Tiles for Room: How to Choose the Right Tiles for Bedroom, Living & More
You are in a tile showroom with a floor plan in hand. You see 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a balcony. Now imagine choosing tiles for those spaces in one showroom visit. You'll be saving the contractor from having the same questions you will have later.
You are surrounded by countless tile samples in the showroom. You don’t know which one to buy. The salesperson picks some shiny tiles for the living room, some with a wood texture for the bedroom, and some with a matte finish for the kitchen while you silently agree to the suggestions.
Everyone knows this is how the process works - it is tile selection literal chaos. Every space in a home has a different function and therefore different kinds of foot traffic, light exposure, and different maintenance. Therefore, the tile that works for the living room works for the bedroom but doesn't for the kitchen, won't work on the balcony, and no one stops you from placing the order.
1. The Two Questions Every Room Needs
Before choosing a tile for any room, two questions need clear answers.
What does this room face every day?
Daily traffic, dust, and furniture settle in the living room. The bedroom endures barefoot traffic and quiet nights. The kitchen hosts the cook, enduring oil and water, along with the burden of heavy cleaning. The answer reveals the tile performance requirements, not the appearance.
Who uses this room and how?
A bedroom with elderly parents looks different than a bedroom with young children. A joint family living room looks different from a couple’s living room. The space users determine the requirements.
With the tile performance requirements and space usage, selection becomes a clear task.
2. Living Room - The Most Visible Floor in the House
The living room is the first room presented to guests, the most used room, and the room with the most visible flooring. The performance and appearance of the living room flooring are the most consequential in the house.
What the living room floor faces:
Daily traffic from the family Dust that settles constantly; furniture that bears the weight of the settling dust; and children that play in the living room. The furniture consists of a sofa, a center table, and a TV unit. The furniture and guests that arrive with outdoor shoes also leave a burden on the living room floor. Daily sweeping and regular mopping help, but do little to address the burden.
There are plenty of options in the market when trying to figure out which tiles are best for your house. In Indian homes, the best option for living room tiles would be Glazed Vitrified Tiles (GVT). Vitrified tiles are dense, have low water absorption (less than 0.5% absorption), and are scratch-free. They are available in the highest number of design options in the market. Indian households are busy, and living rooms tend to be the most active room. GVT don’t absorb dust and don’t get damaged or worn out even with heavy use.
Finish
A Satin or Soft Polish finish is best if you want a premium look with the lowest level of maintenance. If you want to avoid seeing footprints in the dust, choose a matte finish. High gloss options are for Formal Living rooms.
Size
600x1200mm offers modern looks with less grout, but even a small room like a 600x600mm (150 square feet) can be less cluttered.
Color
The best color options are beige squared with tones of gray or off-white. They match and don’t contrast with printed upholstery. A major consideration is highlighting dust. The best option there is the light color tiles.
Compare all tile options available for other rooms in your home to see what would be best for you.
3. How bedroom floors differ from floors in other rooms
Traffic is lighter in bedrooms than in living rooms. Most Indians walk barefoot in their bedrooms. Indian bedroom floors bear the weight of the bed, wardrobe, and study table. The floor is also used for sitting as well as for children doing their homework, for prayers, and for stretching. Indian bedroom floors are swept and mopped regularly.
Two options work well in Indian bedrooms: plain matte vitrified tiles in warm neutral tones, and wood-look vitrified tiles.
Plain matte vitrified tiles in warm beige, cream, or a soft stone-look finish give the bedroom a calm, restful quality. The matte surface does not reflect light harshly, which keeps the room from feeling clinical or cold. Barefoot, a quality matte vitrified tile feels smooth and not uncomfortably cold, unlike a glossy polished tile that can feel cold underfoot on winter mornings in North India.
Wood-look vitrified tiles have become the most popular bedroom floor choice in Indian homes over the past five years. They bring visual warmth that plain tiles cannot match: the warm tones of timber, the natural variation of wood grain, and the cosy feeling that an urban apartment bedroom often lacks. Unlike real wood, they do not warp in humidity, do not attract termites, and are easy to clean. For a bedroom in a city like Mumbai, Kochi, or Chennai where humidity is consistently high, wood-look vitrified tiles are a significantly more practical choice than real wood flooring.
