(From left) A den arrangement by Pooja Chitlangia with leather wall tiles; high-end designer wall tiles for the shower room at BP Agarwal in Alipore. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

If you thought tiles were best suited for your bathrooms, kitchens and office interiors only, it’s time to think again. The wide variety of designer tiles available in the market of late is finding a place of pride in living rooms, bedrooms, dens and terraces with equal elan and is all set to change the way your house looks.

GoodLife checks out the latest in the tile tale and the ways you could use them to make your interiors come alive with a difference.

“When you are doing up your home with tiles, be careful that you choose the right ones for the right areas. For instance, floor tiles for the kitchen should be more resistant than those of the bedroom since there’s a lot more movement here,” says interior designer Anita Mansata.

Floor finish

With a whole range of vitrified and other designer tiles flooding the market, marble for your drawing rooms is gradually becoming a thing of the past.

Says Rohit Malani of Euro Ceramics: “There is so much variety in tiles these days that people are opting for them to render a new look to their interior space. Italian and Spanish tiles with an ivory base are emerging as popular choices for flooring.”

Interior designer Pooja Chitlangia agrees: “Doing up the flooring of the house with tiles is a relatively new concept, but it’s catching up very fast. Not only can these tiles give your home a very different look, these are easy to maintain and also more economical.”

You can take your pick from the rustic variety to give that stoned look, the wooden finished ones or those with more contemporary styling for flooring purposes.

Anita recommends the large, rough variety of tiles with spacers in contrasting colours for your drawing rooms. “This gives an illusion of the room being bigger than it actually is. You can also go for tiles with patchwork in the centre or those with carpet designs, ” she says.

For bedroom flooring, Pooja suggests sober tiles in shades of beige, peach or light orange. “This helps to give a warm look to the bedroom. Do up the walls in hues that are in complete contrast to the colour of the tiles,” she advises.

Interesting tile patterns by mixing different sizes, colours and textures are apt for the kids’ rooms. Take samples from the stores and re-arrange them to determine which pattern works best before you decide on the look.

Wall wows

Tiles are now adding an element of glamour to the walls as well. “With imported leather ones, handcrafted ones and terracotta tiles on offer from all big firms, people are experimenting widely,” offers Pooja.

She suggests terracotta tiles for your drawing room walls. “Set aside a little space just above your sofa set and do it up with terracotta tiles. Marble tiles with fine artwork on them also make for great add-ons to the walls. Although these marble tiles come a little heavy on the pocket, they are visually very appealing,” says Pooja.

For the bedroom, pale hued tiles with matte finish just above the headboard, against a warm-coloured wall, looks nice.

“When you are planning to incorporate tiles as part of your decor, it is important that you keep in mind the colour of the walls. Ideally, the walls of your bedroom should be in shades of orange, red or pink and the tiles in soft single colours,” feels Anita.

You can also go all wild with tiles when it comes to doing up your den. Choose from bright-coloured big leather tiles like red, orange or black.

“A combination of red and black leather tiles works wonders in this little personal space as it renders a relaxed as well as an elegant look,” smiles Pooja.

Bath beauty

Bid goodbye to those glossy ceramic tiles for your shower rooms. The latest choice for this area is endless. Stainless steel and ones with decorative borders are the new tiles on the bathroom block.

“With shower rooms now becoming more of glamour rooms, people want more than just the plain-looking ceramic tiles for this area,” feels Pooja.

Steel-finished ones and the glass variety are good bets for the bath zone. Mixing and matching the two in the right shades could also make your bathroom look very different.

Terrace talk

You could even give your terrace a complete makeover with tiles and here the designer ceramic variety goes down well.

“Beige tiles with blue and green patterns on them look very nice on a terrace as they give out a radiant effect. And there’s nothing better than this if you have some hanging plants adorning this space. The colour combinations go so well that the whole place seems to give you a feeling of being in nature’s bounty,” offers Anita.

The other option for the terrace is a combination of ceramic and broken terracotta tiles that have to be arranged artistically.