Glass Wall Tiles
What Would You Want With Glass Wall Tiles?
Choosing to use glass wall tiles in your home can be a rather exciting decision. After all, colored glass has quite an interesting effect wherever it is used.
For instance, stained glass, which has historically been used in religious buildings such as churches, has the very special effect of using light to highlight various aspects of a picture created using glass. As light is filtered through the different colors in the glass, the beauty and color of the picture is enhanced.
Glass tiles have also been used to bring a richness of color and texture in various parts of a building. As far as interior decoration is concerned, glass tiles have been used primarily in areas associated with water, namely in walls in bathrooms, spas and kitchens. Here, they are needed to create surfaces that are water resistant.
Originally, these tiles were made of opaque colored glass which therefore limited the amount of light filtering through and which therefore had a rather cloudy appearance. These kinds of tiles seemed to serve two main purposes. Firstly, they added color in what might have otherwise been bland and dreary spaces and secondly, they made cleaning of these areas a lot easier while providing water resistant surfaces.
Glass is generally easier to clean than, say, wood, especially when it is covered with grease or human grime. Because its surface is smooth, it is harder for grease or grime to get lodged in it.
But, glass is also more brittle than wood and can therefore crack or break more easily when subjected to impact. This probably explains why the use of glass tiles has been limited to walls in bathrooms and kitchen where the chance of impact from falling objects is minimal. If you are after easy cleaning, interesting colors and texture and a water resistant surface, then wall tiles made from glass are certainly the way to go.
If you happen to be a really fastidious designer or home-maker, you will want to purchase your glass tiles from where they have their longest history. These would be from parts of the world with rich Byzantine, Muslim or Middle-Eastern traditions. This is because it was in these cultures that glass was more commonly used.
Glass tiles created in these parts of the world are specially imported to create a particular richness of color and transparency. If you are particularly keen, you might be able to pick up some really exquisite tiles on your travels through countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East where you will be immediately staggered by its wide use especially in the tradition of mosaic art. Many contemporary designers and home decorators borrow from this mosaic tradition to create areas of intensity and color with the use of wall tiles made from glass.
If you are considering the use of glass wall tiles, you might begin to explore possibilities by going to related websites. Some of these sites give you the marvelous opportunity of designing your own tiles by choosing colors, sizes, shapes and blends. It is the perfect way of creating your mosaic for your wall!