I am about to chose some floor tiles for my conservatory and have a
choice of size.

Originally I planned to go for 12"ish ones, but my wife has seen some
18" ones that she likes.

The problem is that the conservatory isn't exactly huge (approx 3m
square) and I don't want the wrong choice of tile to make it looks
smaller..

So which (if any) size of tiles will give the the best illusion of
'space'..

I would imagine that having BIG tiles, would make the room look
smaller, but then again, small tiles would mean more lines, and this
could have the same effect.

Also, I would imagine that having the tiles layed at 90 degrees from
the entraces won't help, as you would see parallel lines running away
from you. Therefore, I have decided to run the tiles 'diagonally' (at
45 degrees).

I have never layed floor tiles before, and am only assuming that
different sized tiles layed in different configurations will affect
your perception of space. But its possible that as usual, I am
imagining something which isn't true.

So, does anyone have any advice for me?

ANY info would be appreciated

Best regards

Jon

On 12 Aug 2003 06:42:11 -0700, (Jon Weaver) wrote:

So which (if any) size of tiles will give the the best illusion of
'space'..

Well - until a sensible answer turns up - about 12 parsecs...


Geo

On 12 Aug 2003 06:42:11 -0700, (Jon Weaver)
wrote:

So which (if any) size of tiles will give the the best illusion of
'space'..

The size of the tile is less important that the size and stridency of
the pattern.

Consider a tile with a pattern on it, the pattern is in black and
white, this makes it strident, and how often the design repeats is
more apparent to the eye, and this sets the eye's natural measuring
process in train.

Now consider the same size of tile with the same design, but in say
cream and a pale sand; since the colours are a closer match to each
other tonally, then this disguises the stridency we noted before, and
so fools the eyes enough to stop or at least severely postpone any
natural sizing up routines.

You can see from this that the scale of the design now plays a smaller
role than you may have imagined before. It follows that the size of
the tiles will also follow that set of rules too, to a greater or
lesser extent, depending on each design and colour choice combination.
Also the colour of grout can have a bearing too, and for the same
reasons.

These are not hard and fast rules, but it can become a helpful guide
if practiced enough, as it works for walls and wallpaper, and even
soft furnishing fabrics - probably for furniture design and wood
choice therein too for all I know.

Take Care,
Gnube
{too thick for linux}