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marie_louise3

Matte vs. Glossy- Pros and Cons?

marie_louise
14 years ago

I think my head is going to explode if I look at any more tile. Maybe some of you can help me.

Does glossy tile reflect a lot more light than matte tile? Will glossy versus matte make a difference in how light a big walk-in shower feels? How about the color-does a light tile reflect more light than a darker one, or is it the gloss that makes the difference?

How about cleaning-does glossy look funky in a shower in between cleanings? (DH is NOT going to use a squeegie in the morning, this much I know to be true.)

I am redoing two bathrooms, and I'd like them to more or less match. Both have tile floors and are relatively small bathrooms. One has a large walk-in shower, the other is an alcove tub. I am not tiling the walls-there is a lot of wood trim in the room, including trim at the height of the top of the doors and windows.

I'm looking at some glossy subway tiles (Isole), but the downside is that I have to find some other tiles for the floor and for the shower floor. It is 3 different tiles in a small space. I could pull that off w/ Heath tiles-they have coordinating colors for glossy and matte- but that would be thousands of dollars more. We've decided against small white hexagonal tiles, which is the usual solution for these situations.

I'm also looking at these matte Craftsman tiles at The Tile Shop. They go well with the style of our house, and have the added benefit of coming in a lot of sizes (except Willow, which is my favorite) so I can make the bathrooms similar but not the same.

Here is a link that might be useful: Craftsman Tiles (click on installation pictures for better view)

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