Check into a room at the Chateau Voltaire in Paris and you might do a double take at the tilework in the bathroom. It’s a subtle and sophisticated combination of field tiles and trims conjured up by a dream creative team: artistic director Franck Durand and architecture firm Festen, both working in collaboration with the hotel’s owner, Thierry Gillier (who is also a co-founder of fashion label Zadig & Voltaire). In this instance, they used trim tiles as a finishing touch, but with a layered approach that adds an extra level of detail. In other cases, as in those below, trim tiles can be used to create the defining element of a design scheme.

At the London outpost of Enrica Rocca, a Venetian cookery school, designer George Townsin of Studio George used knobby red trim tiles from Original Style to accent the kitchen’s predominantly green and white colour scheme, left. “I wanted to create a graphic pattern that was a bit of a focal point, and I love adding texture amongst the pattern,” says Townsin. It’s also a cheeky nod to the Italian flag. “We were thinking about how to bring a bit of an Italian, Venetian vibe to a London townhouse setting and make this professional kitchen still feel like someone’s kitchen at home. The whole vibe is very homely,” she explains. Townsin achieved that effect by pairing the striped splashback with deep green cabinetry from John Lewis of Hungerford, vintage handles sourced from eBay, rich Verde Guatemala marble countertops, and warm, underlit wood shelving that corresponds with a massive butcher block island around which students gather. Soon the sisters behind Enrica Rocca will open a second, larger London location (Mamma Enrica runs the Venice one) and Townsin plans to continue the design scheme.  “The tiles have become a kind of brand identifier for them,” she says.

For interior designer Kylee Shintaffer, the classical elements of a Georgian-style home in Seattle, Washington, inspired the use of trim tile in a guest bathroom, centre. “There was a lot of beautiful architecture in the house in terms of millwork and we wanted to carry that same quality into the bathroom,” she says. “We took the concept of how you would panel a room with wood but did it in tile. It was a great way to create definition and a lot of visual interest without breaking the bank by covering it totally in marble." Shintaffer replicated the detail of panelling by using two thicknesses of pencil tile from Pratt & Larson and extended them below the window line to help anchor the space. “It’s a play of shape and scale. It allowed us to create a rhythm around the room even if all four walls weren't symmetrical,” she explains. Blink-and-you’ll miss-it base and coving trim tile in the same ivory hue as the field tile add the finishing touch, while the floor's penny tile established the accent colour for the panelling tile. The effect is so timeless, you'd never guess this is new construction.

In neighboring California, designer Caitlin Murray of Black Lacquer Design didn’t shy away from drama in a 1920’s Los Angeles abode, right. On the contrary, she embraced the home’s Spanish architecture and wrapped an ornately carved passageway in tile to accentuate it, rather than simply rounding or squaring it off. “We wanted to do something special because that was the original archway. I wanted to play it up and lean into that as an architectural feature,” she says. To highlight the transition between the kitchen and laundry/mudroom, Murray wrapped the archway in Balineum’s Hanley Traditional field tiles and Quarter Round trim in Wheat, and lined either side with our Mottled green tiles. The combo was chosen to correspond with the veining in the kitchen’s Alabaster Egiziano countertops and the foliage in the mudrooms’ House of Hackney wallpaper—green is a mercurial colour so it reads as a bold accent in the mudroom and as a neutral in the kitchen. “What’s great about this tile moment is that it doesn’t ignore the transition. It could have been an eyesore if someone just painted the archway white,” explains Murray.  We couldn’t agree more—here’s to more tiled archways!

Photos: Klara Fraser, Courtesy Studio George; Benjamin Benschneider, Courtesy Kylee Shintaffer; Jessica Alexander, Courtesy Black Lacquer Design