Fireplace tiles: how to choose and how to apply?

A fireplace decorated with tiles can look stylish in a wide variety of interior types. Tiles are small ceramic tiles with interesting relief or painting. They can depict traditional ornaments, fairy-tale and mythological subjects, and you can also find modern versions of tiles with abstract designs. These catchy interior details will surely attract attention, so you should choose them carefully.

Stove decor with tiles is considered traditional in Russian culture, but in modern houses it can look quite exotic. At the same time, it is not at all necessary to furnish the entire room in the style of a Russian hut - now a combination of various directions is in fashion, therefore a fireplace decorated with tiles can look quite organically even together with more modern decor elements.

If you decide to cover the fireplace with tiles with your own hands, you should pay attention to the multiple nuances of such a decor. How good the tiles look in the interior depends on the size and layout of the room, as well as on the decoration and furniture. One way or another, you can always find a good option that will stylishly fit into the decor of the room.

Tiles are flashy decorations that imply an abundance of small details. in the form of a painting or relief image. For this reason, this design is predominantly suitable for spacious rooms.

Decorated with multi-colored tiles, the fireplace will become the semantic center of your room. This means that other bright elements in the room setting, which could compete with the decorated fireplace, should be selected with great care. Traditionally, one semantic center is made in the room, and the rest of the furniture is located around it and does not draw attention to itself. An exception may be spacious living rooms, visually or physically divided into several zones. In each of them, you can place one catchy object, which will become the semantic center.

If a fireplace completely tiled with tiles and resembling a real stove seems too exotic for you, you can slightly diversify the fireplace with a traditional design with decorative bright tiles. It is not at all necessary to lay the fireplace over the entire area with tiles, you can simply decorate it in the center or on the sides with several tiles. Also, tiles can look stylish around the fireplace on the wall, forming a kind of frame.

For modern interiors, it is customary to choose solid embossed tiles, which can be dark, light or bright depending on the specific features of your design. In this case, the emphasis is on the relief, but it should be quite minimalistic. Such a modern interpretation of the decor of the Russian stove can become a highlight of your home.

Bright and colorful painted tiles are usually used in country style or in an eclectic interior. At the same time, you can lay out patterns on the surface of the fireplace with tiles of different colors, which will allow you to focus on specific unusual tiles.The brightest models you want to highlight can be placed against light or dark backgrounds.

In modern hardware stores, you can find tiles for every taste and budget. Traditionally, they were made by hand, and the painting of each tile was unique. This is a very sophisticated decor, so you need to choose tiles with all the details in mind. Since the tiles attract a lot of attention, it is very important that the surface has the correct relief and is well painted and painted.

The design of the concrete tiles also plays a big role. Consider the following possible options for painting and relief on decorative tiles that can organically fit into the interior of your home:

• Especially popular now are russian decorative tiles with a variety of floral designs. Most often they have a light background, bright painting, complemented by a relief. In a simple interior, these options can look old-fashioned, but if you create an eclectic setting and complement the fireplace laid out with such tiles with modern furniture elements, the design can turn out to be very interesting.

• Dutch tiles are based on white enamel and translucent blue painting. These are smooth tiles without relief, which depict whole picturesque paintings. Most often, the subjects of such painted tiles are rural landscapes, cities, ships, scenes with mills, horse riders and fishermen. Such tiles create a unique atmosphere in the house and exquisitely complement even a simple laconic interior of the house. Occasionally you can find yellow and terracotta ornaments in Dutch tiles - several of these tiles can successfully set off the exquisite blue and white tiles.

• Italian majolica differs in a variety of colors and sophisticated ornaments. Usually, Italian tiles have a light relief and are abundant in floral patterns. The traditional colors are green, brown, yellow and blue. Unlike Russian tiles with floral prints, the Italian tradition uses more muted colors so that the pattern does not stand out too much. In addition to floral and plant elements, images of fruits, birds and portraits of people in profile are characteristic.

