Browse Forums Bathrooms and Laundry 1 Jul 28, 2009 2:33 pm Hi All, Hoping for everyones opinion and help with this question. I have recently seen some television commercials featuring shower/bathrooms (yes this is where I find myself looking for ideas ). It shows a shower with tiles done in a 'brick wall' pattern, using rectangular brick size tiles. I already really like the rectangular tiles and I want to use them for a splashback in the bathroom, laundry and kitchen but I've never seen it done this way and now I'm in love Anyway here's the link to the Rheem ads http://www.rheem.com.au/articles/2009_TVCs/? (it's the second ad) I want to see what everyone thinks about this style and if anyone has used it I would love to see some photo's. Also would this style just be better for a splashback only or all the tiling in the bathroom? And I also have the idea to do a feature of a different coloured tile either scattered throughout this 'brick wall' or a whole row of a different colour, what do you think about that? Thanks so much Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 2Jul 28, 2009 8:30 pm ohhhh thats a really interesting idea and if done correctly it could look fantastic. if you did go for this i recomend that the decore' be very earthy and almost foresty in terms of different greens and browns...and deep red like in vases and soap dispensers and tooth brush holders and native flowers(potted in a small pot or vase in the corner). i think your onto somthing here!!!! caitie Al & Caitie- Building the Hamilton 278 (Coral) at Narangba Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 3Jul 28, 2009 8:58 pm Hi Renee Our first idea was to have the wall tiling done that way but then we decided to have several straight lines of features going up the wall. If we would have continued with the brick pattern it would have meant that too many of our beautifull 300 x 450mm tiles needed to be cut in half in order to get the straight line. This problem could have been solved by changing the feature line in a 300mm high vertical feature in every second tile. A sort of resemblence of a dotted line so to say. The Tile Shop had an example on display but we decided against it because it would become too complex to execute in our Ensuite which also has a wall with a window just above the edge of the bath and a dwarff wall between Master Bedroom and Ensuite. I still like the idea and we have seen beautiful examples in several Tile Shops. Good luck with your choise. Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 4Jul 28, 2009 9:11 pm Just use big tiles. Bloody big tiles. Because cleaning the grout lines is a bit*h. We have small tiles laid brick ways in our current rental. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ In the toilet, the bathroom and the kitchen. Same tile everywhere. It looks very nice yes. But I am not posting a picture of the shower because I am fighting a losing battle with the mold. You can't just scrub up and down on the grout line. You have to move across every time every tile. IT takes forever. Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 5Jul 28, 2009 11:27 pm oh netadelle i do like that look renee, but i think in small doses perhaps do this for the bath hob, or the laundry splashback, but i would definitely not do wall to wall tiles like netadelles i also think if you are going to use this in one of your showers, don't use a feature tile - just use a 10 x 30 in a nice earthy colour like caitie suggested - and caitie, i think you need to visit michelles forum! you sound like a budding interior designer (that is a good thing, you can help me decorate N's room - iand 'm sure you'll be getting some nursery decorating practice of your own soon ) bring on the bubba!!!! 2014 - Prepping to build the Soho 4 with Plantation homes, industrial style 2009 - Built the Brampton with Coral Homes viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15399&start=280 Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 6Jul 29, 2009 12:01 am I'm not an enormous fan of the whole subway tile look, BUT in the right kitchen/bathroom, the look is timeless and stunning! I also prefer it on a smaller scale to a larger one, and it does look great as a splashback in a 'Hamptons style' kitchen, or in a traditional Victorian bathroom! Walker79, depending on the whole look you are trying to achieve for your house, it could be wonderful! Cleaning...mmmm, not so sure! Google is your inspiration! Bathrooms: http://images.google.com.au/images?gbv= ... m&aq=f&oq= Kitchens: http://images.google.com.au/images?gbv= ... s&aq=f&oq= Good luck!! Henley - Wilshire Mk 3 ... I love my house!! Site start: 4th Feb 09 Handover: 10th Sep 09 Blog: http://stormygirlscastle.blogspot.com/ Build Thread: viewtopic.php?t=7166 Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 7Jul 29, 2009 10:33 am Americans are really into the whole Subway tile look for their kitchen splashbacks but I would have to agree with Netadelle - it would be a nightmare to keep scrupulously clean - unless you paid for the grout to be sealed once it was laid. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 8Jul 29, 2009 2:55 pm Thanks everyone for your feedback Can I start by saying I'm not a fan of cleaning ...and in particular grout, so I definitely don't want to create more work for myself. I also want to make it clear that I definitely won't be having a white tile like poor netadelle has in her toilet. I will be having a darker coloured tile with darker grout (hopefully won't show the dirt as bad as a white tile). I do think I'll stick with my original idea just to use them as a splashback only and if the tiler won't charge too much ask him to lay them 'subway' style (never knew that was what they're called). I have noticed lots of people use these tiles (100x300...I think) for splashbacks. Like these people.... Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ I guess they can't be that much trouble to clean. And if they're only a splashback they won't get that dirty anyway. Thanks again for your feedback Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 9Jul 29, 2009 3:25 pm We are having our splashback like the one above. In white. We have grey cupboards. I am totally second guessing myself on that now, and wishing that i had done big tiles like we are using in the bathroom. But ahh well. I think they also call it 'brick' style here in Australia. I've only heard the builders refer to it as brick style or brick lay. Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 10Jul 29, 2009 5:37 pm We're getting the 100x300 tiles in our bathrooms tiled normally as per your pics. They had displays of both in the tile shop. Our builder charges to lay in a brick pattern. We've chosen to use a different colour 100x300 on the bath hob as a feature instead. Built Liberty 42 - Handover 26th Feb 2010 forum thread: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=17243 Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 11Jul 29, 2009 5:38 pm netadelle I think they also call it 'brick' style here in Australia. I've only heard the builders refer to it as brick style or brick lay. Brick sounds much nicer to me than subway Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 12Jul 29, 2009 9:51 pm oooh, that's mrs b's laundry & shas kitchen!!! i love their houses renee - i have chosen the 100 x 300 laid horizontally for my laundry splashback (which will be 1200 long x 600 high - just in case i decide to install overhead cupboards later ) these are definitely within corals budget and come in a nice range of colours... the only extra change would be with the tiler to lay them "brick " style 2014 - Prepping to build the Soho 4 with Plantation homes, industrial style 2009 - Built the Brampton with Coral Homes viewtopic.php?f=31&t=15399&start=280 Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 13Jul 30, 2009 11:10 am Be wary of laying any tiles longer than 100x200 in a brick pattern. All tiles - especially glazed - are made to a tolerance in size and also in bowing. Even 300x600, 450x450 etc have a slight bow in them. So with say a 100x400 wall tile it may have a bow of 1mm or so in the centre of each tile. When laid alongside each other we never see this as each tiles high point will be alogside a high point on the next tile. When you brick a long tile you have the low end of one tile up possibly against the high(middle) spot on the tile below it. This introduces basket weaving in the tiles, where you see the tiles dipping in and out from each other. No most say 100x300 and 100x400 on the markets are of good qaulity, not exactly perfect. So bricking the tiles may tend to expose this flaw even more. Regarding the grout. I always colur match of go for a slight contrast. The second kitchen with the coffe coloured tiles and the white grout - all I see is grout. I would have went a matching grout or a few shades lighter. Also in time its the grout that gets dirty, and the more obvious the grout the more obvious the change in it. Charlie Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 14Jul 30, 2009 2:44 pm Zedman Be wary of laying any tiles longer than 100x200 in a brick pattern. All tiles - especially glazed - are made to a tolerance in size and also in bowing. Even 300x600, 450x450 etc have a slight bow in them. So with say a 100x400 wall tile it may have a bow of 1mm or so in the centre of each tile. When laid alongside each other we never see this as each tiles high point will be alogside a high point on the next tile. When you brick a long tile you have the low end of one tile up possibly against the high(middle) spot on the tile below it. This introduces basket weaving in the tiles, where you see the tiles dipping in and out from each other. No most say 100x300 and 100x400 on the markets are of good qaulity, not exactly perfect. So bricking the tiles may tend to expose this flaw even more. Regarding the grout. I always colur match of go for a slight contrast. The second kitchen with the coffe coloured tiles and the white grout - all I see is grout. I would have went a matching grout or a few shades lighter. Also in time its the grout that gets dirty, and the more obvious the grout the more obvious the change in it. Charlie Thanks Zedman, that's interesting info to ponder.... Jess09 oooh, that's mrs b's laundry & shas kitchen!!! i love their houses renee - i have chosen the 100 x 300 laid horizontally for my laundry splashback (which will be 1200 long x 600 high - just in case i decide to install overhead cupboards later ) these are definitely within corals budget and come in a nice range of colours... the only extra change would be with the tiler to lay them "brick " style Thanks Jess, always good to know things are within budget...hahaha Re: Tiling question- love it or hate it? 15Jul 30, 2009 3:01 pm NMS but each to their own. Building Thread viewtopic.php?f=31&t=13002 Site start: 8th July 2009 Handover: 11/12/2009! 5 months total build time. 40 sqs of luxuary...Bliss! Looking to tile the facade pillars rather than rendering. Builder is quoting 2500$ laying cost for upto 10msq. The 2 pillars come to be 16msq. So laying costs are 5000$… 0 7983 Hi, I'm clearing the tiles from our horrid 50 year old bathroom and preparing to lay new ones. Bugger of a job getting the old… 0 8227 |