Waterjet Marble 'Medallion' Floor Tiles

ExoTiles can now supply custom made marble floor features and deliver to anywhere in the world.

Waterjet marble 'medallions' as they are called are made using a computer controlled machine which cuts the stone with a very fine jet of high pressure water. The waterjet can cut stone of thickness's up to 35mm with ease. This method allows for very high levels of accuracy, so much so, that the pieces will slot together like a jigsaw puzzle with no gaps at all.

These tiles can be made from solid stone or a composite of stone bonded to an underside layer of ceramic. Composite made medallions are cheaper and equally strong. Some people do not like the idea of it being glued to ceramic so they can choose to have it made from 100% stone if they wish.

These marble medallions are ideal for hotel lobby, shopping centre, hospital or many other applications.  Designs can be custom made including logos or anything else.

Check out the Mural Mosaic category on the ExoTiles website for a guide on pricing.

Here's some videos of how it works.

Are you bored with your home?

Ok, so you bought a house or an apartment and you have been living there for a couple of years. You and your family like the location because the neighborhood is good, the schools are good and it is overall a nice place to live in. But the problem is you got a little bored with your home. The same old look is really getting you down and you want to do something with it, but what? Where do you get the money for redecorating? How do you do it in such a way that you do not influence and unnecessarily complicate the lives of the household residents?

Well, for each one of these questions there is an answer. You just have to play it smart and do some quality planning. Giving your home a breath of fresh air isn't all that big of a deal – as you might think. Being creative and changing just a few things can change your home’s look significantly. I’ll give you some tips on how you can achieve this without too much hustle. Keep in mind that these aren't the only solutions and these tips are here to get your mind going in the right direction.

Cleaning up!

OK, so at this point you’re laughing. Here you are looking for tips on redecorating your home and I’m telling you to clean up. Look at it this way, there are a lot of things that we leave lying around the house that we don’t need but we still keep them just in case. Also, if you have decorated without a plan when you first moved in, you might have a lot of excess decorative elements we can easily label as clutter. Sometimes when it comes to decoration, less is more.

Repainting  

Fresh paint can easily and inexpensively breathe in new life to your boring rooms. Find the colors that suit your needs and the mood of the rooms in question. You can also use more vibrant colors to highlight a certain part of the room that you want to be the main decorative focus.

Playing with light

Not many people realize that light is a decorative element. Just opening the curtains can sometimes change the look of the entire room. In order to manipulate with light you will need to introduce some new elements into your home. In order to reflect light you can use mirrors that are positioned in proper places.

Another way to do this is to decorate a crucial wall with glass mosaic tiles. The expense of doing this isn't all that big, since you are just tiling a single wall, not the entire room. The fact that these tiles come in a variety of patterns and colors will help you adapt them to the general style used to decorate the room. The tiles will provide your room with more discrete, colored lighting that will create a meditative environment for you to enjoy.

DIY and Green solutions

If you find yourself unable to financially spring for new decorations and new furniture, you can do a bit of research and find DIY tips on how to use old stuff and transform it into new decorations. There are really tons of websites with great ideas out there and you will definitely find something to suit your needs and personal style. DIY solutions mean that you are, to some extent, going green. Putting old stuff to new use is the basis of recycling. Refurbishing and repainting your old chairs and furniture will leave you and your guests with the impression that you have bought new furniture. Things that can’t be brought back to serve their original purpose can be used as the material for your new DIY projects.

Introducing green elements is a very good idea since along with decorating you will improve your living standards. Plants, wooden elements, stone elements; they will all create an illusion of being outside while you are actually sitting in your apartment’s living room on the 8th floor of your building. You will get a sense of space and nature which is always good, since it reduces stress and helps with creating a better mood.

Top benefits of swimming pools

Swimming offers activating and working all of your muscles without an impact to your bones (skeletal system). This happens because, when in water, your body is much lighter than usual. When you dunk yourself to the neck, your weight is just ten percent of your actual weight. Activating all of your muscles without pressuring your bones is ideal especially for older people. If you want to lose weight or if you have sore joints or muscles, a swimming pool is the only place you can work all those problems out. Other that this obvious one, here are a couple of more very interesting benefits that swimming has (the ones you've probably never thought of!). After finding out, there will be nothing else that you should think about other than getting yourself a swimming pool and starting a much healthier life. So, here we go.

A flabby dolphin – no, no, no! A healthy heart – yes, yes, yes!

You have definitely never seen a flabby dolphin. That would simply be impossible. We took the example of a flabby dolphin (as a joke) just to make a comparison and help you realize how efficient swimming actually is. All water animals have smooth skin and all of their muscles are strained. This happens because of the power of swimming, what we already mentioned in the beginning. Swimming activates all of your muscles (unlike running for example, where only a half of them are doing something). The healthiest benefit of swimming is that it activates and improves the most important muscle in our bodies – the heart! Not only does our heart become bigger, it starts having a more efficient pumping process. This also leads to better blood circularity. Now, just ask yourself this question: Is there a healthier thing on earth than a morning swim?

 Inspiration for breakfast

Swimming pools don’t only have to represent a place where you can work out and become healthier. You can also get inspiration from your swimming pool, and here you can find out how. Design your swimming pool right! If you still haven’t heard of mosaic tiles, it’s about time you do. With mosaics (which are a very old and famous as art pieces), you can make your swimming pool be an “oasis” where you will not only release yourself from stress, but also get fully inspired. Art has been the best inspirational tool throughout many centuries and nowadays, you can find excellent swimming pool mosaic tile designs! If you want your designs to be more complicated and unique, you can design something yourself.  With swimming pool mosaic tiles, you will make your pool very easy to maintain, aside from it being good looking. Because, when it comes to swimming pools, it is equally important that you pay attention to pool maintenance as you do to the pool design. These tiles aren't slippery (when in contact with water) and they are rust-resistant. Useful tip – when you decorate your garden and the area around the pool, never plant flowers too close to the pool (all the dead leaves can get inside and cleaning that every day can become very tiring).

