Love, love, love. I am totally in love with the tile trend that is everywhere at the moment. I have spent a large part of the last year, maybe more than I care to admit to, drooling over tiles, non-committaly but emphatically in love with so many. I may be a bit late to the party, as 2015 really was the year of tiles as design statement, but I am so taken with them. The trend had been creeping up for a while, maybe it’s because I spend too much time on Pinterest but it feels like people have really upped their game with home design choices and nowhere was this more noticeable than in tile choices and finishes. Encaustic tiles have crossed from commercial design to residential and become far more accessible and just basically everywhere you look (or is that just me?). They are such a fantastic design statement, an entrance stealer that works well with both big design themes and more minimal pared back looks. As they gain popularity and cross to mainstream, the range of options has multiplied and like a kid in a sweet shop I spent many months last year deliberating which patterns were even in my top 5, let alone the actual purchased design we have committed to.

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After many months of looking around, gasping at prices, calculating and trying to commit to other design elements, mindful of tiles domino effect on the whole look of a room (which I guess is the reason people start with floors!) we have finally bought some encaustics for our bathroom from Mosaic del Sur and they retailed at £90 per sq mtr which is less than half the cost of high end ones. If you are happy with the encaustic look, but tiles which are actually digitally printed, then they are all over the high street and eBay. But, I have to say having bought samples from a range of firms, and with the price point of real encaustics only a smidge more at some places, as our floor space is pretty dinky in the bathroom, it was a bit of a no brainier for us to opt for real encaustics. After so much shopping around, I thought I would share my dream wish list of covetable tiles, whilst holding back on the actual ones we have bought.

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Eh voila, a smorgasbord of beautiful tiles, enjoy!

1. I  love the pattern of this Stone and More tile design by Turkish company Sule Koc, see this their competition entry on Design Milk here. 2. I can’t explain how in love with these American tiles I am, they are called Tangent made by Walker Zanger, available here. 3. Absolutely stunning are these British tiles from Douglas Watson Studio,  but my they are also a whopping £375 per metre, get them here if you are moneybags. 4. I stole a pic of these on a shoot, I love rhombus designs at the mo, its taken me a while but I have tracked them down, they are Cube mosaic from Mandarin Stone, £188 per metre, here.

1. I have a bit of a weakness for scallop patterns and this is so striking, Corteo 4 by Tabarka Studio.  2.  The very last word in style statement, right? I love this domino pattern, from India Mahdavi   3. I think this accent wood flooring, may actually be my favourite flooring ever, it is the last word in style for me, actually the whole article which features this floor of ideas is well worth a perusal, over on Not a Paper House.

1. This blue and white bathroom is so crisp, incredible carry through of theme, found on Design Sponge  2. This is pretty similar to the tile we have chosen for our bathroom, found via French blog Marianne Evennou. 3. I just love this kitchen, if I could steal its look, i would, found on Apartment Therapy but produced by Shubin + Donaldson architects.

1. This shop is a dream, Terrazzo tiles in Belsize Park is a great place to source encaustics and the staff are really helpful, this design is called Snowflake and it almost made the cut for us 2. This definitely made our top 5, if I could commit to a Moroccan vibe I think we would have gone for it, find it over at Best Tile 3. Again from Terrazzo tiles, this design is called Floral, I absoloutely love it in this colour way on pattern repeat. 4. This is just so darling, one of my favourite Instagrams of last year, shared by I Have This Thing With Floors.

1. This  is probably the best tile design I have seen in recent months, I love its bold architectural almost-deco design, Zuni Python, featured on Remodelista 2. Such a pretty design, found via Apartment Therapy‘s new tile Trends 3. I am incluiding one cheap tile for balance, from eBay, the quality in life does look different but at only £35 psq I’m not sure you can expect more.