Interior Designers Are Using Tiles in This Small Way to Elevate a Home's Thresholds — And It's Even a Weekend Project You Could Do Yourself

Tobacco-colored and wood kitchen with pink checkboard tiled kickbacks.

Tiling might seem like a big project — such as a bathroom or kitchen renovation — however, there are smaller ways to use tile in a design that are, actually, relatively easy to achieve, but bring the sense of intentionality that comes with a material like ceramic, porcelain, or stone that just doesn’t come from knocking something up out of a sheet of MDF in quite the same way.

My favorite tile trend at the moment? Tiled borders. Small interventions of checkerboard tiles are utilized brilliantly to highlight something unexpected and bring a sense of whimsy to the design of a space.

It’s a surprisingly versatile idea, too, as this gallery of designers who have brought this detail into their projects goes to prove.

1. Decorate an Arched Doorway

Adding a tiled border to this arched doorway transforms the space. (Image credit: KL Design)

For this dressing room, originally divided by a structural wall, designer Natalie Proctor of KL Design created an opening to connect the two spaces, decorating the arch with a chequered pattern of Zellige tiles. "The trick is to use tiles small enough to be able to easily create the curve," Natalie explains, "and then plaster the walls on either side to create a seamless finish."

Ca'Pietra

Maroc Porcelain Khaki

2. Border an Island, or Banquette

Have leftover tiles? Why not jazz up your kitchen island or banquette seating area with a tiled border. (Image credit: Charlotte Lea)

The renovation of this surf-meets-Mexico second home in the Pacific Northwest of America required interior designer Abbie Naber to match an existing travertine floor throughout the lower ground. To add some fun to the flooring, the designer used a border tile, which she also used to "border the island and the face of the banquette with the extra tile we had accrued," she explains.

Baked Tiles

Marrakesh Brick Clay Red Gloss 5cm X 15cm

3. Add It to the Skirting

Make your kitchen cabinets pop with an alternating skirting tile. (Image credit: Martin Siegner)

A kitchen’s kickboards aren’t often seen as an opportunity for design innovation, but designer Georgia Gregory, director of Frankly Interior Design, brought a new dimension to the cabinetry with a clever alternating skirting tile. "We wanted to create small design moments throughout the home that didn’t necessarily follow convention but still felt cohesive and thoughtful," she says.

Amber Zellige - 10cm X 10cm X 1.2cm

4. Frame a Doorway

Make a design moment of a doorway by framing it in a tiled border. (Image credit: Przestrzenie Fotografia)

The tiled border framing the pocket doors that conceal the bedroom from the living space in this apartment in a tenement building in Łódź, Poland, was inspired by the original tiles found in the bathroom. "The double sliding doors and tile surround are new but designed in a modernist style to enhance the building's character and also to emphasize the entrance to the bedroom," explains architect Joanna Fabjańska, of Luva Architecture.

Claybrook

Kromatic Eclipse

5. Choose an Unexpected Tile Material

Use a tiled border to emphasize height and to provide contrast. (Image credit: Maree Homer)

Once a square, low door opening, this newly formed archway has been highlighted by an unusual material choice. "Clad in tumbled stone chequerboard tiles which reference the adjacent kitchen backsplash, the new opening accentuates the thickness of the double brick walls and increases the sense of height and natural light throughout," says its interior designer Kate Nixon.

Fired Earth

Medina Raw Square Handmade Moroccan Zellige Tile

Feeling inspired? These are the eight types of tile shapes to know for your next tiling project.