Ideas · planning · tile detail

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78 articles

How to measure, compare and plan a tiling job, with the numbers worked through and every product fact taken from its product page.

From the journal

Room ideas and practical decisions.

Five glossy wave-face subway tiles in white, grey, sage green, black and a ripple-edged white, set side by side on pale plaster in side light

Materials

Zellige tiles: what zellige is, and why the five wave tiles here are not zellige

What zellige is and how it is made, from two outside sources, then the five wave subway tiles here row by row: ceramic, 75 × 300 mm, gloss, and none of them zellige.

7 October 2026 Read article

A band of small white marble rounds beside a large grey-veined marble-look wall tile, with a brushed nickel towel bar and the edge of a white basin.

Bathroom

Marble bathroom tiles: 5 real marble mosaics, 14 marble looks and 8 installed rooms

Five tiles here record marble, all Carrara mosaics sold by the sheet; fourteen Pietra marble looks record porcelain and are sold by the box. What each page records...

6 Oct 2026

Slim white rectangular wall tiles in offset courses run from a pale stone benchtop up to a level stop line, with smooth plaster above and an oak shelf.

Kitchen

Kitchen wall tiles: how high to tile, how many boxes, and where the courses land

Four places a kitchen wall stops, worked on one assumed 3.6 m wall: the square metres at each, the boxes in three box sizes, where the courses land,...

6 Oct 2026

Two tile samples, a warm white stone look and a glossy sage green, on an oak desk beside an unmarked charcoal card and a kraft notebook.

Buying online

Paying for tiles online in Australia: Afterpay, Zip, PayPal and card at nine shops

Tilekind takes card or PayPal and has no buy-now-pay-later option. Four of the eight other Australian tile shops publish one, and one publishes card surcharge rates.

30 Sep 2026

Four small-format tile sheets overlapping on a pale stone bench: white marble hexagons, white marble rounds, glossy graphite-grey strips and matt white herringbone.

Materials

Mosaic tiles: the sizes and materials of the twelve here

Mosaic is a format, not a material. The twelve mosaics here, five marble, four ceramic and three porcelain, with their sheet and piece sizes side by side.

30 Sep 2026

Three tile samples in white, sage green and charcoal on an oak table, beside a kraft notebook, a pencil and an empty open box.

Guides

Online tile shops in Australia compared: samples, delivery, returns, payment and trade accounts

Short answer: We read the published terms of nine Australian online tile shops, Tilekind included, on 26 and 27 September 2026, and read them again on 9 October...

27 Sep 2026

Corners of five matt travertine-look tiles fanned on linen, three with soft cloudy movement and two with a linear vein-cut pattern.

Guides

Travertine or travertine look? What travertine is, and why the five here are porcelain

Short answer: Travertine is a natural stone, a dense limestone formed from calcium carbonate deposited by water, around springs and streams. No tile on this site records travertine...

27 Sep 2026

Close-up of three tile surfaces in low side light: smooth matt pale grey, lightly textured warm grey, and coarse and gritty.

Guides

Tile slip ratings: what P3, P4 and R10 mean, and the 36 tiles here that record one

Short answer: A slip rating such as P3 or R10 is a class under the Australian Standard AS 4586, which classifies new pedestrian surface materials. P and R...

27 Sep 2026

Corners of three slate-look tiles with a rough cleft face in charcoal, dark green-grey and mid grey, stacked on a concrete bench.

Guides

Slate tiles or slate look? The three here are porcelain

Short answer: No tile on this site records slate as its material. Three are written as slate looks, the Ridge Grey, Ridge Slate and Ridge Charcoal, and all...

27 Sep 2026

Two unopened cardboard boxes on a garage shelf, with three spare white tiles leaning beside them.

Guides

Returning tiles in Australia: nine online tile shops' return, restocking and damage terms

Short answer: Returning unused or leftover tiles because you changed your mind or over-ordered is a shop's own offer, and at the nine Australian online tile shops we...

27 Sep 2026

A shrink-wrapped pallet of unmarked cardboard boxes on a concrete driveway in front of a white garage door.

Guides

Tile delivery in Australia: how nine online tile shops charge, and where the delivery stops

Short answer: Across the nine Australian online tile shops we checked on 27 September 2026 and again on 9 October 2026, with five of them re-read on 21...

27 Sep 2026

A warm white stone-look tile sample propped on a white windowsill, half in late sun and half in shade, with a garden through the glass.

Guides

Seeing a tile across a room before you order: what a room preview shows, and what only a sample can

Short answer: A sample shows a tile's colour and surface in your own light. It cannot show how a whole floor of that tile reads, with its joints,...

27 Sep 2026

Loose tile samples on an oak table: sage green gloss, terracotta, white gloss, beige stone look, charcoal and grey terrazzo look.

Guides

Tile samples in Australia: what nine online tile shops charge, and what comes back

Short answer: At the nine Australian online tile shops we checked on 26 September 2026 and again on 9 October 2026, five samples in one order cost between...

27 Sep 2026

Planning support

Useful answers, without a separate help section.

Common project questionsFAQ → Surfaces, openings and allowanceMeasuring guide →