How Border Tiles can Be Used to Improve Tile Design

There are a lot of tiles in modern home design that don’t receive nearly as much attention as they deserve. Sometimes this is simply because the tile is somewhat obscure and not easily attained, other times it’s because it’s expensive and other tiles do just as well for cheaper. Then there are tiles that are overlooked, even though if used correctly they can truly change a design scheme for tiles for the better. In this, border tiles most certainly qualify. Perhaps by examining how these tiles are best used, it can be easier to see why border tiles need much more love than they have been receiving.

What are border tiles?

Border tiles, for the uninitiated, are exactly as their name might suggest. They are tiles used to create a border around a given object.

While there certainly are other ways you can achieve this effect, such as by using ordinary tiles of a different colour, or maybe a more stylish tile such as a stone tile or mosaic, border tiles have been specifically created for this task. Consequently, they are much better suited for this task. Look at it this way: you can easily use the handle of a saw to bash a nail into wood, but isn’t it much easier to use a hammer? The same applies here.

However because of their specific nature they tend to be overlooked by most amateur home designers. Their name and use make them sound boring and unnecessary, however this could not be further from the truth. Used correctly, a collection of border tiles can really help make a tile design truly amazing.

Uses for border tiles

The most obvious use for a border tile is to create a border for something. While this may sound pretty dull, it actually serves a very small yet very effective function. Sometimes when you create wall tile designs, it’s very hard to create distinction. Colours and designs blend together into the background tiles, and as a result the final look may not be as striking as you like. Even if you use strongly contrasting colours, it never seems quite as strong as it could.

This is because there’s nothing that really defines the shapes and patterns, and as a result the human eye can’t really focus on them. It’s difficult to distinguish between it and the background. As a comparison, compare a draw that is made using only colour pencils with no graphite pencils.

Border tiles can provide that needed distinction. They can be used to help block out a given pattern and give it depth, bringing it out of the background and into the foreground.

The result is some much needed order and separation. Because it’s now clear what’s supposed to be in the background and what’s supposed to be in the foreground, your designs become a lot more effective and eye-catching. It also helps make your backgrounds a little less overwhelming. As well as designs, it can also be used to separate fixtures such as sinks and toilets from the design proper, giving them their own distinction.

Another use for border tiles is also to help accentuate the design themselves. Despite their name, they should not be used simply to ring around other objects. That’s a very limited application, and they can be used in other ways. With a little bit of creativity and innovation, border tiles can be used to help add to a design in its own right. Because border tiles tend to be elongated, they can help break up a cluster of uniform shapes. This gives a design more variety, and thus makes it more interesting to look at.