Latest Designer Bathroom Ideas and How To Guides for your Home

Travertine is great for use in the home and is ideal for use when tiling a floor in a bathroom, kitchen or shower. Popular for centuries travertine tiles are favoured because of their natural and unique colouring, patterns and long lasting capabilities, take the Colesseum in Rome built nearly two thousand years ago! Travertine is a wholly natural product and it is because of this that its natural beauty is evident. Formed when shifts thousands of years ago in the earth’s crust allow heated water to mix with calcium carbonate particles, travertine was created in large deposits and is now quarried for use in building.

Travertine tiles are ideal for cladding and for use external in patios and communal areas where their unique pattern and colouring gives a garden or public space, outside a hotel for example, a truly classical look. It is certainly true that using travertine tiles on your patio will certainly make it stand out. With its historic importance as a primary building material in ancient buildings, travertine tiles have a reputation for lasting all types of weather conditions and for being easily maintained over time.

The natural colours of travertine tiles make them particularly appealing and although in its purest form travertine tiles are white, impurities can cause the colour of travertine tiles to vary and to be yellow and brown. The choice of colour that you eventually settle upon will depend to some extent on the area where you a fitting the travertine tiles, for bathrooms or shower areas, many choose the pure white which gives the room a marble look, the important difference though, is that travertine tiles whilst looking like marble are considerably less in price.

If you mention to most people that you intend laying tiles in your bathroom, the reaction will generally be of two kinds. The first is likely to be that you have lost your mind and the second is that you are a liar.

Why this should be the case is a mystery. Laying tiles does not require that you be a specialist in DIY and it certainly does not mean that you are going to sneak a certified tile fitter in the back door and hope that nobody sees him.

Yet it really need not be such a trial. All it takes is a little commonsense and foresight.

Firstly, choose an adhesive that is waterproof. Any home improvement centre stocks at least one variety. Secondly, make sure you have enough tiles. In fact, buy more than you think you need. Tiles are frequently dropped or cracked.

Ensure the area you are laying your bathroom tiles on is free from detritus. A flat surface is of crucial importance. Once this is done, use lengths of spacing pieces to make sure the tiles are laid straight. Create a grid of horizontal and vertical lines.

Spread the adhesive evenly. Ensure that the tiles are positioned squarely. Although it is easy enough to remedy any mistakes at this stage, getting it right first time will increase your confidence.

Whatever you do, do not grout too soon. Wait for the tile adhesive to dry thoroughly, which can take up to 24 hours.

Finally, take great care with the grouting. If it is not spread evenly, it will dry in lumps and this can be tedious to remove.

Be more creative with your bathroom tiling. If you want to get away from the standard, grid patterned ceramic tiles, use two, three or even four sizes of tile. Add decorative border tiles, or lay out different sized tiles next to each other in a bespoke design.

The first thing to do is to have a clear vision of what you want to achieve. Do you want a strong, colourful design or something a little more traditional with subtle details. Or a muted background drawing attention to your sink or bath?

Mix and match tiles throughout the floor. Break up the grout lines and focus on the tiles themselves rather than the grid pattern. Create squares or rectangles in front of the bath, sink or vanity unit.

Add borders around the perimeter of the bath or shower. This will give emphasis and highlight the fixture. Try darker tiles around the bath mixed with a paler colour in the main body of the bathroom. The same approach could be used to focus on the shower stall and lavatory.

Another effective method is to angle the tiles. When these are turned to a 45 degree angle, the design draws the eye to the edges of the room where you have just created the border. Even if you only angle six tiles, an attractive diamond shape is created that will highlight a fixture.

And experiment with changing the colour of the grout. It now comes in a wide range of colours and will effectively create an individualistic style at virtually no extra expense.

An outdoor pool is a fun place to spend an ideal summer’s day, or to throw a party for kids or adults. A pool party can be even more exciting with an attractive pool and paved flooring.

One of the best ways to add appeal and comfort to a pool and the surrounding area is to use travertine pavers (travertine bring one of the best materials to use for pool paving). Travertine is a natural stone that is ideally suited for hot conditions since it stays cool, so that even if someone walks barefoot under the mid-day sun, they will still feel the coolness of the stone.

