Wood-Effect tiles look just as lovely on walls as they do on floors. Hop onto this new trend for a rustic feature in bathrooms, kitchens and bedrooms.
From bold designs on marble-look porcelain to wood-effect tiles on your walls, this year’s tile and wood flooring trends are all about crafting your personal style.
The look of wood with the easy-care of tiles
Get the best of both worlds with wood-effect tiles. Made of porcelain, they are hard wearing and easy to clean. As designs have become more realistic, wood-effect tiles are becoming popular with Irish home owners looking to bring the aesthetic of wood into their spaces. They are ideal for children and pets as most have a slip rating of R10 or R11, which makes them much less slippery than wood flooring and suitable for bathroom floors.
Extra trend alert: Create a feature wall with wood-look tiles. They add warmth, texture and impact to wet room walls, the chimney breast, a kitchen backsplash or even a bedroom feature wall.
Heat your floors the smart way
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Keep your home at the optimal level of cosiness by controlling your underfloor heating on your smart phone. Used with electric underfloor heating you conserve energy and save money.With renewable energy on everyone’s minds, electric underfloor heating is the way to go. Electric heating mats are highly efficient, cost-effective, and easy to install under either wood flooring or tiles. The convenience of controlling your home from your phone now extends to underfloor heating. Smart systems such as the WarmUp 4ie Thermostat synch to your phone, so you can adjust the temperature on the go. This helps save electricity and ensures you come home to a cosy space efficiently heated.
Homeowners are loving warm grey wood flooring
When it comes to laminate flooring, Greige is in and so is herringbone. World of Tiles stocks a wide range of wonderfully natural looking wood floors to suit all budgets.“When it comes to décor, grey will always be in,” says Donal Higgins, Managing Director of World of Tiles. “However, we’re noticing a slight shift in the tone of grey. People are leaning more towards the warmer greys, such as Greige Oak. When it comes to style, herringbone is becoming increasingly popular for both laminate and engineered wood floors. Wide and long planks such as Wilderness Oak Long and Wide make a room appear larger and are ideal for open-plan spaces and hallways.
Daring marble-effect tiles
Marble effect tiles have become daring with bold designs, flashy gold veining and swirling marble patterning. They’re the perfect statement tile, if you’re brave enough.Bold abstract marble-look designs are on the up for those who want to make a statement. Characteristic of these large-format porcelain tiles is their striking linear veins or swirling marbling. Luxury Beige and Luxury Dark are simply gorgeous. Blue is the colour of the season and brings a sense of serenity to a space. Choose from some exciting new marble-look tiles such as Rubi, Blue Golden and Atlantis Blue.
Seamless tiles indoors and outside
Create a seamless flow from indoors to the patio with matching tiles. Choose a porcelain tile with a slip rating at least R11 to counter slippery conditions from our rain, frost and snow.A number of floor-tile ranges now come with a slip-stop option rated R11 for outdoors. This means you can create a flow from indoors to your outside space by tiling both with the same or a very similar tile. Remember though, for outside you’ll need a tile that has a slip rating of R11 at least to help keep you upright in snow, frost and rainy conditions. Outdoor tiles are 20mm thick and can be laid onto raised platforms to allow for cables beneath, concrete or directly onto grass or gravel.
