When it comes to tiling a floor space, there are several paths you can take. You could create a traditional chessboard design by chequering black and white tiles together. Alternatively, for a period styled statement, you could invite some patterned designs into your home - we have a fabulous offering of encaustic looks! On the other hand, if you have your heart set on a natural scheme, you can choose from our natural stone collection, or from our offering of realistic wood and stone effect designs.
If your floor spaces are in need of a refresh, then floor tiles are the perfect option for you! They're hard wearing, long lasting, easy to clean, and come in thousands of different designs, thanks to the latest HD printing!
So whether you love warm wood effects, soothing stone effects, the patterned trend, the industrial look, the hexagonal craze, traditional quarry tones, or speckled terrazzo designs, you're guaranteed to find your dream flooring in our collection of floor tiles!
Floor tiles can be incorporated into many different rooms in your home. From your kitchen to your bathroom, tiles are a versatile floor covering that come in a range of designs to suit every taste.
Let's explore some of the latest trends and styles...
Realistic wood effect floor tiles
One of the most popular floor tiles designs is the wood effect look. The idea of having wood-look flooring in our homes is nothing new - it's an age-old favourite, which is warm and welcoming, and helps to incorporate the natural world into our interior spaces. However, the ways of achieving this look in our bathroom, kitchen, hallway, living area, dining room or bedroom is changing rapidly.
A decade ago, if you wanted a wood-look floor space, you'd either bring in laminate flooring, which scratches very easily and never really has a lifelike print, or you'd opt for natural hard wood flooring, which also scratches easily, is very expensive.
Now, though, wood effect floor tiles are the way to go! They're extremely hard wearing, scratch resistant, and long-lasting. They're often printed using the latest HD technology, so you'll get a very realistic wood-grain effect every time. In fact, upon visiting, your friends and family will be hard-pressed to tell it's not real wood.
There are hundreds of colours, sizes and styles to choose from - from traditional plank shaped wood effect floor tiles, through to stunning parquet effect designs, which look like that have been lovingly carpentered by a master craftsman, and assembled especially for your floor.
Go traditional with Quarry Floor Tiles
You could choose to go down the traditional route by introducing our rustic Quarry Floor Tiles to those floor spaces. Made from clay, they are perfect for bringing that enchanting rural look into the room of your choice. We offer a mixture of different colours – from lively red, through to a mellow cream, and a dark and atmospheric black.
Quarry floor tiles are perfect for creating that raw, rustic, rural farmhouse look in your hallway, kitchen or lounge. The idea of creating a traditional 'country' look in your own home has never been more popular. We all dream of having our own slice of relaxing countryside lifestyle - so this is a way of easily creating this rural 'escape'.
Natural stone and marble effect floor tiles
We love to feel closer to nature in our homes. Inviting natural elements into our interior spaces helps us to feel at ease, and aids in the process of relaxing and unwinding. There are several types of natural stone using in the tiling world, but in 2019 the most popular stone is, without a doubt, marble.
That's mostly down to its beautiful contrasting veining, swishing and flicking its way across the surface of the floor tiles. Marble brings any floor space to life, and fills it with character and personality.
Natural marble is often quarried from Spain and Italy, and we stock a great deal, if it's the natural variety you're after for your decorating project. However, if natural marble isn't in your budget, then don't worry - we have a huge selection of lifelike marble effect floor tiles as an excellent alternative.
Patterned floor tiles
The floor tiles trend that has grown the most heading into 2019 is the patterned look. It began a few years ago with the Moroccan look, where colourful Mediterranean styled patchwork designs were abundant. Now, the trend has moved onto more home-grown vintage designs; with encaustic effect floral motifs and striking star patterns.
Patterned floor tiles are perfect for creating a statement floor space. This is essentially where a floor area is so striking, that it becomes the main feature of the room. It catches the eyes of your guests as they enter, and it becomes a talking point. If you have a statement floor in your home, you can afford for the rest of the decor to be more pared-back and less elaborate (i.e. cheaper).