Doctor almighty

Those suffering from asthma should make swimming pools be their best friend. Swimming helps avoiding asthma attacks. Swimming also helps improve the levels of cholesterol in your body; it lowers the LDL (also known as bad cholesterol) and increases the HDL (also known as good cholesterol). Those suffering from diabetes can get many benefits from swimming, too. By managing to swim about 30 minutes per week (three times a week, ten-minute training) you can burn up to 900 calories. Studies have shown that all professional swimmers never die prematurely. We can freely paraphrase this and say that swimming actually helps you live longer.

The socializing power of swimming pools

Having a barbecue in your backyard and inviting friends over is a classical Saturday gathering. Wouldn't I be lovely to have a swimming pool where your kids could swim and play while you (the elders) are preparing the food?

To sum up, having a swimming pool is a bit of a luxury but it is the most cost-effective thing you can invest in. You get to be healthier, you get to live longer and you get to have something like a therapist in your own backyard. If you feel stressed – just go for a swim.

Moving in With Style

You know the “Just married” sign on the back of a car, and a couple of empty cans rattling on the concrete? Lovely isn't it? This picture of a happy couple that has just vowed to spend the rest of their lives together is simply breathtaking.   At that moment, all that comes to mind is how exciting their honeymoon will be.  But, this picture has an expiry date, or in other words, no one can see the bigger picture right away. I mean, it’s not always that simple and beautiful. Moving in a new apartment (which will come shortly after) carries a lot of problems with it. For instance, what kind of furniture is the best for you, how will you paint the walls, which tiles will you choose, etc. Not to mention the decorations such as: curtains, carpets, lamps, vases and so on. In order not to get confused, you have to do things systematically. I suggest making a “moving in plan”.  The following steps should help you organize yourself better, but, of course, you can make some changes in regards to your taste, and you can add steps if you like. But here are the basics in the text bellow.

 

The “underwear” of the apartment

The “underwear” of the apartment would be the tiles, of course. Considering the fact that this is something you put once and it is rarely changed, you should be very careful. There is a huge variety of tiles, but here is one recommendation that will surely not let you down – Stainless steel! It was made back in 1913, by an English metallurgist Harry Brearly, who only wanted to improve riffle barrels, and he accidentally invented stainless steel. This was announced two years later in the New York Times and was a big revelation. Stainless steel means that it is resistant to corrosion and staining, which is exactly what you need in the kitchen or in the bathroom. The water in the bathroom or all sorts of liquid substances from the kitchen can easily damage any other type of tiles, but with stainless steel that’s not an option. Stainless steel is also used for bridges and even for making jewelry. This jewelry will never turn black and it will not oxidise. The beauty of it all is that you can play with it and make mosaics with stainless steel. Mosaics were first used a very long time ago. Some good examples were made in 4th century BC. So, this is a very old art direction that has stayed popular until today. And this makes a lot of sense, because mosaics are simply a combination of small, differently coloured pieces of steel, stone or glass and it is amazing how many interesting designs can be made that way. Here you can find a nice set of stainless steel tiles. Be creative, play with mosaics and find the artist in you!

The “suit” of the apartment

The “suit” of the apartment would be your furniture. When choosing the furniture, you can play all you want. Just make sure you get some nice colours that match your tiles or the colour of your walls. The most important thing is that the furniture is comfortable, and the second important thing is the design. This combination of green and white colours can inspire you:

Also, there’s never too much light, so get transparent curtains, or go for no curtains at all.

The “accessories” of the apartment

Here you’re on your own. Depending on the furniture, the accessories will come naturally. A good thing is to have an aquarium somewhere in the living room, because it is a well-known fact that aquariums can help you reduce stress. Also, another good tip – make sure your home is green enough, meaning you should have at least one plant in each room (except the bedroom). 

All in all, moving in and decorating your home is very important. Your home is the place where you spend most of your time and you should pay attention to how you will make it. Other than the quality of your furniture and tiles, the colours are equally important. Make sure you have enough bright colours and enough plants!

Decorating Done Right

People think that house decorations only include vases and ornaments. They clutter the apartment with plants or too many little sculptures and the result of that is – less place to live in, still not creatively decorated. They usually don’t pay attention to the walls, for example. Sometimes having white walls everywhere in your house is what makes it look dull. Here are some useful tips (most of them can even be done singlehandedly).  

Garden

Decorating your garden is probably the easiest. You should just get a lot of plants in different colors. Be careful here, if you don’t organize them right and space them uniformly, your garden might start looking like a circus. You can buy a small fountain. This is both decorative and stress reducing. You can turn and old window into a picture frame and hang it somewhere on the bungalow, or you can just put it next to the fountain. And, last but not least, you can dress up garden entrances. This will have a lovely effect on both you and your guests.

Bathroom

Bathroom is a place that can’t quite be decorated with ornaments. The main role in the bathroom decorations is played by tiles. Get mosaic tiles and all your problems with decorating the bathroom will be solved. You can get stainless steel mosaic tiles (easy to clean, fungi resistant), or you can get glass mosaic tiles (highly decorative, easy to clean, corrosion resistant). Getting regular tiles is fine too, but then you would have to worry about corrosion, and changing the whole set of tiles when they do start corrode opens up a big pile of work, which you can avoid forever by simply getting tiles that are made out of a good material. 

 Living room

The living room is a room for pictures. You will not need wallpapers or any other indoor wall applications. Just arrange the pictures and photos you love the most (but don’t exaggerate). An aquarium is great for the living room, because the living room is a place where you can read a book or watch TV, and the sound of an oxygen pump making bubbles in the aquarium will help you relax while doing all of these things. Also, a few plants would be nice. Just be careful and make sure you place them somewhere where light can reach them during the whole day.