Travertine pavers and tiles also prevent efflorescence, a white deposit that sometimes appears on concrete surfaces. Travertine will also not fade, unlike bricks, nor will they rot, like other man-made surfaces.

During both summer and the freezing winter cold, travertine pavers will stand the test of time. They will not disintegrate, even when the ground freezes over and thaws out – travertine resists all types of weathering.

Travertine tiles that are used as a material for paving are typically thinner, and commonly set in mortar. This makes travertine stone pavers a wise choice to use as an outdoor paving material.

To make an outdoor pool even more attractive, travertine pavers come in a variety of colours and designs to make them look elegant and vibrant. And since they are made of natural stone, travertine tiles are infused with other colourful accents and shades.

Travertine tiles are both durable and cost-effective, which makes them the perfect pool-paving material.

Travertine tiles in mosaic pattern are suitable for a number of uses but particularly for both walls and floors. Most commonly used in bathrooms and wet rooms they offer a better option when a non slip surface is required or is desirable. They can be used as a wall covering or they can be simple splash backs, also suitable for kitchen walls.  The sheets of mosaic travertine tiles can be a selected shade or they can be random, combining different shades and variations in surface texture adding distinct characteristic features to the wall or floor, adding extra interest.

With mosaic tiles, these can be supplied in two distinct sizes, 48×48 or 24×24, but for something which is that bit different a brick pattern is available. Individual tiles are tumbled, creating a worn pebble like appearance. The travertine tiles are naturally unfilled. When grouted in the surface is still textured, whereas marble tiles are completely smooth. This range of tiles is increasing in popularity and because the colours can be mixed, they can be used with any other Travertine product.

The success of Travertine is demonstrated by the fact that it is one of the oldest building materials that are known to man and it was used extensively by the Romans. The Colesseum in Rome is the largest building in the world which is largely constructed using Travertine. There are many other examples of use of this natural product that can be found throughout Europe and America.

If you are installing a traditional bathroom suite, choosing the right tiling will be vital in keeping with the style you are trying to achieve. Unlike more modern bathrooms, older designs tend to use less tiling, but this is usually down to taste and budget rather than authentic accuracy.

Floor tiling is especially popular in traditional bathrooms as they can give a darker shade, which will be in keeping with older styles, such as Victorian and Edwardian and are ideal if you are unable to use the existing floor.

As the majority of traditional bathroom sinks, toilets and other bathroom furniture will come in a white ceramic finish, choosing a different colour for your tile work will give an all-important contrast. Again, darker colours will be most suitable, especially where there is plenty of natural light coming into the room, and dark blue or even black will always add a touch of class.

However, there will more often than not be less need for tiles in a traditional bathroom, and you will find many designs will only have tiling fitted around the basin area and inside the shower cubicle. Painting walls will also prove to be a lot more cost effective, and knowing exactly where and how many tiles you need to fit will help you stick to your budget. If you do plan to only fit tiles around the shower enclosure, white or cream colours are recommended as they will add extra brightness, and as they are more or less out of sight, won’t have a large effect on the colour scheme of your bathroom.

It is usually the wall tiles that will decide the main colour theme for a bathroom design, but if you are planning to add tiles to existing components there will be certain rules you will have to follow in order to create the right style.

Whether they are placed on the floor or around the shower cubicle, the tile colour in your bathroom is usually the first thing that people will notice. For modern bathrooms there is a huge range of colours and designs to choose from. Of course, as most bathroom sinks and shower trays will come in a ceramic finish, white is always a safe choice, but contrast will be needed if you want your bathroom to come to life. If you only plan to fit tiles around your shower cubicle, a light colour will be the best choice.

Off-white and cream is recommended, although still a little subdued, while bright blues and greens will give any bathroom a fresh and natural feel. Of course, there are many darker tiles on offer, but these will only work well if there is sufficient natural light in your bathroom.

With more traditional bathroom tiles, it will be harder to achieve the right result. In many showroom displays, black tiling has become a popular choice for traditional bathrooms, but again this will only work if there is enough light to brighten up the room. However, it is important not to go overboard when fitting tiles into a traditional style bathroom, as this will often detract from the intended character.