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Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

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2023 img hi res full usage design Atypical design Studio photo jordan Layton wainscott offset cardamom 3x9 floor tile iron ore 2 hexagon FC596427 1

Original Ceramic tiles showcase handmade qualities with unique variations in color, crazing, and finish.

  • All Original Ceramic Colors
  • Studio Glazes New
  • Ceramic Stains New
  • Shop Shapes
  • Shop Patterns
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Resources
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Your first 5 color samples are FREE through a rep

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2024 residential full usage 4x4 terre verte satin red jasper satin indigo satin 2x2 red jasper satin bathroom checkerboard straight set 6x12 cove base indigo satin Pluck Architecture Leonid Furmansky FC796720 2

Our budget-friendly ceramics line, Natural Press is made with your largest indoor and outdoor projects in mind.

  • All Natural Press Colors
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Your first 5 color samples are FREE through a rep

BOOK AN APPOINTMENT BROWSE ALL SAMPLES
Modern blue subway wall glass tile 2

Our radiant Glass Tile provides a freshness that pairs perfectly with today’s modern designs indoors or out.

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Your first 5 color samples are FREE through a rep

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Glazed Thin Brick Destination Eichler Blue Brick Fireplace

Brick’s hand-mixed glazes enrich its surface, delicately exposing its unique textures and variations with the colors of the environment around us.

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2022 img hi res full rights residential photo design plural design studio bathroom floor tile mini star and cross antique white grout FC 407104 2

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As a member you’ll receive exclusive access to new products, a professional discount, plus personalized service from our trade team who can help bring your vision to life.

Learn More →
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  • Find Your Rep
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  • Design Packages
Commercial Specifiers
  • Find Your Rep
  • Custom Projects
  • Commercial Pricing
  • 2025 Resource Book
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  • Virtual CEU
Enscape 2025 04 08 12 57 54

Visualize our tile in your space with our comprehensive design packages.

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  • All Design Packages
  • Bathroom
  • Kitchen
  • Fireplace
  • Pool + Fountain
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  • Our Custom Capabilities
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Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
Blog
  • All Blog Posts
  • Design + Inspiration
  • Project Spotlight
  • Tile School
Gallery
  • All Gallery Entries
  • Bathroom
  • Kitchen
  • Commercial
Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
Blog
  • All Blog Posts
  • Design + Inspiration
  • Project Spotlight
  • Tile School
Gallery
  • All Gallery Entries
  • Bathroom
  • Kitchen
  • Commercial
Where Color Meets Craft Original Ceramic Tile

Where Color Meets Craft: Reintroducing Original Ceramic Tile

See Featured Blog →
New traditional bathroom floor subway green tile 3

Nicholas Potts: Historic Primary Bathroom

See Featured Gallery →
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  1. Home
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  3. 19 Small Tile Projects that Exude Sophistication

Design & Inspiration

19 Small Tile Projects that Exude Sophistication

By Blair Hagensen

Small Tile Projects Cassandra La Valle San Gabriel Brick Range Accent Backsplash LEAD

We’ll always adore a good floor-to-ceiling tile moment, but sometimes large projects aren’t in the cards. Maybe you have a small space to work with or leftover tile from another project, or maybe you’ve fallen in love with some of our Discounted Factory Sale Tile but there’s a limited amount in stock.

Whatever the reason, rest assured that even the smallest tile projects can leave an elegant lasting impression. From petite backsplashes to tiled coffee tables and more, we rounded up some of our favorite projects that prove square footage isn’t everything when handmade ceramic tile is involved.

Backsplashes in Brief

When some people think of small tile projects, easy DIY projects like tiled trays or tiled vases come to mind. While those ideas have their place, we want to show you how small tile projects can just as easily mean elevated and lasting backsplash installations in your kitchen, bathroom, and even laundry room.

Cassandra LaValle’s walkout basement kitchen is a beautiful example of using a contrasting color to make a striking impression with a mini backsplash. Turquoise brick lends color, character, and durable coverage to a splash-prone surface behind the stove.

Neutral kitchen with small blue brick backsplash behind the stove

Brick: San Gabriel // Design: Cassandra LaValle // Image: Ellie Lillstrom

Just four rows of our modern subway tile create an elegant bathroom backsplash that elevates the natural wood vanity in this spa-like bathroom, demonstrating that it doesn’t take much to make a memorable design with artisan handmade tile.

Midcentury modern style bathroom with petite green tile backsplash

Tile: 2x8 in Salton Sea // Design: KSDesigns LLC // Image: Madeline Harper

Want to smile when it’s time to wash clothes? Take your laundry room sink from routine to serene with sunny sheeted square tiles adorning the petite backsplash, like this sweet utility room.

Laundry room sink with sunny yellow tile backsplash

Tile: 3x3 in Tuolumne Meadows // Design + Image: Brit Dot Design

Step inside this sunny laundry room.

This modern kitchen cleverly uses scale in both size and color to pack a big design punch. Petite installations of glass tile, separated by open shelving, get lighter and smaller the higher the backsplash goes.

Kitchenette with blue ombre glass tile backsplash

Tile: 3x12 in Grackle Matte and Magpie Matte, 2x6 in Kingfisher Matte and Dove Matte // Design + Image: Happy Hour Design Collective

When you’re living the van life like Summer Ginther, every piece of tile is carefully calculated. The teeny row of 2x4 Tile behind her sink brings both beauty and function into the compact space while Summer and her husband are traveling across the country.

Van sink with tiny green tile backsplash

Tile: 2x4 in Overcast // Design + Image: Summer Ginther

Another bitty brick backsplash, but this kitchen used vertically-installed white brick the same color as the walls to add texture and interest behind the stove for an eye-catching restrained modern effect.