Kitchen

Be careful with the kitchen. Splashbacks are a necessity here. When you prepare food, all sorts of liquid mixtures could spray the walls, and those stains are usually impossible to clean. This is why tiles and splashbacks are something you just can’t avoid when it comes to the kitchen. If you really want to make your kitchen so nice that cooking in it becomes a form of enjoyment, decorate your kitchen using these shell mosaic tiles.

Bedroom

Remember that your bedroom decorations will be the first thing you see when you wake up. So, when it comes to decorating the bedroom, try to make it as elegant as possible. Don’t put too many colors (two basic colors would be perfect). Get transparent curtains for this room, because you don’t want to wake up in the dark. Get a scented candle and light it from time to time. Smell is, next to sound, one of the best stress reducers.

The basement

The basement doesn't need decorating at all. The only thing important about the basement is that you keep it clean and tidy. Get rid of old stuff from time to time. If you over clutter it, you won’t have space for the new-old thing that you decided to take to the basement. If you don’t know how to get rid of all that old stuff you don’t use anymore at all, here’s a useful tip – put an advertisement on the Internet that you are selling those things. Make someone else happy and help yourself with one move! Other than that, a garage sale is a good option too. Put mice traps in the corners, just in case.

It is always cool to be the designer of your own home, just don’t get carried away. The last thing you want to do is over-clutter your house.

The Outside of the House – What to do There?

Have you ever thought about the outside of your house? I’m sure that most of us usually think only about the inside, the outside doesn’t matter much, since it is not the area where we spend most of our time. And let’s face it, most of us don’t really have the time to worry about the outside aesthetics of our house, we have enough troubles with the inside. Plus when you take into account our jobs, our families, and so many other things, nobody really has the time for the aesthetics of the outdoor part of our homes. Besides that, when you have guests, they’ll be spending most of the time inside, complimenting you on the looks of your living room, kitchen and whatever – they don’t care much for the outdoors. Hell, most people don’t even look at it when they come over. Sure, the occasional passerby will notice it, but who cares about strangers?

Maybe I have a more practical look on things such as these, but you can’t deny that you don’t have the time for the aesthetics of everything. Then again, I can go too far with the whole “pragmatism over aesthetics” thing, so I will try to be more flexible, and I’m not an idiot, I do like pretty things, we all do, that is why they are called pretty. The word would lose its meaning if we didn't like something that’s pretty. But I am not here to debate semantics or syntax or whatever, I’m here for you and your homes. Because no matter how much I hate to deal with the looks of things, but house redecoration is important and it has to be done at least once. By this, I mean that you need to take care of the outside look of your house, at least once in your life. So let that one time be now! And let me help you with it. Or, at least give me a chance. It can’t hurt...

I've been good at telling how unnecessary it is, but is it really like that? On the whole, it might be, but not if you do it once. That one time, it can’t hurt and most importantly, it’ll do you good. You’ll feel better knowing that everything is pretty on the outside as well. Who knows, you might need to sell the whole place at some time in your future, so it will be good if the place was pretty because, unfortunately, people do judge the book by its covers. And I hate to burst your bubble, but the love of your life didn’t go out with you for the first time because he or she liked you for who you are (how the hell can anyone know anyone before even meeting them!?) but because he or she liked the way you looked! That’s right, because of the looks, you little romantic...

Besides all that, it also can’t hurt for the occasional passerby to marvel at your house, even though you don’t care for them. This way, it might make them jealous, or even better, it might make your neighbors jealous! It’s bad to want your neighbors to be jealous of you, but it still feels so good – damn this wonderfully destructive emotion...

I’m becoming to negative and repulsive even to myself, so let’s move to on pretty things - like the way you can decorate your exterior. Since I mentioned pretty, one of the things that came to my mind is art. So, how to incorporate art with the outside of your house? Luckily for you, I have found the way recently... It’s not like I discovered this or whatever, I was only surfing the internet and I stumbled upon this little thing which seems to have come in handy just about now. This is one of those good moments, the little coincident that turns out to be great for you. I accidentally saw something which came in handy a few days later. Very nice, very nice indeed...

Anyway, the things are mosaic tiles. These are a work of art, and you can have them anywhere, the bathroom, the kitchen, and even on the walls of your pool. But I was thinking of the outside of your house, and I’m sure that many people have them on the outside, but they usually have simple tiles, not the mosaic ones. And the mosaic ones are the ones you really want for the exterior, trust me. You don’t know me, so why would you trust me... but trust me on this, because, I don’t know, just trust me – you won’t regret it!

So, imagine using these mosaic tiles to create a pattern somewhere outside, or even a picture! How many people do you know that have these? Not many, I’m sure. You should try being innovative and creative and you should have something new – it will distinguish you from the rest, make you unique, and who doesn’t want that? Don’t answer, but think about it.

Many options you will have for this (I sound like Yoda). Stone tiles are the most usual choice I guess, but you don’t need to be usual like I said, so try mixing stone and glass, or something new like that. You can go with wood, if by some off chance your house is made of it. All are mosaics, which makes them special and thus different. More importantly, they make your home special and different. Some other choices would include marble, which is much better than stone, since marble is often described as an upgraded version of stone, and that can only mean that it is better.

These are not the only choices, there are many more. It’s up to you to choose and make the exterior of your house something that is desired by many. I will say again – you have to do it only once! After that, each and every time you go into your garden, sit in a comfortable chair, drink your whisky and exhale, you will know that what you did was the right move.

