White metro tiles contrasting against luxurious dark paint have given Dave’s ensuite renovation in South Wales a wonderful designer hotel look. We were keen to find out more.
My family and I have lived in our house for eight years and always hated the ensuite bathroom. Despite this, it has ended up being the last room we’ve renovated in the house. It’s a very small room and there isn’t any flexibility in the layout due to a supporting wall and part of the stairway being in the cupboard! We were unable to carry out our ensuite renovation the way we wanted without it being costly, so we decided to change the look of the existing layout altogether as a compromise.
That meant that we really had to focus on the tiles during our ensuite renovation to completely change the room. The existing tiles were horrendous! The majority of the room was tiled with sheets after sheets of white mosaics which had so much grout – it was a losing battle to keep them clean, especially in the shower. The white grout used was also a nightmare and was looking a bit grotty in places.
Initially, we were going to go to the other extreme and have large wall tiles, but having looked through Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration, we kept going back to white metro tiles, with dark grout to make them really shine. We thought they would look modern and classic at the same time, and we liked the interest they would bring to our ensuite renovation.
Having looked at a few websites, we decided on the Vital Tiles from Direct Tile Warehouse, as we’d seen another customer project using them and thought they were perfect, as well as the longer 30cm length being more appealing than the traditional 20cm. Originally we were going to use the coordinating black tile for the inset shower shelf but decided we didn’t need to do that in the end. The tiles were really easy to order and we popped into the showroom to collect as we live nearby.
Finishing the ensuite renovation
When it came to choosing grout, we changed our mind about using black and went for Grout 3000 dark grey for a slightly warmer feel.
We always thought the walls were going to be white for a really fresh look, but we changed our minds at the last minute and opted for a really decadent dark shade instead which we absolutely love. It also matches really well with the grout for a seamless look that’s really stylish.
We are so thrilled with how the ensuite renovation has turned out, we think it looks like something you’d find in a fancy hotel! It was definitely worth all the hard work, and waiting for weeks for various parts due to issues with other suppliers. We have had so many compliments on it. The tiles are fantastic and so easy to clean. We were actually too scared to use it for a while, it almost became a ‘show bathroom’!
Thank you to the team Direct Tile Warehouse, we would happily recommend you to anyone looking for competitively priced, great quality tiles for their project.
Do you have a tile tale to tell? We’d love to see your tile transformations – send your pictures and comments to info@directtilewarehouse.com or tag us on social media. Or shop our extensive range of metro tiles here.
Tiles used in this project
