Kitchen tiling: Doing corners with patterned tiles (square)

[diy_dude]

Hi All,

I'm about to start my first tiling job (at home) and after thinking about steps have a few questions regarding corners (inner corner(s).

I have 5 msq area to cover, and my tiles are square, each box of tiles contains 5 different patterns, below is an image of the patterned tiles.

Q1: Should I start from the middle of the wall and go out to edges? This might end up with half a tile when it meets the corner, should I put a complete tile on the other side of the corner, or go for another half which would visually look like a whole tile going round the corner?

My thought is if I follow the rule of going from the middle on all walls, I could end up with strips meeting at the corner and not looking like it forms a whole tile as it goes round the corner, but visually this might not even matter? But im guessing in the world of tiling it defiantly does.

My other thought was maybe its better to start at the beginning of one wall with a complete tile and follow it all the way round the 3 walls, in this case I would get a complete tile look all the way around.

Q2: Because there are multiple patterned tiles, I would assume its a must to pattern match the tile in corners? If I go for working from middle out and end up with half a tile at the corner, the other half tile that connects to it on the other wall should match the same pattern.

Apologies for the basic questions, I have looked on youtube and forums, with no luck on my pattern issue in corners.

Thanks for any direction/advice on the above.

 

[Boggs]

I didn’t wrap the tile round on my kitchen, as I couldn’t get half a tile each side it made the corner tiles look longer and I preferred it this way visually.

 

[Andy Allen]

If you have a hob and cooker hood, it looks best to centre this as it's your main focal point..

 

[diy_dude]

I didn’t wrap the tile round on my kitchen, as I couldn’t get half a tile each side it made the corner tiles look longer and I preferred it this way visually. View attachment 104778
View attachment 104777

Thank you very much for sharing, the tile and job looks superb. I've taken note here of what you have done in corner and most likely will follow the same idea.

P.s you literally couldn't have supplied a better response.

 

[diy_dude]

If you have a hob and cooker hood, it looks best to centre this as it's your main focal point..

So you are spot on, I'm going to try and remove the cooker hood and chimney so I can tile behind.

Are you saying use the center of the hob as the middle?

Thanks

 

[Time's Ran Out]

The pattern should be followed around the corner.
That would annoy me every time I saw it!!

 

[John Benton]

Same principle, internal and external corners

 

[Steve6690]

So you are spot on, I'm going to try and remove the cooker hood and chimney so I can tile behind.

Are you saying use the center of the hob as the middle?

Thanks

Find the centre line down from the hood and use that as your centre.

 

[Boggs]

The pattern should be followed around the corner.
That would annoy me every time I saw it!!

Ah well, won’t be inviting you for dinner then...

 

[diy_dude]

Thanks all.

Ok sounds like I need to start from the center of each wall and work out to the corner.

This would mean the two tiles touching in the corner (same row) don't need to visually form a whole tile and two thin tiles touching will look ok.

The only way I can see to form a whole tile visually in each corner is to start at the beginning of one wall and work all the way around.

 

[diy_dude]

Same principle, internal and external corners

View attachment 104807 View attachment 104808

Thanks for visuals. Did you start in the center of one wall, then start the next wall from the corner where you finished, or also start from the center on the second wall and work out?

 

[Waluigi]

Ah well, won’t be inviting you for dinner then...

I think you get away with it as the right hand wall has a full tile in the corner, hence you have nothing to wrap around.

Unless of course you changed the layout on the right wall to wrap the pattern round but that’s beyond what I can see. I think it looks fine regardless.

 

[diy_dude]

Sorry to keep posting but want to get this right.

You can see from my diagram if I work from the center of each wall it's possible to get two small tiles meeting in the corner - in this situation a complete tile in the corner is unachievable.

 

[Waluigi]

......then wrap the tile pattern round the wall in the shaded area of your drawing.

 

[Bill]

Same principle, internal and external corners

View attachment 104807 View attachment 104808

you won't see a brick wall built like that.........

 

[John Benton]

you won't see a brick wall built like that.........

He didn’t ask about a brick wall………

 

[Bill]

He didn’t ask about a brick wall………

never said he did............

 

[John Benton]

never said he did............

Why bring a brick wall into the equation then……

 

[Andy Allen]

Personally I prefer it as @Boggs has tiled it, as it's ment to be a random pattern..
But as in most things tiling it's a personal choice....
If a client told me they want a random pattern then that's what they get...

 

[Boggs]

A few more for you.

The middle tile in the picture above wraps round, only just realised!
For me they look better random but that’s my personal choice and looked better with how my corners were working out.

 

[Dumbo]

Thanks all.

Ok sounds like I need to start from the center of each wall and work out to the corner.

This would mean the two tiles touching in the corner (same row) don't need to visually form a whole tile and two thin tiles touching will look ok.

The only way I can see to form a whole tile visually in each corner is to start at the beginning of one wall and work all the way around.

You don't need to have 2 thin tiles touching . Let's say you get that if you start with a grout line in the centre so move the tile over half a tile and have the middle of the tile as your centre point then you're cuts into the corner will then be at least over half a tile .

 

[macten]

I wrapped the pattern last time I did them

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I don’t know which DIY school of tiling you all went too but it certainly wasn’t on a construction site! Try getting away with not following the ‘pattern’ around the corners with an Architect or designer and see if you get paid. Any decent clerk of works will condem those corners ( but no doubt the customer will stick a microwave in front).
Perhaps aesthetics don’t come into your setting out or is it being lazy.
Now there’s something for all you tilers to disagree with !

 

[Andy Allen]

 

[Waluigi]

I don’t think it’s a black and white argument, there are grey areas.

For example, wrapping a tile around a wall should really be done in the correct manner whereby it’s a true wrap of the tile, so it follows how a complete tile would wrap around the wall, not an elongated tile. That said, it’s not always possible to do that. Wrapping a tile around so the pattern follows yet having an unusually long tile one end would look wrong to me. Likewise having a very large cut or almost complete tile in a corner and a slither the other side would also look wrong.

As with all of these things, you make the judgement for each room and each room has its own set of focal points.

I do agree that in certain situations, not wrapping a pattern round a wall would look daft- if you have two half tile cuts in adjacent corners for example.

I don’t have fixed ideas with these things though. Every tile and every scenario is different. Sometimes you have to apply an artistic license to these these.

 

[Andy Allen]

I wrapped the pattern last time I did them

View attachment 104818

As the shapes on the pattern don't marry up, to me it looks no different to a random pattern....

 

[Waluigi]

Gotta agree. It’s not a proper pattern wrap. It’s the same tile being followed around the corner. The pattern doesn’t wrap so in this instance I would’ve chosen a different tile on the adjacent wall.

That said, I might give a completely contradictory comment if it were a different tile. Every job is different. Unless you’re on a site doing the same tile in the same kitchen x 50

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Well it certainly showed who the real tilers are - but that’s what this forum is for - all skill set levels - and plumbers!
I suppose you don’t follow a herringbone or hexagonal tile around a corner either because that would take too much setting out around a room. Just come out with any old cut and tell the customer that’s the best you can do.

 

[Blunt Tool]

Here’s my 50 cent you gotta rap or else you’re crap but don’t rave if you can hide it behind the microwave

 

[WetSaw]

If you can get random pattern tiles to wrap in every corner of the room I'll get you to pick my lottery numbers because you must be the luckiest person alive!