Finish: Matte finishes are most appropriate for bedroom flooring. Floors that are finished with a high gloss or polished shine will quickly show off footprints the moment you step out of bed. The bedroom should provide a calming environment, and having such an irritant is counterproductive.
Size: 600x600mm or 600x1200mm. Master bedroom tiles should be sized 600x1200mm when the area exceeds 150 square feet. The standard size for the other bedrooms is 600x600mm.
Color: A warmer color palette is more effective in the bedroom. These colors include warm beige and warm ivory, light walnut wood, and sandy cream. In larger bedrooms with good lighting, cool greys can be used. However, in the smaller and poorer-lit bedrooms (especially those that are north-facing), cool greys can be uninviting.
What to avoid in bedrooms: Glossy or polished floor tiles. They show footprints and can increase the perception of a colder ambient temperature.
4. Kitchen: Function Over Everything
The kitchen floor in an Indian home is the hardest-working surface in the house.
What the kitchen floor faces:
Daily oil splatter from tempering and frying. Turmeric, chilli powder, and masalas settling as fine particles. Water from the sink spreading across the floor. Heavy daily mopping, often twice a day. Dropped utensils.
Selecting Kitchen Floor Tiles
Ideal kitchen tiles:
- Matte or lightly textured vitrified tiles
- Water absorption below 0.5%
- An anti-skid finish with a minimum R10 rating
These tiles should hide oil marks and footprints without showing drips and splashes.
Finish: Matte or lightly textured. A layered finish with a gloss on a kitchen floor in an Indian household is an actual slip hazard.
Size: 600x600mm tiles are preferred. These tiles have an ideal number of grout lines and are simpler to install.
For walls and backsplash: Let’s opt for gloss or semi-gloss tiles. Matte or textured tiles are more difficult to maintain due to oil splashes.
5. Dining Area: A Bridge Between Kitchen and Living Room
In many Indian households, the dining area is part of the living room. In homes with a dedicated dining area, it is positioned between the kitchen and living room.
Considering the culinary spills, the scraping of dining room chairs, and the foot traffic of the living room, the tile in the dining area should either match or complement the tile in the living room.
Choosing Tiles for Dining Areas
Dining and living area tiles should be the same if they are connected, but if they are closed off, the tiles can be different. Dining area tiles should be more durable than living area tiles, since spills and accidents are more likely to happen in the dining area. Matte or satin-finish vitrified tiles are more practical than high-gloss tiles, which are more prone to show spills.
Also, a different color or a floor with a subtle design that is bordered by the dining table and chairs is a fun design element for a dining area floor that will be less demanding than a full-floor design with many different patterns.
6. Choosing Tiles for Balconies
Since the balcony is essentially an outdoor space, the tiles need to be able to endure the elements. Tiles that are used indoors are completely fine in those conditions. But because the balcony is connected to the living area, and those areas are tiled continuously, many people make the mistake of choosing an indoor tile that looks good in the living area, and using those tiles in the balcony. Those tiles will quickly deteriorate on the balcony.
The perfect tile for winter balconies is a light to mid-toned, vitrified tile that is outdoor rated, absorbs less than 0.5% water, and has an anti-skid surface with at least an R10 rating.
Wood-like tiles are a fantastic option to consider when designing your balcony. These types of tiles are very popular because they tie together the warmth of the balcony with the warmth of the interior. They also offer the advantage of balancing the warmth of the balcony without being the same tiles used indoors. When selecting wood-like tiles for your balcony, it’s important to ensure that they are rated for outdoors.
Typically, 600x600mm-sized tiles are the most commonly required sized tiles for most Indian balconies.
Conclusion
Each room in an Indian home has a different request for the floors we install. Living rooms have the request for a floor that offers a bold, durable finish. The request for bedroom floors is warmth and comfort. Kitchen floors should be safe and stain resistant. Balcony floors should withstand the weather.
In newly tiled homes, there should be consideration for the function of each room and the people that will use the space to ensure that the home operates well in every corner.
Vitero Tiles helps you choose the perfect tiles to use in each room of the home from their living room, bedroom or kitchen tile collections. Their outdoor tile offerings are great as well.