Floor Mosaics

As early as the 5th century B.C., the Greeks were making elaborate depictions out of tiny pebbles. Soon after, the Romans mimicked this fine art using glass and the Egyptians with jewels and gems. Today mosaics can be found in many forums, made of any of a wide array of materials.

One trend that has gained in popularity is the use of floor tile arranged to make ornate mosaics inside (or out) of the home.  These vivid works of art prove to be masterpieces of design doubling as entryway, dining room, patio, hearth, or bathroom floors, but is this a smart choice for flooring?

Not a Feature for Foot Traffic

One of the biggest problems facing floor mosaics is the size of the individual pieces. Weight is distributed much more easily across larger tiles, whereas mosaics are generally made of fairly small pieces of stone, glass, or tile. For this reason, it’s best to plan your floor mosaic for a place in your home that has less foot traffic and heavy furniture. For example, a mosaic will survive a lot longer as a feature under your dining room table or surrounding your hearth than it would in your entryway or under the piano.

Grimy Grout

Another drawback to mosaics is in the spaces between. After mosaic pieces are laid in place, the small gaps between each stone, tile or piece of glass are generally filled in with some sort of grout or mortar. Remember how difficult and tedious it is to keep your bathroom tile grout clean? Imagine doing that with one-inch tiles! The saving grace for this is that today’s market is ripe with white grout and mortar alternatives. While white grout may enhance the brilliance of your mosaic, a brown or grey grout will hide a lot more sin and be easier to keep clean.

Not a Masterpiece for Movers

Mosaics are wonderful, colorful, beautiful, and intriguing works of art, without a doubt. But trends are fleeting and so are, in most cases, our taste and styles for the home. Many people enjoy rearranging their furniture and updating the rooms in their homes every few years, or even more often. By doing so, your beautiful mosaic masterpiece may no longer be in the right location to be the focal point in a room and in fact may wind up under a newly-moved piece of furniture.

With all of these factors contributing, it might be wise to come up with another way to display your artistic side via mosaics. Using mosaics to dress up unfurnished walls, table tops, outdoor patios, or kitchen backsplashes can be a great way to catch the eye of anyone in your home and they won’t have to watch their step in order to do it.

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