Mosaics in the bathroom

The recent issue of House Beautiful featured a lovely home with interiors designed by Jim Howard. I have had the pleasure of getting to know Jim over the past year, and reading the article was fascinating as it sounded so much like Jim…I could imagine him saying every word I read.

I particularly liked the bathroom in the house that was featured. Jim is always generous with sharing his own philosophy towards interiors, and it was interesting to read his thoughts on bathroom design. Jim clearly has a penchant for mosaic tiles in a bathroom, and I share his love for this design. Jim noted that “most people use matte tile these days, but the lustrous spa-like finish of polished tile – it feels expensive”. Note the polished basket weave tile on the floor of this beautiful bathroom featured in the recent House Beautiful, with interiors by Jim Howard. I have to agree with Jim – this floor looks very elegant.

The timing of this article is wonderful, as Suzanne (my designer), Keith Arnold (principal with Suzanne Kasler Interiors), and I have started to tackle the tile selections for the bathroom. Although I have a fair number of pictures of bathrooms in my inspiration files, and the master bathroom is one of my favorite rooms in my own house, I didn’t really have any preconceived notion of what any of the bathrooms in my new house would look like.

So, I thought it would be helpful to look at some of the pictures that inspire me to see if there are any themes or patterns that consistently appear – and the one that clearly emerged was mosaics in the bathroom.

Last year, I featured the Atlanta city apartment of Phoebe and Jim Howard, and had a personal tour of the space. It is clear that both Phoebe and Jim love the look of mosaics on the floor too; both bathrooms in the apartment had the most beautiful mosaic floors. This is the floor of the guest room. The tile border makes the space, in my opinion.

The master bedroom floor in the Howards’ apartment seems more subtle, as there is no border, but it appears to be the same tile.

I recently saw a house that was being renovated, and I gasped when entering this bathroom. It is so beautiful with it creamy colored polished marble hexagon tile floor. It was great to see this bathtub in person, because just the day before (in a total coincidence) Suzanne had selected this freestanding tub for my master bathroom.

The master bathroom of designer Lori Tippins’ house, featured in a post I wrote last year, has a larger scale in the polished marble hexagon tiles, which is perfect for this airy and spacious master bathroom. I still consider this to be one of the prettiest master bathrooms I have ever seen…and it proves Jim Howard’s theory that polished tile has that certain luxe look that is hard to achieve with a matte finish.

I would love to create a bathroom with beautiful green and white mosaic tile on the floor, but I also know that for me, it is best to keep the colors neutral given that it is easier to bring in color in the bathroom through towels or paint rather than through tile – color in the tile is such a big commitment.

Something like this is more like it – a beautiful basket weave tile on the floor, with the color coming in through the wall color and the lighting. Image via Brooks Falotico.

Basketweave tile showed up quite a bit in my inspiration files. This bathroom is sublime, with its fresh natural light, basketweave on the floor, and a border of solid marble tiles, making the basketweave almost like a rug. (Can anyone tell me the source?)

I also like the look of solid stone on the floor of the master bathroom, and a nice bit of mosaic tile on the shower floor. This is a good way to have the look, but not as much of the cost – mosaic tile can cost 2 or 3 times what a large tiles of solid stone costs.

Elle Decor recently featured an article on using mosaic tile in the interiors of a house, and there were some great pictures to illustrate its use in the bathroom. This room, with interiors by Kerry Joyce, has a great floor – and the tiles make quite a statement by spelling out ‘BOYS’ on the floor!

This bathroom is described as ‘spa-like’, and I love the feel of it. Interiors by David Jiminez, from House Beautiful August 2007.

As I was writing this post, I remembered that a reader commented on a post I did in the fall, and noted that the tile in one of my pictures was from New Ravenna mosaics. The reader was none other than Sara Baldwin, the owner of New Ravenna. I went over and checked out the New Ravenna website, and spent at least an hour looking around. The New Ravenna website is awe inspiring!

A subtle and beautiful basketweave floor from the New Ravenna website.

Found in the New Ravenna product section - would this be amazing in a bathroom?

Or maybe this one…it is like a piece of art. It reminds me of a set of beautiful sheers I saw in the window of a townhouse in London 10 years ago – I am slightly obsessed with this pattern!

Although I am usually a tone on tone or light and soothing color person, there is a great appeal to this black and white design.

The chevron pattern also caught my eye. I love this warm toned color.

When Keith and I were looking at tile last week, we selected all of the tile for the kids’ bathrooms and the guest bathroom (more on that later), but I totally burned out before we got to the master bathroom. Looking at tile is mentally exhausting! When we meet with Suzanne this week, we will complete the tile selection for the master (can you tell that I can make fast decisions when an expert is presenting the options?). Keith said that he envisioned the master bathroom being ‘an envelope of serenity’ – which seems exactly right to me. There were early discussions about onyx, but I have a feeling this might be over my budget. I react more to warm colors in stone rather than cold grays…so we will see what happens when Suzanne sets the direction!

As far as mosaic tiles are concerned, what do you think? They seem pretty classic to me, perhaps because they remind me of vintage bathrooms. If you have any good pictures of mosaic tiles on the floor, please feel free to send them to me!

To see my latest blog post, click here.
To subscribe to my blog by email, click here.
To follow my blog on Facebook, click here.
Twitter: @TTIBlog
Instagram: http://instagram.com/ttiblog
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/ttiblog/
Visit my online store, Quatrefoil Design: www.quatrefoildesign.bigcartel.com
To see design, architecture, art, and decorative books that I recommend, please visit the Things That Inspire Amazon store.

Beautiful framed intaglios, available here:

http://www.quatrefoildesign.bigcartel.com/category/intaglios

Unique architectural renderings, available here:

http://www.quatrefoildesign.bigcartel.com/category/architectural

http://www.quatrefoildesign.com/