Add Some Sparkle to Your Home With Quartz Tiles

Quartz tiles have taken the decorative tile world by storm, adding a level of sparkle and sophistication which most of us could only dream of. The vast majority of quartz tiles currently available on the market today are manufactured, or engineered by bonding fragments of quartz with a resin which is far more resilient then tiles cut from a block of solid quartz.  Although kitchen counter tops and tiles can be cut from 100% natural quartz, the engineered quartz is made from 95% quartz and 5% resin. Test have shown that engineered quartz has greater impact resistance due to the resin content and therefore is a better material than its natural cousin.

The beauty of engineered quartz lies within its versatility as a variety of colourings can be incorporated into the resin, allowing for red, green, blue, black or white quartz tiles. Colouring the resin in this way has paved the way for a much wider variety than was previously available prior to the development of engineered quartz, and this has proved to be very popular with consumers. Not only is a wider variety of colours and shades available with the manufactured quartz, it also is non porous which means it does not require sealing as many natural stones do.

Quartz tiles are available in a variety of sizes, from large 600mm square tiles down to small mosaic tiles. Mixing tiles of differing sizes can create some interesting patterns, as can mixing up the available colours too. Mixing alternate white and black quartz tiles gives the classic chess board effect, however this design is considered old hat and something of a cliché by many tilers and interior designers. The current vogue with regards to implementing a pattern in tiling tends to be more abstract in nature. For example, using mainly white quartz tiles with the other colours placed intermittently, almost randomly throughout the white tiles provides an interesting and accessible design without being 'obvious'.

If you are mixing up the colours, try not to use too many as 'tutti fruity' seldom looks good once the novelty has worn off. Instead try to limit your palate the same as you would if painting your sitting room; one main colour and no more than two contrasting or complementary colours. In large or well lit lit rooms you could get away with using a majority of black quartz tiles, accented with a frieze or border of bright red, orange or green tiles. With so many colours to choose from it's easy to get adventurous, however like any aspect of interior design, less is often more.