Fireplace Tile Ideas: Tiling Your Hearth & Fire Surround

The fireplace is a timeless focal point in the home, bringing an instant atmosphere to any living space. But without proper care and attention, this would-be statement feature can lose its shine and detract from the overall aesthetic of a room – presenting a tragic missed design opportunity.

If you’ve got a fireplace feature in your home that’s in need of some serious TLC, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’re breaking down a range of fireplace tile material, colour and design ideas to help you transform your tired fireplace into a statement design feature in its own right.

Fireplace tile material ideas

Fireplace tiles have to be able to handle their fair share of heat given their location. This makes finding tiles in the right material – that is, one that’s tough, heat-resistant and generally hardwearing – absolutely crucial. If you’re looking for fireplace tile ideas, the first step in your browsing journey should be finding a heatproof tile material as, without this key feature, your tiles won’t be suitable for a working fireplace.

There are few tile materials up to this particular job, but these durable options are positively perfect for installation in any fireplace hearth or surround:

• Porcelain: porcelain is the ultimate fireplace tile material available thanks to its exceptional durability and renowned heat resistance. Porcelain tiles are fired at extremely high temperatures, giving them their welcome heat-resistant properties, and they’re also resistant to staining and scratching – making them a popular all-rounder for tiling a fireplace hearth or surround
• Ceramic: ceramic is a more affordable alternative to porcelain when it comes to fireplace tile ideas, having comparable practical attributes along with reliable heat resistance. This lower price tag comes at the cost of durability, though. While ceramic is a reasonably tough and long-lasting tile material, it falls short of porcelain in terms of its hardwearing properties and general lifespan
• Quarry: quarry tiles are made by firing natural clay, resulting in a dream fireplace tiling material that’s highly strong and durable. Equally suitable for traditional and modern fireplace tiling, quarry tiles are synonymous with fireplace hearths and are more than up to the task of refreshing your fireplace while delivering essential hazard-proofing properties

Fireplace tile colour ideas

With your tile material locked in and matters of safety taken care of, you can get creative and begin exploring the colour palette available to you with fireplace tiles.

If you’re on the hunt for fireplace tile ideas and struggling to settle on the shade for you, here are some of the most abundant colour options available in collections like ours:

• White: white tiles are a staple of interior design themes galore, from the ever-popular Scandi style to minimalist chic and beyond. In an otherwise darker or more colourful room, white fireplace tiles can bring shine and sophistication to this eye-catching feature of the home
• Black: black tiles are perhaps the most suited to fireplaces thanks to their ability to retain their appearance over the long term. Whether used on your hearth, fire surround or chimney breast, black tiles will transform your fireplace into a dramatic design feature that oozes luxury
• Green: green is a classic quarry tile colour evoking the Victorian era, when chequerboard fireplace hearths were all the rage. Victorian green is an elegant, muted shade able to pair perfectly with neutral colour palettes galore, whether it’s used to add a pop of colour to an otherwise monochromatic scheme or complement other earthy tones
• Blue: although it’s a less traditional fireplace tile colour, blue can make a striking impact when used on fireplace surrounds – balancing the warm colours of the fire itself with its renowned cooling effects. As far as modern fireplace tile ideas go, there’s nothing more sleek and sophisticated than a tranquil splash of blue
• Multicoloured: as a statement home feature in its own right, the fireplace is a perfect spot to bring some pomp and circumstance to your living space. With an intricate patterned fireplace tile, you can introduce a variety of colours to your fire surround as a kind of feature wall that’s sure to turn heads

Fireplace tile design ideas

Last up, there are design decisions to be made when exploring fireplace tile ideas for your home. Lovers of cool minimalism, decadent maximalism and everything in between will find fireplace tile designs perfectly suited to their personal style.

Popular fireplace tile design options include the following:

• Plain: keep things classic with a single-colour fireplace design in a timeless shade like white, black or Victorian green. Paired with complementary shades across your walls, floors, furniture and accessories, you can design a simple yet opulent fireplace feature
• Chequered: the time-honoured chequerboard design has graced fireplace hearths for well over a century, typically combining alternating black and white quarry tiles to create a chessboard-style chequered effect. If you’re looking for a slightly more offbeat alternative, switch out either the black or white for a pop of Victorian green
• Geometric: geometric designs abound in the world of decorative tiles, thanks to their ability to create instant visual depth in any space. On your hunt for fireplace tile ideas, don’t discount the impact of geometric patterns which can evoke vintage and retro design themes galore, from the 19th-century Victorian era to the swinging ‘60s
• Floral: introducing floral patterns to your interior design harnesses the beauty of nature to bring life and atmosphere to your living space. This much-loved fireplace tile style incorporates floral imagery and the vibrant pops of colour found throughout our beautiful natural world
• Victorian patterns: in the spirit of Victorian-inspired home design, you can take this interior theme one step further with authentic-looking Victorian patterned fireplace tiles. Featuring dainty motifs including imagery of riverbanks, ceramic ornaments, female figures and more, these more traditional fireplace tile options are guaranteed to give your fire surround statement feature status

When you’re ready to make your dream fireplace makeover a reality, we’ve got the tiles for the job. Explore shapes, sizes, materials, finishes, colours and patterns galore in our fireplace tile collection, and mine this guide for the fireplace tile ideas you need to create your brand-new statement feature