and inspiration to ensure you find the perfect wall and floor tile combination for your home.
There are certain differences between tiles that are suitable for the walls, suitable for the floors, or suitable for both. Floor tiles are most commonly made using porcelain, and tend to be a bit thicker than tiles specifically for walls. Floor tiles often feature an anti-slip rating, ensuring you feel a bit safer on floors that may get a bit wet. They also feature their own PEI rating, which grades the strength of tiles, so you can rest assured your tile is going to stand the test of time in your home.
Wall tiles are commonly a ceramic construction, meaning the possibilities are plentiful. They tend to be thinner, making them easier to transport and lay in your space. Tiles that are intended for use across both walls and floors are commonly porcelain, as this ensures the best level of durability across the space.
If you’re unsure what option is best for your space, be sure to get in contact with our friendly team, as they are more than happy to advise.
Above, Muse Dark Grey Italian Polished Porcelain Floor Tiles
How to Match Wall and Floor Tiles
The chances are, you’re going to want to use different tiles across the floor to the ones you’re looking to use across the walls. They need to be more durable, and if used across the bathroom they’ll need a good anti-slip rating. This doesn’t mean you can’t find wall tiles and floor tiles that compliment one another, and some of our tiles are suitable for use across both the walls and floors to create a seamless look. If you have your eye on a couple of tiles that you’re not quite sure of yet, be sure to order them as samples, so you can see them up against one another in real life and understand if they work for you and your home or not. To give you some inspiration for matching wall and floor tiles, check out our ideas:
1 – Pattern and Simple Metro
A classic pairing that will always do well in any room, and a favourite of ours, is patterned floor tiles with a simple white metro across the walls. It draws the eye to the floor space, often making it feel bigger and more characterful. Patterned floor tiles also encapsulate a very traditional look and feel, with inspiration often taken from Victorian Encaustic Tiles.
We’ve used our Metropolis Star Black Wall and Floor Tiles across the floors in this space, with the tile continued into the shelf behind the bath for added depth. This also frames the bath beautifully, with a simple white metro tile above and below on the walls of the space. The white metros used in this design are our Linear White Matt Wall Tiles. The addition of black grout across the white metro adds texture and prevents the metros from blending into the background and going unnoticed.
Above, Metropolis Star Black Wall and Floor Tiles and Linear White Matt Wall Tiles
2- Stone and Pattern
Stone effect and marble effect tiles will be forever popular. They never go out of style and create a modern look and feel, while ensuring your space is kept close to nature. Stone effect tiles are also sure to look great across the walls or floors, or even both, adding a touch of natural beauty to the home. To complement these tiles, we’d suggest an encaustic style tile, to mix the old with the modern. Encaustic style Victorian tiles are perfect for creating a sense of originality throughout the home, and provide plenty of detail.
Our Bernini Light Grey Gloss Marble Effect tiles look stunning up against the classic look of our Mr Jones Azure Blue Pattern tiles, highlighting the idea that modern marble can create an interesting look when used with traditional pattern.
Above, Bernini Light Grey Gloss Marble Effect Ceramic Wall Tile and Mr Jones Azure Blue Pattern Matt Porcelain Wall and Floor Tile
3 – Use the Same Design on Walls and Floors
For a truly cohesive and seamless look, there’s the chance to use the same tile across both the walls and floors. This blurs the difference between your walls and floors creating a beautiful atmosphere that feels warm and comfortable. Our Calacatta tiles do a great job at achieving this, with their dramatic veining running seamlessly across all surfaces in the shower space. If you’re looking to deploy a tile similar to this, pay attention to the finish. For example, these tiles are polished, meaning they will require sealing to ensure they’re finished correctly and to the highest standard. We recommend using LTP MPG Polished Tile Sealer for this.
Above, Calacatta Golden Grey Marble Effect Polished Porcelain Wall and Floor Tile
4 – Classic Wood
Wood effect tiles will go with pretty much any tile you can imagine. They create a familiar base for your design that can then be taken in any direction you’d like. For example, to achieve a traditional look and feel, use an oak shade of wood tile across the floors, and compliment with a warm toned tile across the walls, like our selection of beige and ivory tiles. This will result in a truly comforting and cosy scheme, perfect for a homely atmosphere. Or, for a more modern and contemporary feel, go for a cooler toned wood across the floors and a plain white tile, or even marble effect tile across the walls.
Above, Verbier Dark Brown Large Wood Effect Anti-Slip Matt Porcelain Floor Tile and Luken White Pre-scored Wall Tile
5 – Bold and Complimentary
For a bolder scheme that exudes originality, choose colours that are impactful and dramatic to splash across both the walls and floors. The most common wall and floor tiles are white or grey, so go for something out of the ordinary, making a powerful impression. To do this, we’ve used Trend Black Terrazzo Multicolour Wall and Floor Tiles across the walls, and Trend Black Terrazzo Wall and Floor Tile across the floors. These two tiles are incredibly similar, with the multicolour version featuring a series of peach toned flecks running throughout, and the plain black featuring strictly black flecks.
Above, Trend Black Terrazzo Multicolour Wall and Floor Tile and Trend Black Terrazzo Wall and Floor Tile
6 – Experiment with Quirky Shapes
For a unique and quirky look, there’s the chance to experiment with unusual shapes and style tiles across your home, including hexagons. Our selection of hexagon tiles create a fun look throughout and can be used alongside a variety of other tiles to style your home. Deploy a white hexagon across the floors and pair with a modern marble on the walls for a contemporary and dynamic space, or use a pattern hexagon up the walls and a wood effect tile across the floors for a space packed with character and originality.
We’ve opted for a more modern look with our Apollo Hexagon Black Wall and Floor Tiles, paired with Stoneage Lux Grey Porcelain Semi Polished Floor Tiles. The combination of the black and grey creates a dynamic space, with touches of deep navy blue adding depth.
Above, Apollo Hexagon Black Wall and Floor Tile and Stoneage Lux Grey Porcelain Semi Polished Floor Tile
We hope from our ideas you now have some inspiration for your wall and floor tile combinations across the home. Be sure to tag us in pictures of your design on Instagram, @Tilemountainuk, we love seeing what you’ve been up to!
