Porcelain floor tiles and Captain Scarlet have more in common than you might think...

Choosing the right flooring, whether it’s for your home or your office, is extremely important. You need to have a certain style that you’re going to implement, and a ratty layer of thin carpet isn’t going to cut it, however well it might have worked when you were a student.

However, you have to make sure that the flooring not only looks good but will also be durable for a long time. With people walking on it every day, it has to be able to last and stand up to regular punishment without losing anything in terms of the way it looks. Tiles are especially popular as a flooring option for this reason. Their durability, attractiveness, ease with which they can be cleaned and the fact that they are waterproof are just some of the reasons that thousands of home-owners across the UK have installed them in their bathrooms, kitchens and living rooms.

Tiles are usually made out of either stone or ceramic material, with porcelain floor tiles experiencing a rise in popularity. Although the word “porcelain” instantly conjures up images of fragility, there are a number of advantages that come with installing tiles made from it. As a matter of fact, porcelain is the hardest and most heavy-duty of ceramic products. It is highly frost-resistant and even frost-proof in many cases, and is extremely resistant to stains and scratches. When the tiles need to be spruced up, there are very few cleaning products which are capable of damaging their surface, and they have a very high breaking point, making them difficult to accidentally crack or damage in any other way. As far as tiles go, they’re almost indestructible – the Captain Scarlet of floor decoration and protection!

If you’re concerned about the way the porcelain will look when viewed next to furnishings and the room as a whole, it’s worth noting that you can get tiles which are made out of porcelain but are recreated to look like wood, granite, marble, terracotta and so on – in this way, you can get the look you want without any of the issues that come with taking care of a wood or marble floor. In addition to the advantages already listed, porcelain floors don’t need any special treatment before they can be used – there is no cleaning and sealing process that needs to be undertaken, unlike with floors comprised of other materials.

With the durability of granite and the style of marble, porcelain floor tiling is extremely easy to maintain and blows its competition out of the water – find it at an interior decorating retailer near you!

How to Choose Tiles for Your Kitchen

They say the kitchen is the heart of the home. It makes sense then to ensure your kitchen looks and feels cosy and welcoming at all times. This article will help you choose the right tiles for your kitchen if you are sprucing it up a bit.

Many kitchens have tiles in them, whether they are on the walls as a splashback or on the floor as an eye catching and easy to clean floor surface. But whether you choose one or the other or both options, you need to consider the various types of wall and floor tiles available for you to choose from.

Quartz tiles are a good option if you want something that will look different depending on the amount of light in the room. They look particularly nice on the walls if you have down lighters mounted underneath the wall cabinets, as the light will catch the quartz tiles to good effect.

Alternatively if you have a more traditional kitchen rather than a modern one, think about getting more rustic tiles. Travertine tiles are very well known as having a wonderful surface that varies on every single tile. You have to treat and protect them as they are porous, but the effect is such that it is worth doing on a regular basis.

When you are choosing wall and floor tiles for your kitchen, it is a good idea to think about your budget. Some tiles, such as the Travertine ones mentioned above, are invariably more expensive than others. You also need to think about the space you need to cover the tiles with. If you are only covering a small space your budget may allow you to get more expensive tiles than you would be able to if you were tiling a splash back and the entire floor as well.

Shop around for your tiles too. There are lots of different outlets to try and you could find you can save a lot of money by looking in several different places. Make sure you consider the different types of materials and their effects on the overall look of your kitchen. Shiny quartz ones are very different from the flat effect of the Travertine tiles, but there are many ones in between these two as well.

As you can see, choosing your kitchen tiles isn’t going to be a job that is completed in five minutes. Unless you are really lucky to have no ceiling to your budget and you spot the perfect tile within minutes of starting to look, you can assume you will spend some time searching for some options. But you will end up with a nice choice – and a nice kitchen too.