Where have all the gorgeous tiles gone?

[jollydiane]

I need some gorgeous tiles for a bathroom. I thought I had found some in Fired Earth and then realised that it was per tile rather than per box. I made a hasty exit.

I'm after something classic that won't date, white or cream would be fine maybe a classy border. The tiles that I have found are HUGE or out of stock. I I'm not keen on mosaics as I don't want to become paranoid about cleaning grout. Oh where are you lovely, classy, in stock, tiles, stop hiding.

I have some white, slightly concave tiles I am putting in my bathroom. They are 30cmx10 cm - so slightly elongated brick sized and I am having them put in brick style. I am having a black tile "skirting" and an eyelevel thin strip followed by a white then black tile strip all the way round the bathroom. Think updated 1930s style. A bit like metro in the shape but not as concave.

Fired Earth is very pricy. One tile I loved there cost £9.95 each! Ouch.

Sounds nice. I don't really have the imagination to dream up a bathroom style I prefer to copy a picture .

jollydiane I feel your pain on this. Having been advised by my clueless husband yesterday that he wants the ensuite, wc and bathroom in our new home tiled I am now trying to find a very neutral colour for the floor that is not white.

I think if you drop the "must be in stock" requirement then you'll find something appropriate in Topps Tiles (or some other big cheap tile barn).
They all have acres of ghastly faux marble in beige but if you look in the corners and scan every inch of the catalogue you will find something nice, more expensive than ghastly beige but much cheaper than Fired Earth even if you have to order it in.

I found that b&q have a nice new tile range, if you can get to a big store to see the full range. I spotted them back in the summer, after I had spent all my money in fired earth!

I recent bought from wallsandfloors.com
Loads cheaper than anywhere else and they had the exact same crackle glaze metro tile in lovely subtle colours as fired earth for a quarter of the cost. Worth a look, though slightly annoying that when you decide, you have to order a sample to see it (but they're only 40p ish for a sample).

Have recently done 2 bathrooms and 2 ensuites and used this company: www.ctdtiles.co.uk. Huge variety of tiles in showroom, prices would suit most budgets. Have different tiles in each room and delighted with them all.

Lurking in the hope of discovering a gorgeous, reasonably priced tile that isn't a mosaic, white, metro or faux marble [fussy]

Nothing against any of the above, just I've had them all before and really want something new I can get excited about. I really fancy natural stone.

They are there Nappy, you just need to search under enormous piles of dull stuff, and order things in. I was looking for tiles recently in Topps and they had hundreds of designs from your List Of Dull but there were also about twenty that were None of The Above - of which ten were hideous gimmicks, five were fine but not what I was looking for, four were perfectly acceptable and one was just right.

MrsV - What is this magical one? I've just been looking at limestone... Is that classy or dull?

To be fair I'd class limestone as dull beige wanna-be-hotel as well - obviously everyone's tastes vary. But limestone is avaiable pretty much everywhere isn't it? Just google and find the cheapest stockist?

Argh, I have ended up ordering a sample of these:

www.wallsandfloors.co.uk/newrange/laura-ashley-artisan-tiles/

Gorgeous - but if we go for them then his will be the third house I have tiled in bloody brick crackle glaze tiles [hblush]