Jamie's Heavenly Herringbone Bathroom
When Jamie tagged us on Instagram in the work in progress photos of her bathroom renovation in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, we couldn’t wait to see the finished result! We absolutely adore the combination of herringbone marble effect metro tiles with lovely luxurious black tiles that have resulted in a stylish sanctuary. There's something about herringbone tiling that really brings a room to life, and the chic appearance of marble effect tiles elevates the look to another level.
We bought our 1930s semi detached house back in April 2021 and planned to totally renovate it before moving in four months later. The bathroom was in desperate need of a total makeover. It was originally two small separate spaces; a bathroom and a WC. We wanted to make one bigger space, which would fit both a freestanding bath and a shower enclosure plus a vanity unit.
Our bathroom isn’t the biggest of spaces but we really wanted to create a light, bright bathroom that felt spacious and luxurious, yet in keeping with the Victorian feel of the house. We wanted to incorporate a feature marble effect wall as well as wooden panelling and wood effect flooring. We didn’t want to use real marble tiles as we were conscious that they may not last the test of time, being wet all the time. We searched everywhere for a quality looking porcelain marble effect tile. We also wanted a large, darker tile for the shower enclosure to give a bit of contrast and texture.
We found our tiles in Direct Tile Warehouse after visiting their Cardiff showroom. We went for the Apennines gloss effect tiles as they were the perfect size and look so similar to real marble. We also chose the Alda Matt Dark Grey Floor Tiles for the shower enclosure. These have a lovely texture and grain and look so much more expensive than they were. We went for a dark grey grout on these tiles, and a white grout for the marble tiles.
The staff at Direct Tiles were incredibly friendly and helpful and we walked out with our tiles the same day. I was quite nervous about choosing such contrasting tiles about how they would look together in a small space, and whether it would feel too disjointed but the staff reassured me and took the time to listen to the overall design plans and look we were trying to achieve, advising accordingly. I could not be happier with the finished result. I think we’ve turned a relatively small and uninteresting space into a beautiful, luxurious bathroom and the tiles have been a big part of this.
I would absolutely recommend Direct Tile Warehouse. The tiles are great quality, reasonably priced and have made our bathroom beautiful!