Create the indoor outdoor trend with floor tiles
A major floor tiles trend in 2019 is the continuation of the indoor outdoor look. This is where the same floor tile is used both inside and outside your home; creating a seamless transition between the two zones; and allowing you to make the most of your external garden spaces by integrating them into your liveable / usable space.
Floor tiles vs carpet
Carpet is a very popular floor covering in the UK as it's considered cosy and it's soft underfoot. For these qualities, you'll often find it in living rooms, bedrooms and landings. But, over time, it gets trodden down and becomes threadbare.
Carpet is also a nightmare for allergens! The fibres trap pollen and dust particles, and no matter how expensive your Dyson is, there will always be some little blighters hunkered in good.
The main problem with carpet is that it stains easily. If you've got pets, they will likely drag mud across the floor on a daily basis. If you've got children, then you'll probably have to contend with spilt food and felt tip stains. Not to mention parties with your adult friends - one tipped glass of red wine on a cream carpet, and it's game over.
For easy cleaning and durability, floor tiles are a convenient alternative to carpet, particularly if you have pets, small children, or clumsy wine-sloshing friends that are likely to make a mess. Floor tiles will make it easy for cleaning up any mess and also give you a strong, long-lasting surface that can withstand a fair amount of everyday use.
Floors tiles vs lino
Lino sheeting, in our opinion, is one of the worst flooring options on the market. Firstly, it never looks good - it's often badly printed, and if it has a stone effect or wood effect design, it's usually not very realistic, and quite pixelated. Secondly, lino raises, bubbles, warps and blisters over time - especially if its in hot patches, or if water gets into the joints.
Floor tiles, on the other hand - most commonly made from ceramic or porcelain - are very durable and hardy. They can withstand different temperatures and they're water resistant. You'll never catch them bubbling or blistering!
Floor tiles vs laminate
Laminate is another very common flooring option in the UK. The issue with laminate is that it's never very convincing as faux wood or stone because of the way it's printed, and it also usually scratches very easily. This makes it a big no-no if you want a quality finish, or if you've got pets or a busy family home.
Floor tiles - particularly the hardy porcelain variety - are much more scratch resistant than laminate. So if you've got dogs, cats or boisterous children, then tiles are the ideal option for your floors.
Introduce underfloor heating under your floor tiles
As the Romans discovered, there's nothing quite like the feeling of warm floor tiles underfoot. You can create this palatial luxury in your very own home by installing some underfloor heating.
It might be an afterthought to you in the warmer months, but remember – a well-tiled floor will last you many years, and many winters – so it might be worth lying some underfloor heating now, ready for when the cold snap next comes around!
It's a common misconception that underfloor heating is both difficult to install, costly to buy and expensive to run. But actually, the opposite is true. Our underfloor heating kits are very affordable.
If you hadn't budgeted for anything but the floor tiles, adhesive and grout, don't worry - you can take advantage of our interest free finance.
Quick and easy tiling with floor tiles
When it comes to installing floor tiles in your home, you always have two options. Firstly, you can hire a professional tiler. We recommend this if you're not a confident DIYer. Hiring tradespeople can sometimes be a daunting task, so we've put together some tips on how to hire a professional tradesperson that you might find useful.
The second choice is to tackle the tiling yourself - perfect for those hands-on individuals amongst you! Whether you're a complete tiling novice or a seasoned DIYer, you'll definitely find some useful tips in our How to install floor tiles video.
We're constantly creating helpful new content and videos to make the tiling process as easy as possible for our customers, so take a look! You'll find everything you need to know about tiling with floor tiles - from mapping out the floor tiles and fixing them in place with adhesive, through to filling the joints with tile grout.
Why buy floor tiles from Walls and Floors?
Established in 1987, Walls and Floors is the UK's largest independent tile retailer. We offer full size sample floor tiles with free delivery, so you can see what our floor tiles look like in situ on your chosen floor space. We also offer free next day delivery on orders over £99, as well as interest free finance so you can afford those little luxuries and finishing touches, such as underfloor heating and trims.