Interior Decorating: The Bathroom Tile Patterns To Avoid, And Why

Tips and techniques on remodeling your bathroom: how to choose tile color, style and pattern,and decor themes to avoid.

You don't want to send someone screaming from your home after glimpsing your walls, so before deciding on bathroom tile, make sure it's appropriate for your particular bathroom. Avoid tiles with kittens, rainbows, vehicles, skeletons, cows, snakes, houses, school themes, baby themes, or monsters. Just say "no" to balloons, streamers, USA themes, confetti, veggies, bugs and lightning bolts. Most people know to avoid totally preposterous designs but are not clear on what designs might look good in their bathrooms. You don't have to be an interior decorator to choose a bathroom tile which is suitable for your space. Some things to consider when selecting tile patterns are the size of your bathroom and the colors or patterns on the tile. For instance, white might be too boring, dark colors may make the bathroom seem small and confining, and brown with yellow combinations are taboo, for obvious reasons. If your bathroom is a small area, avoid dark colors and large patterns, since these make the bathroom appear even smaller. Another look you don't want in a small bathroom is a very busy pattern, like tiles which have several different designs going on at once, or other crowded patterns. If you are using a busy pattern, use only one tile every so often, and make the rest solid colored. Even if your bathroom is large, giant patterns can sometimes look intimidating. Also bold, dark colors can take away from the look of your spacious bath area. Painting the grout is a nice look in some instances, but for many bathrooms, this appearance can begin to resemble a cage after a certain amount of time in the room. Laying one row of one color, then another row of another color of tile is another pattern which should be avoided because it shrinks the room and is distractive.

Colors play a very important part in how attractive your bathroom is. Too much beige is ho-hum, and black is depressing. Instead, choose a comforting color like a baby blue, rose or sunny yellow. Bedrooms and other areas of the house are sometimes easier to decorate, since many themes, styles and colors are suitable for these rooms. Bathrooms however, are unique in that there are limited themes which you can follow throughout the bath area which enhance the room. Sea scenes, for example, are appropriate for bathrooms, but fruits or candy designs are all but forbidden because of their nature. Tiles with lots of curly-cues, puppies, sports themes and colorful stars are other designs which are too whimsical or inappropriate for the bath. These themes are more appropriate for other rooms of the house. Flowers, subtle and pretty colors or anything aquatic are better choices for tile designs. And, a general rule of thumb for decorating in small areas is to avoid using more than two or three color choices together. Choosing more than a couple of additional colors will give you a silly or excessive appearance.

Avoid purple and black together, which is simply tacky, or red and yellow which looks childish or clownish. Brown cabinets are okay, but a tremendous amount of this color is not going to get you any compliments on your decor, particularly if you have several different shades of brown in the bath. If you will be putting tile on your walls and floor, avoid patterns which will clash. Try to choose the pattern for the wall, then a coordinating pattern for the floor. If the tiles for the wall have a small floral pattern, choose a color from the pattern to do the floor. Do not choose a pattern which has a floral design, then select another different floral design for the floor. These patterns will clash horribly and leave you with a bathroom in which you and your guests are not comfortable. Generally speaking, soft colors, small patterns, floral designs and solid colors are good bathroom tile choices whereas blinding colors or distractive patterns, and most animals are not good choices for bathroom decor.

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