Insiders Tile Trends Forecast

Designers still love the clean, simple look of Scandinavian styles and the hottest wood look this year will probably be inspired by Larch wood. It's a clean, tight-veined wood with plenty of contrast that complements the smooth, contemporary style making its way across the world.

Also look for traditional, rustic oak looks in tile this year. Chipped edges, saw marks, hand scraped, and chatter marks are the trend standard for traditional style in 2017. Tile technology is able to authentically replicate these looks with synchronized graphic printing and structures that add the character that make this style so loved. 

Wood-look tile finishes making an appearance in design this year will lean toward innovations of centuries past. Look for vaporized wood-looks, aka, wire brushed, that have a more pronounced grain and texture and ceruse looks with their whitewashed effect.

The emphasis with these new finishes is aimed at bringing out the rich grain and textures of the wood. You'll be amazed how well the tile industry replicates these finishes!

Look for wood grain tile in both more traditional and completely surprising shapes and sizes this year. Shorter, narrower planks that were popular in the mid-century modern era are back. In fact, Daltile is introducing a 4 x 28 (our narrowest) plank early in the year. This tile looks so elegant and is perfectly suited to herringbone patterns. On the other hand, the planks also keep getting bigger—we currently have tile up to 60 inches long! The natural wood flooring market is producing larger planks and with new advances in tile technology and our newer factories, we are able to match their offerings step for step.

Wood looks in brick sizes, hexagons of all sizes, even mosaics will become the new favorite use of wood.