Choosing Ceramic Tiles

Floor Tiles

The nice thing about selecting ceramic tile for your remodeling project is that tile comes in such a wide variety of colors, shapes, sizes, and even textures.  Tile requires very low maintenance and is a very long lasting selection for any area of the home or even one’s business environment.  Choosing ceramic tiles can be quite fun and exciting if one simply does a little preparation before visiting the product pages of anchorbaytile.com or any other tile showroom.

choosing ceramic tiles Up front preparation
Since it is hard for most folks to visualize exactly what they want their final installation to look like, it helps to take a few baby steps before jumping in full steam to the selection process.  The first time one visits either an online tile showroom or a local tile store in your area can be such an overwhelming experience if little preparation has been done before the visit takes place.

Some things to consider in your own home first:
•    How much light is in the room where the Ceramic Tiles will be installed?  Would darker or lighter colors be a better choice?
•    What is the color theme you hope to achieve when the room is done?  How does that theme work and flow with other rooms in the home?
•    What sort of design style suits your taste more than another?  Does your taste sway more towards a sleek contemporary and modern look or the light and bright hues of a country style?

After you have narrowed your choices to one design theme and color selection over another, it helps to visit your local library and bookstore to flip through many of the readily available design magazines that are published monthly.  In these publications are pictures galore of any and every design theme, color, texture, shape, size, and look of different rooms in the average and not so average American home.  Purchase a few of them that have pictures that you like and cut out the pictures for reference. Once you have assembled a reference point of say three to seven pictures you will probably notice that your taste seems to gravitate towards the same thing in each picture.  Now you are ready to begin the tile shopping adventure!

Choosing a Size:
Ceramic tiles are available in many sizes.  For a wall, countertop or backsplash it is common to choose either 4” x 4” or 6” x 6” tiles for these areas. Mosaics have gained significantly in popularity over the past several years, especially with the rise in usage of glass tile in the home and in pools. For Floor Tiles installations, larger tiles have become desirable for the simple reason that larger tiles make a room look larger. Some floor tiles come in multiple sizes which allow for the creation of interesting patterns and design elements.

Color choices:
Of course, only you can decide what color is right for you, but here are a few basic rules to remember: Lighter colors make a space appear bright and open. Darker colors add warmth and hide dirt well. Neutral colors allow you to change your accessories but if you love a trendy color, go for it! Just keep in mind it will be with you a long time.

Choosing a tiles texture:
Generally speaking, textured or matte finish tiles are less slippery than smooth or shiny tiles - something to keep in mind when choosing floor tiles.  For wall, counter top, and backsplash installations, the slip factor is not a major concern so choose the Ceramic Tiles that is most appealing to you.  For floor tiles installations, common sense takes over and says to look for tiles that have some sort of texture and of course are not slippery to the touch. Often times, a ceramic tile's "slip resistance" is measured by its "coefficient of friction," which is provided in the technical spec sheet or sometimes on the box by the manufacturer.

Wall Tiles