Express Yourself through Mosaics Made of Tiles

There are many things in life one should do in order to keep his self-esteem high and to raise his value in front of others. Many people start to decorate their bodies, for example, by getting a tattoo or a piercing. And scientists have proven that all that decoration is due to the fact that they feel like they should have more respect. Of course, a good deal is the decoration of the body itself, but it does not play a very important role. In fact, tattoos and piercing have very little to do with beauty itself. However, there is something I like to call „external decoration“, which basically means decorating your environment instead of yourself in order to achieve the same or even better results that you achieve with a tattoo. To be more concrete, I am going to write a few words on a special way of house decoration that affects both your sense of beauty and your self-esteem. There is no need for you to go through all the pain, just to have a piercing on your tongue when you can enjoy life in a far more painless way. Enjoy life – that was a phrase I was looking for. Enjoy life as much as you can, and in order to do that you need to, first of all, enjoy your surroundings. And your surroundings are no more no less but your home itself.

Let's get acquainted with a very special way of decoration

History is full of different and unusual ways of home decoration. When you look at those old medieval castles, you can see a variety of different mosaics made of million different materials. The thing I want to talk about is a little bit old, but the way of implying it to the home design is new. You probably have tiles in your bathroom, and you have never probably wondered why are tiles there? Well, they certainly have some protective purpose. Some bathrooms even have very stylish tiles that need not be there only to do their “job”, but also to give off beauty. Nowadays, there are different ways of placing tiles, and the most important thing is that they are not placed only in bathrooms anymore, but also in the other rooms in the house. Moreover, tiles nowadays are made of many different materials, and can fit anywhere you like, even on the ceiling. But there are certain materials that you should get acquainted with in order to be more familiar with the whole concept of placing tiles as a new way of home decoration. One more thing – tiles nowadays always tend to form some kind of structure and, therefore, I will feel free to call this kind of art – tiles mosaic.

The tiles that you already know about and the things you did not know about them Well, first of all, I would like to talk about the contemporary use of ceramic tiles, which all of you have heard of. But today, these tiles, if they are not used in the bathroom, have a completely different role, which is pure decoration. The price of them is what is their best feature. The range of their prices is wide, and there are some which are very cheap and some very expensive ceramic tiles – it all depends on the kind of ceramic they are made of. They last up to two decades, and are relatively easy to clean, but if you use them as protection and not just as decoration, you would have to devote more time to their maintenance because their durability can be lower if there is a lot of water that comes in contact with them.

The kind of tiles that you may have heard of, but you never saw them

Stainless steel is very good material for tiles, especially ones that are used to make mosaics and decorate your home. The durability of stainless steel is limitless, and because it is steel we are talking about, these kind of tiles are practically unbreakable. Another good thing about these kind of tiles is that they are very clean. You would have to devote maybe five minutes a month in order to make sure there is no dirt on them. Even if there is, it is very easy to clean them, and all you need is one dry cloth. However, they are not perfect as they seem at first. Acidic food can be actually very „harmful“ to the stainless steel, because it can leave marks that cannot be cleaned. Simply avoid putting your stainless steel mosaic near the place where you eat. Finally, there is one word that can perfectly describe the sense that this kind of mosaic brings to your home – modern. If you want to feel modern, and you want a modern home, you should definitely consider having one mosaic of this kind.

The old but good and interesting kind of tiles – stone tiles

 Stone tiles have been used for ages, but never in a way to make a mosaic out of them. As you know they may last for ages, and the best thing about stone is that it can be easily combined with other types of tiles and to add a certain dose of elegance to the mosaic. Since stone is the first material that was used to build shelters during the early period of the development of the human race, we perceive stone as a kind of material that will protect us from „danger” outside. It gives us the sense of safety and it is good, in that matter, for our health.

To sum up, there are many different ways to keep your self-esteem high, which involves both decorating yourself and decorating your surroundings. Placing mosaic tiles actually decorates your home, which is actually the primary place in the hierarchy of your „surroundings“. There are many different types of tiles nowadays, and I have mentioned just a few and their pros and cons, but at the end, it is up to you to choose whichever you prefer.

Tile up the Atmosphere in Your House

Many people nowadays tend to find new ways to decorate their houses. In the western countries, you can find decorations made out of old newspapers. You can read about the invasion on Libya while you drink your morning coffee. There is just this tiny, insignificant detail – thenewspaper is your wallpaper, and you are reading the news by watching the wallpaper. Besides this, I simply love those walls where people let an artist play with the paint. It really is eye-candy. However, sometimes you can just turn to the older methods of decoration and add something new in there.

Let's focus on mosaics. It has been an art for over a thousand years so far. People would just gather small pieces of stones, painted in different colors, and they would make wonders with it. But throughout history, the houses decorated with mosaics were those of rich people, aristocracy and noblemen. However, nowadays, although this kind of decoration is a bit more expensive, it is affordable by almost anyone who can afford the decorating a house in the first place. Now, you are probably doing a little revising in your head concerning the last mosaic you saw in one of your neighbor’s houses, but it seems that you can't vividly recall. Let me help you. Have you entered their bathroom? All those colorful tiles placed there, making a figure of some kind – that’s the form of mosaic art. As you know, not many bathrooms nowadays have simple white tiles, but rather painted ones that are combined together to look more impressive and more interesting.

However, what if I tell you that the mosaics made of tiles can be used all around the house and not just in bathrooms? There are different materials from which tiles can be made of: stainless steel, stone or even glass. With this kind of tiles, you can now easily decorate your living room, kitchen or even your bedroom. Now, you might wonder what is the purpose of placing tiles, when you can just put wallpaper there, or you can just paint on your walls. Well there are several things that I want to focus on when it comes to decorating with tiles.

