Cement tile rug on a porch

Cement Tile Borders Pull it All Together

One of the classic ways to lay cement tiles is to create a rug-like effect with a border tile surrounding a field tile.  Either of these can be solid color tiles or pattern tiles.

The cement tile rug effect is a popular look and can be placed in a floor of solid color cement tiles  or surrounded by another material.

Cement tile rug pattern on a porch, using Villa Lagoon Tile's Caribbean Collection patterns "Sousa" and
Patterns depicted: Caribbean Collection “Sousa” field tiles and “Malaga” border.

A single row of border tiles adds a finishing touch to the multicolored cement tile insert on this porch above.

Often an encaustic cement tile border tile can be laid in one orientation on one side of the arrangement and flipped 180° on the other side of the border. This produces a very finished look.

Cuban Heritage CH-110 in a hotel foyer.
Patterns Depicted: Cuban Heritage pattern CH-110 field and border.

 

Cement tile borders add drama !

cement tile borders around the edge of a room
Patterns Depicted: Caribbean Collection “Alcala” border, “Toledo” border, and single-color field tiles.

Note how in the yellow tile room they included a third tile between the border ‘sandwich’ .

A very deep encaustic cement tile border at the corner of a room using Caribbean Collection and Cuban Heritage Collection border patterns.
Patterns Depicted: Caribbean Collection “Puerto Plata” border, “Santiago” border, and single-color field tiles, and Cuban Heritage Collection pattern CH-120.

If the room is large enough, a double, triple or more border can look fantastic. The border above is actually a row of five tiles, all of them 20 cm (8″). This is the same size tiles as the field tile in the room.

A beautiful border on an encaustic cement tile floor takes a little more planning but the effect is well worth it.