Eclectic modern kitchen with small white brick backsplash behind the stove

Brick: Lewis Range // Design: Maredi Design // Image: Jamie Kelter Davis // Installer: Antiquity General Contract Management Services

Think a miniature backsplash means you can’t have fun with the design? This modern Mill Valley kitchen is here to set the record straight, using only two rows of alternating Triangle Tiles to mimic the coastal mountains outside.

Bright kitchen with two rows of blue and neutral triangle tile as a backsplash

Tile: 6” Triangle in Sand Dune and Adriatic Sea // Design: Bethany Fay Designs // Image: Open Homes Photography // Installer: Jorge Hernandez

Emily Vallely-Pertzborn used spare tiles from her gorgeous Art Deco bathroom project to create a sweet and cohesive small-scale backsplash in the Foxcroft Estate’s laundry room.

Laundry room backsplash with green diamond tile topped with black tile trim

Tile: Large Diamond in Seedling // Design: Emily Vallely // Image: Madison Kim-Poppen

Tiled Fireplaces Bring the Heat

Another great option for your small tile projects, fireplaces don’t require many tiles to make a big, beautiful statement. Keep in mind that Fireclay Tile shouldn’t be used in working interior fireboxes–but they’re a beautiful adornment to your fireplace surround and hearth. Here are a few of our favorite fireplaces with a small but impactful amount of tile.

Designer Mallory Fletchall brightened up her Brooklyn brownstone with the sweetest home improvement project–a faux fireplace featuring pastel Ceramic Tile in a herringbone pattern.

Faux Victorian-style fireplace with herringbone lilac-colored tile

Tile: 2x6 in Dawn // Design: Mallory Fletchall // Image: Reserve Home

Looking for an elegant way to frame your flame? A clean border of matte white tile provides a refined detail along the edges of your fireplace, demonstrated by the timeless space here.

Classic fireplace adorned with a clean border of creamy tile

Tile: 2x6 in Feldspar // Design: HIR A+D // Image: Kevin Scott, Willie Cole, Hannah Robertson // Installer: Tallman Segerson Builders

We love the creative use of patterns to make the small amount of floor tile go even further and add beautiful visual interest to this cozy cabin’s woodstove hearth pad.

Rustic cabin woodstove atop a patterned green tile hearth pad

Tile: 6” Hexagon and 2x8 in Flagstone // Design + Image: AC Malloure

Another classic hearth floor option, this plaster paint fireplace is complemented by a finishing accent of our white Glazed Thin Brick.

Plaster paint fireplace with white brick heart pad

Brick: Olympic // Design: Silk and Willow // Image + Installer: Shellie Pomeroy

The contemporary space below thinks outside the firebox with a flowing Moroccan pattern of Ogee Drop Tile in a gentle greige color on the fireplace surround, creating a sinuous and homey focal point.

Contemporary living room featuring a fireplace clad with Moroccan Ogee Drop tile

Tile: Ogee Drop in Shetland Wool // Design: Collected Studio // Image: SEN Creative

Looking for more fireplaces to spark inspiration? Check out 55 of our favorites here.

Tile Tables, Wall Accents, and More

Want to get creative with your small stash? The sky’s the limit with tile since it can be applied to almost any surface, so we rounded up a few out-of-the-box projects to kick-start your imagination.

First up is this standout side table at the Trixie Motel. Designer Dani Dazey chose a custom pink and green colorway on Handpainted Sensu Tiles, cut perfectly to fit the table legs and shown in their entirety on the tile table top, to make a sweet statement.

Pink and green tiled side table

Tile: Sensu in custom colorway // Design + Image: Dani Dazey // Installer: Trixie Motel

This home stepped up its stair game with Handpainted Tile, adding intricate interest and an old-world feel to the stair risers with only three tidy rows.

Stairs with Handpainted Tile clad on every other stair riser

Tile: Old California #8 in Cool Motif, Seville in Cool Motif, Vigo in Cool Motif // Design + Image: Sophie Johnson

Adorned with cool matte glass tiles, the coffee table below feels refreshingly modern and remarkably artisanal.

Bright modern living room featuring coffee table clad with cool green glass tile

Tile: Warbler Matte // Design: Victoria Ninette Interiors // Image: Victoria Ninette

Juju Maine Boutique made their cozy retail space stand out by cladding the sales counter with eye-catching Aerial Handpainted Tile in a custom colorway.

Cozy retail store's sales counter clad with sunny yellow and white handpainted tile

Tile: Aerial in custom colorway // Design: Juju Maine // Image: Erin Little // Installer: Juju Maine

Slay the night with an unforgettable tiled nightstand à la the Trixie Motel, a Palm Springs hotel that renowned drag queen Trixie Mattel lavishly renovated using copious amounts of pink and green Handpainted Tile.

Nightstand in the pink and green Trixie Motel adorned with Handpainted Tile

Tile: Sensu in custom colorway // Design + Image: Dani Dazey // Installer: Trixie Motel

Simply want to admire that beautiful handmade tile? We get it. Take a page out of Brooklinen’s book and frame a ceramic art installation on your wall, as they did with this luscious blue mosaic tile.

Brooklinen's flagship store features a wall accent of rich blue ceramic tile framed by natural wood shelves

Tile: 1x6 in Lake Tahoe Matte // Design: Tangible Space // Image: Charlie Schuck // Installer: Brooklinen

Feeling inspired to start your small tile project? Find limited, discounted tile ready to ship in our Factory Sale, or bring home free samples of your favorite color to take the first step.

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