First of all, let’s focus on protection. If you decide to decorate your kitchen with the tiles made of stainless steel, you will, first of all, get durability. As the name suggests, this kind of tiles can last for long, and many people choose this option, because they want their decoration to last. Stainless steel is very hygienic, because stainless steel is said to be a very clean material. If you, for example, prefer glass tiles over the other types, I can say that they are really easy to clean, because dirt is easier to spot. They do belong to the „more durable” ones, although they are not as durable as the ones made out of stainless steel, logically. If you can't decide which one to choose, there is also the third option – glass combined with stainless steel tiles. Some web-sites on the internet provide you with this kind of service. They combine the durability of stainless steel tiles and the beauty and cleanliness of glass ones, thus providing you with the ultimate mosaic tile pattern. There is also one more possibility – stone tiles. And, I think that it is not necessary to describe the properties of this kind of tiles. I'll just remind you that stone was one of the first materials used by people to build shelter.

There is the second aspect, when it comes to placing tiles in your house – design. Glass tiles, for example, are pretty luminous and can lighten up the atmosphere in the room. They tend to stress the light in the room and can be very relaxing for the human eye. I cannot tell you which is the best room to put this kind of tiles in – they simply fit everywhere. You can put them in your bedroom and wake up with glorious lighting in front of your eyes, or you can put them in your garden and amaze neighbors with the powerful glow that your home gives off. Glass tiles can also be placed in your pool or in your bathroom. Although that seems like a cliché, sometimes it is much more than that. Sometimes well placed mosaic tiles become art. Stainless steel is usually placed in kitchens and bathrooms, but with the new era in art, people have started experimenting and placing the tiles all over the house. And stainless steel can both give you the sense of light and a friendly atmosphere or a sense of a dark and gloomy one. So, if you are one of those people who prefer solitude over friendship, and who actually enjoy darkness, stainless steel can be an ideal solution for you. Finally, stone tiles can make you feel like you live in a medieval castle, or like you live on the USS Enterprise, exploring space – the final frontier. The possibilities are unlimited with glass mixed metal mosaics, you just need to use your imagination and have a certain perception of reality.

You can always Google more for this kind of decoration – it is not something new – but the approach itself is changing rapidly nowadays and more and more people are getting interested in this kind of decoration as an art form. There are people whose job is to overcome this basic usage of tiles as protection and who make art out of them. You may not require their special services if you are skillful enough and if your imagination is powerful enough. However, if you are new to this type of art, it is always necessary to consult someone with more experience.

To sum up, tiles that form a mosaic are not only popular in bathrooms anymore. With the 21st century come 21 (and more) ways of placing tiles in other rooms in your house, not only as protection but also as decoration. You may try different materials and in different rooms, and although it seems at first that there are only several options, the combinations are basically limitless. Every material has its own perks and flaws, and every material is unique in its special way.

Changing Yourself Means Changing You and the Things around You

Many people get bored at one point at their lives, knowing that some kind of change is inevitable. That is why women sometimes dye their hair, change their hairstyles or even go and tattoo themselves. That is also the reason why men change their vehicles, change their hairstyle or even go and tattoo themselves. Yes, I know that there are things in common that both men and women do in order to make some important change in their lives. You will notice, however, that these changes always have something to do with styles. So, here is a proposition: instead of changing your body and appearance, it is much better to change your surroundings. But this word – surroundings – sounds like a very broad term, and when I say it, I mean your home in particular. Our body and our clothes sure do represent who and what we are, but the second most important things that define us as individuals are our homes. (Maybe, our Facebook profile can come somewhere in between these two, but that is a topic for some other time.)

There are many ways to decorate your home. But the first thing that probably comes to your mind when I say decoration is probably those colorful New Year decorations. Well, I'm talking more serious stuff here. Maybe decoration is just the wrong word, so from now on I will say „home design“. There are people who have degrees in this particular job. Although it sounds easy, it is really much more than that. I'm definitely not one of those guys, but I will try to explain as well as I can the importance of this particular activity. Furthermore, I will focus only on one of them, which is the topic of this article. This kind of home design is called mosaic.

Have you ever seen the sun in your room?

Let me explain this title. Namely, there are certain mosaics that are made of tiles. Now, the term tiles is also a broad one. But the kinds of tiles we are talking about here are the ones that are similar to the ones you have in your bathroom. The only thing that differs is that these kinds of tiles used for mosaics can be made out of different materials. Their shape can also change a bit, and they need not necessarily be square-shaped. But, when we talk of materials, I feel the need to mention a few. There are tiles made of glass, stainless steel, wood or even stone. But the ones I like to talk about in this paragraph are those made of glass. The tiles made of glass are very specific because they are transparent. Mosaics that are made with this type are very stylish and sophisticated. When you put this kind of mosaic towards the sunshine, it can literally reflect it and have this beautiful glow to give off. That is the explanation to the title of this paragraph. So, if you are a type of person that enjoys sunshine and likes summer and hot weather, this is the right choice for you. Since I started this article with changes that will tell a slightly different story about ourselves, I can wholeheartedly say that the glass mosaic will present you as an extrovert, fun seeking and party loving person, who enjoys every bit of his life and dares not miss any opportunity that comes his way. It also says that you have simple taste and needs and that hedonism is your primary objective in life.

What will stainless steel say about you?

The second kinds of tiles I'm going to write about are stainless steel tiles, as the subtitle suggests. Now, they might not reflect the sunshine as the first one, but they certainly are very fashionable. Stainless steel mosaics are also very adaptable, because you can fit them practically everywhere. You can either put it in your bedroom and enjoy the beauty of it, or you can, for example, put it in your front yard and share the beauty with all the other neighbors and guests. It's all up to you. Now let's get to the part where this kind of mosaic defines your character. Stainless steel can certainly represent you in two completely different ways. If your room is dark and you add them to that dark room – this will say that you are an introvert who likes spending his time at home. You like reading books and watching movies. You do not have many friends, but those you have are very good ones. You like going to parties, but your favorite part is the one where you meet people outside the club, where the music is not that loud. On the other hand, if you fit stainless steel mosaic in, for example, a white room, with a lot of bright colors, that will say that you are a family person and that you like spending quality time with people that you are really close to. It may also say that you enjoy simple things in life, and that you find joy in interesting sports and hobbies. Believe it or not, stainless steel mosaics fit perfectly in a living-room with a fireplace and wooden, vintage furniture. But, then again, it is up to you to decide how are you going to place it and what message would you like to send to your friends.

