How To Tile in a Random Pattern

Many bathroom designs include what appears to be randomly placed tiles in different colors. The truth is that these are more planned than random. If you are installing your own tile in your bathroom, you need to have an idea of how you are going to place your tile before you start securing them. While you don't need to make a distinct pattern, have an idea of how many of each colored tiles should be in each line. Come up with this number by knowing the space that you have to cover and how many tiles you have. This becomes more complicated with more colors of tile but it isn't impossible to plan your random tile placement so that it appears professional. A good random tile design will include at least three colors but a more ideal number would be four or five. More than that can end up looking more chaotic than designer.

A great way to do your own random tile is to take out all of your tiles and mix them up in several boxes. Each time that you go to place a new tile, grab from a different box. This will ensure a real random pattern but still monitor it, meaning that if you grab the fifth tile in a row that's the same color, chose a different one. If you are nervous about being able to pull off the random tile look, there are also ways to use computer programs to draw out a random plan for you. But if you don't want to follow instructions feel free to come up with your random design yourself.

You also don't have to tile the entire bathroom this way. You can chose to focus on just one area of the bathroom and use the tiles in a more structured pattern elsewhere in the bathroom. Think about just doing a border, an accent wall, or even an art display. The colors will need to be balanced so gather some inspiration from the following bathroom examples to see just how easy it is to include a random tile design in your bathroom.



Multiple Colors: At first glance, this random tile placement looks like the tiles exploded into a random pattern that has the perfect balance of colors. However, if you just start to randomly place tiles without thinking about each one that you use, you may end up with too many colors in one area or running out of a color before you reach the end of the room. Plan ahead when using multiple colors to make sure that the design comes out random and not rushed at the end.



Smaller Areas: In a smaller area, like the floor of a shower, it's much easier to plan out your pattern more effectively. Play around and move the tiles around until you find a design that you're happy with. In smaller spaces, it will be easier to find awkward tile placements so make sure that the pattern appears to be effortlessly random instead of too methodical.



Random Artwork: If you only want to include a random mosaic tile pattern in part of your bathroom, consider making a large display that serves as artwork and a focal point. Because it's more of an art piece, it can be made anyway that you like. You can completely plan it out or make it entirely random. The final result should be just what you were looking for.



Just The Border: Another way to limit the amount of random mosaic tile in your bathroom is to only use the design in the border of your bathroom. This creates just enough visual interest without being overwhelming, visually and physically when installing them. For doing small areas like this, there are premade random tile pieces that you can use to quickly install your border.



On Edges: This bathroom design shows great usage of random tile. It covers the edges of different walls in the room and one large accent wall. It also covers one side of the bathtub. It's also mixed with a chevron inspired print in similar colors that balances the intensity of the random tile. The floors are kept simple to keep the room from having too many patterns.

There are plenty of ways to include random tile into your bathroom. Have fun with the project and be creative to achieve a truly one of a kind look in your design.