Bathroom renovations: Tile style

Whether it's the installation of a backsplash, or an entire reflooring, an increasing number of homeowners are turning to tile as a stylish surfacing option when doing bathroom renovations. To track down the woman with her finger on the pulse of porcelain, STYLE AT HOME went to Olympia Tile's 18,000 square foot Toronto showroom. With over 20 years of experience at Olympia Tile, Lauryl Sandler, Manager of the Home Builder's Division, is our guide through the mosaic of tile trends that are perfect for your next bathroom renovation.

STYLE AT HOME: Why choose tile over other floor and wall coverings for bathroom renovations?
Lauryl Sandler: Tile is non-allergenic, easy to clean, and the selection is incredible. The sizes, colours, designs, patterns and textures available make it a really versatile item.

S@H: What's particularly on-trend when it comes to tile materials and patterns?
LS: Glazed porcelain is very good, because it has the strength of a porcelain tile, but the glaze offers a lot of different designs and styles. Right now, what's very popular is a glazed porcelain that's a virtual duplicate of limestone, but without the maintenance limestone requires, such as sealing. We've got tiles that simulate the look and texture of other materials as well, like leather, carpeting, linen, marble, slate, bamboo, hardwood and elephant skin. We even have one that I really like called Metallica -- it's a very masculine and industrial look, in dark colours with a metallic edge to it. There's really something for everyone, although brown tones remain quite popular.

S@H: And tile size is another important consideration after you've selected the look.
LS: The trend is for 12-inch by 12-inch tile -- and larger -- for floors. Because homes are getting bigger, we have a lot more demand for larger format tiles -- we have a lot of 18-by-18 and 12-by-24-inch tiles. If you have a 3,000 square foot home and your main floor is a big open area and you want this consistent look through the kitchen and hallway and laundry room, you can now do this beautiful larger-format 18-by-18-inch tile. There's less grout going on, and it's a bit cleaner looking -- just a desired look right now for the home. But not every home can accommodate that.

S@H: So I've selected my tile from the showroom for my bathroom renovation. The design work is done, right?
LS: It's not only the bathroom tile that's important, but how you install it. You can pick a very simple tile, but install it on a diagonal or in a staggered joint like a brick pattern, and the most simplistic tile now has a whole new dimension to it. I'm seeing more of that - where they can, people are playing a bit more with pattern. They might install tile in a hallway straight, and then the adjoining room on a diagonal, but it's still the same tile. The rooms still flow into each other, but they have a little different style. What else is very popular, when available, is modular sizing. You might have a 6.5-by-6.5-inch floor tile with a 13-by-13-inch tile, so you can create modular patterns, borders and accent pieces with different sizes of the same colour tile. A lot of it comes down to the installation, and you need a good installer for that.