There are, of course, several materials I haven’t written about and I hope that you became just a little bit more interested in this topic. But after all, if you are reading this article that means that you have internet connection. Therefore, Google it – there is a lot to read about on this topic, and that way you can also learn a lot about sending a message through the design of your house. Just remember, the most important thing in the world is who you are as an individual, and that is not achieved if you do not define yourself through the style of you and your surroundings.

The Feeling within You that can be woken up by the Art of Mosaic

Art has always been the most powerful thing that can play with emotions of people as well as with their sense of beauty. There is a whole branch in philosophy that is called „aesthetics“ which studies the ways we perceive beauty in things and people. As the ages change so does art and the approach that an artist makes becomes different, although the techniques do not change - just develop. There are, of course, some newer arts such as film or comic books, but the old ones are the ones I want to talk about. To be more specific, I want to write about mosaics and how they are used to decorate homes. I must warn you, I'm no expert at mosaics whatsoever, but I did a little research, in order to understand what is the purpose of it and how can it be fit into today’s homes.

As I've mentioned in the introduction, the approach to art changes almost daily. A mosaic is also the part of this never-ending process. When it was invented as a form of art, artist used to gather small colored stones in order to build a picture. Although this material is still popular, people are finding new ones on a daily basis in order to make mosaics more unique. My friend, who is an artist himself, was collecting buttons from different shirts for five years and then he made a mosaic out of them. After that he simply made millions of small crunched colorful papers and later made another masterpiece. But then this expansion came, where mosaics suddenly became popular as a part of a house and home decoration. Many possibilities are available, but I'm going to concentrate and present only one of them – mosaics made of tiles. It may sound strange at first, but just look at your bathroom. The colorful tiles are probably making some sort of shapeless figure and enhance the pleasure of being in there. Just imagine how would it be if you are to transfer this kinds of mosaics into other parts of your house.

The kind of steel that never goes out of date

If you were to place a mosaic in, for example, your living room, the marble tiles that you use for your bathroom may not be the smartest choice. As I have mentioned, the approach has changed, and with the approach so have the materials. One of the possible materials that tiles for mosaics can be made of is stainless steel. Namely, stainless steel is said to last for eternity, but it is not its primary feature. When combined into a mosaic, tiles made of stainless steel can have a very sophisticated look. It can fit in almost every kind of living room, and can send both the message of a warm home that welcomes every guest and a modern one for a small isolated family. It is up to you to choose how you would like to fit it into the living room. The best feature of this kind of mosaics is that they never rust, as the name suggests. Cleaning it is important, but it will take you much less time than, for example, cleaning marble tiles in your bathroom. Stainless steel tiles can be very cold or very warm when you touch them, and that depends on the temperature level in your room. Since steel is a very bad conductor of temperature, it tends to keep the same temperature for a very long period of time.

Mosaic as a window to your soul

Now, you might wonder what kind of silly title is this. Well, believe it or not, there are mosaics that are made only of glass. Each tile is designed with a special technique that involves a lot of effort and sleepless nights, and each one is carefully measured and shaped so that they will give off the feeling of transparency. These kinds of tiles are not always square shaped - they can also have more of an oval form. When they are fit into a mosaic they simply shine. If you do not believe me, just put your mosaic against the window on the east, and when the sun starts to rise, and the light touches the mosaic, it will simply start to glow with this magnificent simplicity and style. I recommend putting this kind of mosaic in bedroom, although if you are not a morning person, this morning „glow“ can be a bit of a problem for you. On the other hand, if you like and enjoy sunny mornings, this is just the thing to do. Finally, these kinds of tiles look magnificent when you put them into a swimming pool (keep in mind though that if you do chose to put them in a pool, make sure that the pool is not filled with saltwater, since it can damage the tiles). If you combine it with neon lights, you will be able to make those playboy like parties that everyone dreams about. Just imagine it...

Two is always better than one

If you are one of those indecisive people, and you can't choose whether to put glass or stainless steel mosaic into your room, there is the third option for you. Glass and steel can be combined and an even more spectacular and magnificent effect can be achieved. You can have a bit of both – the glow of the morning sun and the style and endurance of stainless steel. However, if you are about to choose this option, I recommend to consult someone who already has some experience with home design, or even better – glass mixed metal mosaics. These kinds of decoration are not really expensive, but they certainly can't be very cheap. So, if you are about to spend money on this, do it wisely. Of course, you should also consult Google – the ultimate know-it-all. You should consult Google for everything, in fact.

To sum up, art can wake up the most sublime and the most powerful feelings in a human. You may not be aware of this, but art is all around you – even in your house. If you are to follow the flow of this river, I strongly recommend getting at least one mosaic made of tiles, because it is one of the latest and very popular kinds of art, and many people nowadays choose it to decorate their home this way.

Let me Take You to the World of Modern Art

I am no expert when it comes to home decoration and other issues that involve style and taste. However, I made a thorough research on the net and found out a lot of interesting data that helped me decorate my home as best as I can and trust me, there are several aspects you should take into account, when it comes to home decoration. The comfort comes first. You don't want your home to look beautiful and to be total eye-candy, if your body cannot enjoy it. After comfort comes the usage of it. Let's face it, it is much better to have a sculpture that is a fountain at the same time, and you use it to drink water from it, than just a sculpture that stands in the corner of your room. However, this is totally optional. Finally, the look of the certain piece of decoration is taken into account. You should always pay attention what you put and where, because an ugly home, however comfortable, will not be appealing to the people who visit. Of course, there are some eastern techniques, such as feng-shui, that combine beauty and comfort, but they are mostly based on beliefs that are not really scientifically proven.

