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Cement tiles: they are everywhere!

If you’ve recently taken a walk through a DIY store, opened an interior design magazine, searched for tiling solutions on the internet, or if you’ve simply passed by a vintage store, you’ll know they’re inescapable – cement tiles and their designs are everywhere!

 

And to be truthful, if there are trends that seem to haunt us everywhere we go, this one is rather welcome… provided, as always, that great products are chosen and a careful eye is used to avoid an excessive, overwhelming look that will fall out of fashion faster than the tiles are laid down. This is something of a contradiction for a thoughtfully designed authentic material that forms illustrative compositions that are repeated on each square or spread over a surface, and sometimes bordered by a frieze.

On the bathroom floor : traditional and contemporary
Tiles Couleurs & Matières

And what about the designs? Leaves, flowers, stars, rosettes – geometric or vegetal forms that are more or less complex and that can (or not) become even more complex to give your floor the look of an Escher drawing or a Persian rug. Of course, the designs have evolved since the invention of the process in the 19th century and quickly became a success, but their most successful modern reinterpretations retain the natural and very stylised spirit of the originals.

 

A spirit of nature that we still find today in a beautiful variety of traditional colours such as ochre, sienna, turquoise… in a palette that has unsurprisingly expanded today.

On the bathroom floor : traditional and contemporary

If you opt for copies rather than originals – which is understandable given that they can cost around 100€/m2 – pay attention to the quality of the surface because there’s nothing cheaper than a bad copy or a tacky reinterpretation of an interior design element as authentic as this one. Save them for small spaces such as a kitchen or bathroom. And why not use a few square metres of real tiles in an entrance, for example, where you’d usually find simple tiling or parquetry?

Tiles Couleurs & Matières

The wall version in Lisbon! An omnipresent tradition
Tiles and parquet flooring: the perfect match

Also, if you’re crazy about cement tiles but you don’t have the means or simply don’t need to change your flooring (these things happen), you’ll have no trouble finding their designs on other interior design products from tablewear to textiles. Believe us, they’re everywhere!

The wall version in Lisbon! An omnipresent tradition

Tiles and parquet flooring: the perfect match

  • Solid and resistant

 

  • Easy maintenance (water and black soap)

 

  • Wide choice of designs and colours

 

  • Adaptable to different interior styles (geometric, retro, bohemian…)

 

  • Possible to use outside (note, a treatment is necessary)

Advantages

  • Porous and prone to holes which means they need a specific yearly treatment using wax, lacquer or resin.

 

  • High price owing to its artisanal production and price charged per tile.

 

  • Tip: Banish the detergent because it can alter the colours.

 

Disadvantages

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