• Persian tiles They are distinguished by particularly delicate and refined painting, and the color scheme tends to a dark palette: you can find dark blue, burgundy, brown and dark green tiles with lighter patterns, highlighted in relief. Oriental abstract patterns, which resemble modified floral designs, are most characteristic of such tiles. From a distance, Persian traditional tiles look almost monolithic, and upon closer inspection, one can appreciate the complexity and grace of the finest painting. In addition to ornaments, images of horse riders, tree branches teeming with fruits, and mythical creatures are popular.

• For English decorative tiles the restraint of the color palette is characteristic. Very often, such options remain in a natural terracotta color - embossed clay tiles are simply varnished. Sometimes there is also a combination of white, blue and brown color palette. Such tiles can stylishly fit into classic interiors, as well as into the modern style that is now fashionable.

• For the artistic culture of the Far East the tiles were not typical, but now you can find tiles with imitation of Japanese painting in stores. These can be golden carps, birds and branches of flowering trees, depicted in a limited range of colors on smooth beige tiles. If you want to add oriental elements to your interior, such models can definitely look very interesting.

• Modern tiles for fashionable interiors, they are often made monochromatic or two-tone, and the relief tends to be minimalistic. Such ceramics will not be discordant even with a laconic high-tech design. Sometimes the ornaments are borrowed from traditional art culture, and sometimes they are completely abstract and look very modern. If you are worried that the classic tiles will not look harmonious in your home, these options may be right for you.

In modern hardware stores, tiles with a wide variety of designs can be purchased in whole sets or individually. It is also worth considering various online stores, since often the assortment in them is much wider, and the pricing policy is pleasantly surprising.

Despite the fact that for a long time decorative tiles were considered an attribute of an exclusively traditional style, modern tiles in all their diversity are suitable for a wide variety of types and styles of interior design.

There are the following options:

• Bright decorative tiles can perfectly fit into country style - such ceramic elements will look great with dark and light woods. At the same time, you can create the atmosphere of a real Russian hut if you choose carved furniture and complement the interior with stylish ceramic accessories - vases, teapots or dishes.

• Even in a classic interior, tiles can look stylish, but it is mostly worth choosing light and monochromatic options. Tiles with complex images can also work, but there should be only a few of them so that they stand out against the general background and do not look too colorful.
• For the colonial style, tiles with oriental painting may be suitable. Dark tiles always look quite restrained and elegant, and a sophisticated pattern will become a highlight of the interior. Elegant tiles with ornate patterns and images of mythical creatures will perfectly fit into the romantic atmosphere of the colonial-style space.

• In eclectic style, you can combine modern décor with traditional tiles. At the same time, in order for the design to really look fresh and interesting, not only contrasts between different elements are important, but also the features that unite them. For example, the color scheme of the tiles and decoration of the room can be the same, or you can repeat the ornaments of the tiles on the floor tiles.

Most often, fireplaces are installed in country houses. - there they look most appropriate. With decorative tiles in a private house, you can create a unique atmosphere of warmth and comfort, as well as visually highlight the hearth in the interior. Since private homes are typically much more spacious than the average city apartment, the interior is by definition more eclectic. In addition, it is in a private house that one wants to feel close to nature, use natural materials in decoration and borrow traditional motives in design.

Sometimes tiles in a country house not only completely lay out the fireplace, but also use them to decorate countertops, window sills, and also to decorate floor tiles. If all the tiles are made in the same style, such a design will not look overwhelmed in a spacious room. At the same time, minimalistic options using several tiles can also look stylish.

For an electric fireplace in an apartment, tiles are also suitable, even if it has a modern high-tech design. The main thing is to choose the right color scheme and not overload the design with details.Tiles with a laconic design often look interesting even in combination with metal, glass and brickwork, typical for modern electric fireplaces.

For information on how to choose tiles for a fireplace, see the next video.