5 Top Tile Trends from Terrazzo to Natural Stone

by Carlisle Homes

Elevate the look of your home with the five hottest tile styles from concrete-look tiles to terrazzo tiles and more.

Tiles add colour, texture and depth to your home. They also provide an enduring, beautiful finish that is also easy to clean, non-allergenic and low maintenance. And bathrooms, kitchens and laundries are no longer the only rooms that astute home owners are choosing to finish with tiles. More and more designers are using tiles for hallways, dining rooms, living rooms, bedrooms, framing fireplaces and even driveways and garages.

Tiles are an ideal starting point for material selections, providing a foundation to build your decorating scheme where every element coordinates perfectly. At Carlisle Homes, you’ll find endless ways to mix and match tiles to give your home a unique look – The options are limitless!

But knowing where to start can be the hardest part. When choosing tiles and a tile layout, consider your goals. Are you looking to create a minimal look including cleaning? A large-format tile with minimal grout lines might be the best option. Do you want to add a punch of pattern or personality to a kitchen or bathroom? Consider coloured or patterned tiles laid in an eye-catching geometric pattern, such as herringbone, on a splashback or feature wall. Love a luxe look? Try stone-look tiles or slender kit-kat tiles on a wall or splashback.

To help inspire your choices, we’ve asked tile expert Christie Wood, Design Specialist at Beaumont Tiles, to identify the five hottest looks right now.

1. Alternative tile layouts

There's more than one way to lay a tile and alternative layouts can add magic to a space. Take a tip from the design pros and use tiles to visually enhance a space. For example, consider laying tiles vertically to make your ceiling appear higher, or horizontally to make a narrow space look wider.

Horizontal stack

A hugely popular choice for contemporary homes, this simple tile layout sees rectangular tiles laid in a straight line to form a neat grid. It creates a clean, modern look, and is a great way to show off other features in a room, such as a striking stone benchtop or a display shelf.

Horizontal Brick Bond

A traditional pattern that mimics the layout of bricks. Tiles are laid out in rows, with each row offset half a tile length from the row on either side of it. It’s traditionally used with 75 x 150mm subway tiles, but also works well with smaller, rectangular tiles.

Vertical Brick Bond

Rather than laying tiles horizontally, this layout sees them laid vertically. It’s a good choice for a smaller space like bathrooms as it will make the room appear taller. Try this layout with classic subway tiles or, for a bolder look, larger-format rectangular tiles.

Vertical Stack

If you’ve been keeping a close eye on your feed lately, you’ll have noticed vertical stack bond tile patterns appearing in kitchens and bathrooms everywhere, most very often using kit kat mosaic tiles.

This sleek pattern sees tiles laid vertically and in a straight line. It works a treat on kitchen, bathroom and laundry splashbacks, as well as bathroom feature walls, drawing the eye upwards to elevate the space.

2. Organic styling and ocean tiling

When it comes to colour, tranquil ocean- and coastal-inspired hues are on trend now, and an enduring favourite: “From soft, aqueous blues and greens, to deep navy - oceanic tiles set the scene for a luxurious bathroom, standout kitchen, or charming laundry” says Wood. Try Agrestic Navy Gloss as seen above.

Tiles with a handcrafted, boho feel are another key trend not going anywhere soon, she says: "Think styles in organic tones with raw and imperfect finishes." This look is ideal for adding depth and artisanal appeal to a kitchen splashback or accent a fireplace. Handmade look edges as seen on Agrestic White Gloss subtly capture this trend. Or go all the way with Atmosphere Latte Gloss featuring tone on tone variation.

3. Concrete-look or Stone-look tiles

Concrete-look tiles have been popular for a while now, but the latest styles step it up a notch with intricate texture and detailing. “The fine aggregate chips and worn edges in concrete-look tiles inject authenticity and character,” says Woods. “Beaumont Tiles Rome range, as seen in the Sheraton Grand, features one of our most popular concrete designs”.

“Greige is the new buzzword in the design industry, and there’s so many ways to use this versatile colour,” she says. This gentle grey-brown tone softens the appearance of concrete-look tiles, making it well-suited to a range of different tastes, styles and designs” says Wood.

Or try a stone-look tile encapsulating the character of nature and bringing it indoors. Beaumont Tiles Horizon Light Grey beautifully showcase the soothing details of nature for a relaxing bathroom retreat.

“Marble with its timeless beauty is always a classic, and right on trend now. But we’re also seeing the introduction of new natural stone-look tiles such as Rock Salt, which takes its cue from large blocks of crystal salt in underground mines to create a dynamic statement to walls or floors” says Christie.

5. Geometric shapes and mosaics

Hexagons, rhomboids, diamonds, fish scales and herringbone tiles are a great alternative to colour or patterned tiles. And they’re just the thing if you’re looking to add understated elegance to a space. These geometric shape tiles traditionally come delivered on a sheet with a backing so they don’t have to be individually laid, which opens up a whole host of possibilities when it comes to tile shapes and layouts. “Splashbacks, recesses and feature walls are three of the most popular spots to use them,” says Wood.

Sleek and slim mosaics, otherwise known as kit kat or finger tiles, are the hottest thing in tiles right now. Despite their tiny size, they make an incredible design presence on a kitchen, bathroom or laundry splashback, and come in a huge array of colours. To make even more of a feature with geometric shape tiles, Wood suggests to “pair them with a contrasting grout, to really highlight the tile shape”. Try Mosaic Mono Hex White Matt with Havana or Charred Ash grout.

Christie Wood’s top tips for choosing and installing bathroom tiles

• Bathroom floor tiles: Consider where to save and where to splurge in the bathroom. Smaller sized floor tiles can be more cost effective when it comes to the falls to drains. Or install a strip drain and you open up the possibilities when it comes to tile size.
• Bathroom walls tiles: Extend your tiles to the ceiling on all bathroom walls for a bathroom that’s both practical and sophisticated. This will also draw the eye up and make the ceilings appear higher.
• Optical illusions: Larger tiles can help spaces feel even bigger thanks to less grout lines. Less grout lines give the illusion of a larger space, or colour match the grout to the tiles for a similar effect.
• Healthy home: Tiles are long lasting, easy to clean, asthma friendly and hygienic – use them throughout your entire house for a healthy family home.

A note on grout

The grout colour you choose can have a big impact on the look of your tiles. Select a grout in a colour that matches your tiles for a seamless look. Or, to make the shape of your tiles pop and to add a graphic feel to a space, consider a contrasting-coloured grout.