This Year's Tile Trends!

Tile is a very versatile material, offering strength and beauty while also providing color and decorative flair wherever it’s installed. Useful on both floors and walls, tile can really define the look of a room and can even be paired with other flooring and wall décor types to create complex looks from relatively simple materials. Tile provides something of a timeless look, though that doesn’t mean that it isn’t subject to decorating trends like any other material. If you’re curious as to what’s hot in tile at the moment, here are some of the biggest current trends out there.

Neutral Colors

Throughout the years, tile trends have covered just about every color imaginable. Deep browns and light tans used to be hot, and it seems like every few years monochromes and grayscales come back into prominence. Sometimes we even get bold and bright colors as the “it” trend. At the moment, though, a lot of tile trends seem to be gravitating toward more neutral colors. Tans, grays, and greens are especially popular within the last year or so.

The key to the popularity of these colors lies in how well light shades of brown, gray, and green tend to go with a variety of different decorating styles. Soft greens are especially popular lately and pair well with green, blue, and even brown shades in bathrooms, kitchens, and other rooms where tile is commonly used. While these colors are the most popular at the moment, other neutral shades including soft yellows, creams, and even pinks and blues are finding their way into more homes as the neutral color trend continues.

Hexagons Are Hot

Most of the time, tile comes in some variation of squares or rectangles. Even tiles with repeating sweeping designs or that are arranged to create vivid images tend to mostly be square. That may be one of the reasons that hexagonal tiles are so popular these days, since they really shake up convention while still offering an easily repeatable shape that captures the essence of classic tile.

Hexagonal tile is available in a wide range of options, including classic glossy ceramic tiles, marbled tiles, matte finishes, and even 2D images that repeat over the face of the tiles. Some hexagon layouts even use different types of hexagons to create a more complex pattern, combining classic hexagons with others that have two sides longer than the rest to create a remarkably interesting look overall. You can even combine hexagons with rectangular or square tiles to create very striking patterns on your walls or floors. The options are limitless, and they’re sure to catch the attention of any guests who see them.

Textures and Tile

While tile has often gone hand in hand with complex design work, a lot of emerging trends seem to be dialing back on that to keep things a little simpler. At the same time, more tiles are adding subtle bits of texture to make up for the lack of design complexity. This gives the tile more of a 3D look, allowing light and shadow to add subtle touches of depth without the need for a wide range of tiles in different shapes and colors to create complex patterns. This texture can mimic the look of natural stone, create flecked patterns on the tile, or even create ridges or waves that seem to flow from one tile to the next. These textured tiles are redefining what many people think of when they think of tile wall coverings and flooring.