The art ages old gets a new form. Place tiles all over your house.

What I really want to focus on is the art of placing tiles and making mosaics out of them. You have probably seen on the television those big mosaics made out of small stones. Well, I'm not really talking about that kind of mosaic, but a more modern form. Tiles are nowadays produced in many materials, and each material has its own advantages and disadvantages, but we will talk about that, later. First of all I want to ask you this – where do you think you can place your mosaic made of tiles? Well, believe it or not – everywhere. There are tiles in the bathroom, and that is nothing new. Yours probably has tiles. However, you can take that to the next level of creativity and style and, for example, use painted tiles in your bathroom instead of boring one-colored ones. That way you will enjoy yourself more whilst using the bathroom and you will break the monotony that can sometimes be a feature of this part of the house. Now, lets move on to the other rooms.

Bedrooms can be very interesting if mosaic tiles are added there. There are the ones made of glass which literally glow if the light in the room is vivid. Can you imagine the feeling of waking up and facing the glowing mosaic made out of glass tiles. It is indeed like heaven on earth, and you just woke on the cloud that floats on the surface made of sunshine.

How about living room? I know it sounds weird at first, but there are people who add mosaic tiles even there. Tiles made of stainless steel can have a very calming effect, and its color fits almost every style of living-room. Whether you enjoy those old fashioned living rooms with a fireside and two rocking chairs, or you prefer those modern ones with big TVs and a lot of electronic devices, mosaics made of tiles will fit everywhere, especially those made out of stainless steel.

Finally, you can even take the decoration outside. If you live in a house and have a yard, and you don’t know how to decorate it, I suggest that you place mosaics. Of course, watch out that it fits the rest of the house when talking about design. My favorite one was the thing that my neighbor did with tiles. He placed them at the bottom of his swimming pool. He added some lighting beside it and it had this amazing glow even during the night.

A word or two concerning the materials out of which tiles are made

As the title suggests, and as I have mentioned before, tiles can be made out of several different materials. All of them have certain qualities that make them special in their own way. But whichever one you choose, it is important that the design itself possess certain quality. Because, believe me, I have stumbled upon very fragile ones which were literally breaking under the slightest pressure of my hands. You certainly do not wish your mosaic to fall apart after a week. Therefore, durability is very important. Now when it comes to stainless steel, durability is not in question at all. These kinds of tiles tend to last for decades and they do not even rust, as the name suggests. They are also not very difficult to maintain – you may need to clean it maybe once or twice a month, just to remove the dust and make sure that you can see your reflection in them.

There are also tiles made of stone. Now you have probably seen these more often than those made of stainless steel, but if the approach to combining them into a mosaic is unique, they can be pretty interesting. Although their durability is not as good as the durability of steel tiles, it is good enough if you pay attention

Finally there are tiles made of glass, which I, also, have mentioned before. Although you may think that this kind is the most fragile, it is not so. Namely, these kinds of tiles are designed so that the glass is so thick, it is almost impossible to break them.

To sum up, colors and styles are all mixed-up nowadays as the art suggests. Therefore, people have taken tiles from bathrooms and started placing them all around the house. Little by little it became an art on its own – the art of mosaic tiles. Although it existed long before, this approach is new, and these mosaics fit in each and every room. There are different materials to choose from, and different shapes and figures to be made out of tiles, all according to your own taste.

A Psychological Approach to the Design of Your Home

We always try to say something about ourselves in many different ways. First of all, it is just by talking – we try to be funny, we brag or we just try not to be boring. But there are many non-verbal ways by which we both consciously or subconsciously convey the idea of who we are and what we do. One of them is, for example, body language. You won't believe me when I tell that body language is actually fifty percent of communication. We just need to learn how to read those „signs“ that our body sends, and we will be able to show ourselves in a better light. Another example is how we dress. That is the thing we do consciously. We pick our garments carefully and dress proper to the ways we think and the ways we tend to expose ourselves. For example, people who love rock music will always wear some pieces of clothing that will somehow tell: „Hey, I love Led Zeppelin“, or people who work as lawyers, for example, will wear suit that will say: „Hey, look at me, I am on my way to the courtroom“, and so on... But the thing I want to talk about in this article is actually not connected to dressing yourself, but to decorating your house. After all, your house should best reflect who you are, what you do and what are your attitudes towards certain things.

Our house in the middle of the street

First of all, let's say that you just moved in and that your house is not in order at all. There is furniture all over the place and you need to arrange it. After you have done that, you should consider some “deeper” decoration. The thing I want to focus on in this article in particular is how should we fit mosaic as an art in our home, and what will those mosaics convey about ourselves? But mosaics that I am going to write about are made of tiles, since that has become very popular lately. Tiles can be made out of several different materials. Believe it or not, even the material you choose will tell something different about you. So, I am going to write about mosaics made of glass, stainless steel and stone.

The glowing extrovert

As you may know, glass tiles are transparent and, therefore, they may represent your attitude towards other people. You want other people to know you well and to like you, so you present yourself like an open book and you do not keep any mystery of yourself. But that is not a bad thing at all, it means that you are a communicative person, and you tend to approach people more than they would approach you. Your interesting stories will keep the party going and the jokes you tell are always funny. Therefore, enjoyment and hedonism are things that keep you going. Mosaics made out of glass tend to glow sometimes when there is too much light in the room. That may reflect your emotions. Whenever there is positive emotion you are positive and your sadness and your depression are saved for dark rooms, where you are lonely and cannot glow.

The parted personality

Let’s move on to the mosaics that are made of stainless steel. Steel itself can give an impression that you are a strong person and you cannot be broken easily. It also conveys that you do not fight the battle with time but you go with the flow instead and let time do its job. As a reward you tend to see your life as harmony and peace. If you fit stainless steel mosaic into a room where white color is dominant - this would mean that you are a person who likes domination. This is simply explainable due to the fact that the white color symbolizes innocence whereas stainless steel symbolizes something strong and supreme. Therefore, you like when people subdue to you and when they listen to your orders and your requests. However, if you fit stainless steel mosaic into a room where dark colors are prevailing, that would tell a slightly different story about you. It says that you are a person who likes to be lonely and has little friends. But those friends of his are very close to him and they are always there to help him. It also says that you are kind of person who enjoys staying at home and watching a movie instead of going to parties.

Stone upon stone upon stone upon stone

Stone mosaics, on the other hand, are rather specific. People who prefer this kind of decoration tend to face difficulties in their lives in two ways. One of them is to cut right to the core of the problem and try to solve it, and the other is to stand still and wait for the problem to pass you by. Stone can also say that you are materialist and that you do not believe in God or generally anything that has not been proven by science. You like the smell and the look of money and your career is much more important to you in your life than love, for example. Stone mosaics which are fit into a traditional living-room with a fireplace and wooden furniture say that you are a family person and that people related to you are on the top of your list. But more than that, stone mosaic conveys that you are a person who enjoys nature and finds peace in activities such as fishing, hiking or just spending some time in nature.

To sum up, every person in this world has its own story to tell, but all of them want that story to have many interesting details. Those details can be added by changing yourself or the things around you. When you decide to change the things around you, go to your house and try to rearrange the furniture. I wholeheartedly suggest that you take one of the mosaics that I have presented to you above and try to fit it somewhere as best as you can, thus saying an interesting fact about you – something that no one noticed before.

Breaking the Tediousness...

Have you ever thought about decorating your bathroom and kitchen, or some other unusual place? No? I thought so. But I am here to talk you into it because there are plenty of reasons why you should do it. And besides that, you shouldn’t be so skeptical, just because something sounds new and unusual to you it doesn’t mean that it is bad or not worthy of doing. Where would the world be if people had not been brave and done new stuff and tested new things, explored new lands, or simply done something out of the ordinary?

The answer is: nowhere. Without those brave souls the world would probably still be in the stone age, people would still be hunting animals instead of having them on their plates, they would be picking raisins and whatnot in the forest instead of buying all of them and much more in stores and they would be sleeping in cold, dark caves instead of comfortable, warm houses and apartments. That would certainly be a horrible world, am I right? We should be thankful to all those brave men for the beautiful world in which we live today. Take a few moments to thank them - just kidding…

Money should not be an issue!

Moving on... Decorating the kitchen can be a nice experience for you. This goes for other parts of the house which are usually ugly and normal, probably too normal if you ask me. You’ll get something different and new, something that people don’t usually have. If that’s not enough for you, you should go with the line which I love. It is a very good one actually, catchy and whatnot and it consists of these two words: why NOT??? I usually use it when people ask me: “Why would you want to do that?” and I’d answer: “why NOT?” And, seriously, why not? Are you going to get hurt? Are you going to lose something? Money perhaps? If the money is not there for you to buy things, why is it there anyway? Just spend it – it does nothing good just lying around your home for nothing. I’m not saying that you should spend it all, but you don’t need to keep all of it in a safe place forever. Money circulates! It’s what it does. It is not supposed to just lie around. If you have everything that is of life importance, and you have money left, spend it!

If that’s not enough, spend money because it is bad for us, it makes people greedy, bad, wicked. It has never done anything good. That’s one of the many reasons to spend it. Because of that, you need to hate it… Well, you don’t need to hate money entirely, but you should not love it. People should be loved, not money and things in general. That’s just wrong. Human life is priceless, not diamonds or whatever else is considered expensive in today’s standards.

Let’s cut to the chase!

Anyway, I have moved far enough from what I was originally talking about. So let’s get back to our homes and the rooms which we were talking about. Since I've been practically making you get things for those rooms I’ll now tell you what good can come out of that purchase, and you will be able to judge for yourselves if you should or should not buy the things. But what are those things anyway? Try and guess... These things exist in both the kitchen and the bathroom. Well, usually they do, not necessarily of course. You give up? I’m talking about tiles, naturally. But not just any tiles, because regular ones you probably already have, and these don’t really embellish anything, or beautify. I’m not calling them regular for no reason. The tiles in question are mosaic tiles. I wanted to talk about them. If you want to get something else to embellish the rooms in question, think of it yourself, don’t wait for me to discover it. I can’t think of everything.

Why get these pretty little tiles?

There are many reasons for it, the biggest and most important being that they are pretty; maybe even beautiful. One can go as far as calling them art. You should check up on some history and see for yourselves that mosaics have been a type of art since the very beginning. It doesn't really matter where they are – they are still art, even if they are on tiles. And since you have pictures and statutes already, why not have mosaics as well? And why not have them in the kitchen, or the bathroom for that matter?

If you are “owners” of those little bundles of joy called children, these can be good for you because children love everything that is pretty and this will be even more interesting to them as they are something you do not usually see. They will especially be interesting to them if they are in the bathroom as well – if not just for them, then for you too. You won’t have to bring the newspapers in the loo...

They can also be good in order to break the tediousness of your place; that is, if you don’t already have enough colors in your home. Even if you do, they can still add to those colors.

There are plenty more reasons to get these mosaic tiles and you don’t need to hear them, as these should be enough for you.

If you decide on getting them, you’ll have a lot of options, which is great. Search them online. I’m sure you’ll find a lot of choices. The choices usually involve different materials from which the tiles are made, materials like stone, glass, steel, and not just any steel, but stainless steel, and others. There are even beautiful shell mosaic tiles. You can also get them in different shapes and patterns, and even different colors. So, should I tell you more or are you going to find out for yourself?