Listellos and Decos Add Emphasis to Your Tile Backsplash

Listellos and decoratives, or decos, are ornamental tiles designed to create a distinctive look. Differing shapes, colors, textures and materials provide contrast within a series of tile work. A limitless variety of tiles can be used including travertine, granite, marble, slate, glass, and porcelain. They can be used in borders, backsplashes, floor medallions and murals.

A Listello is a narrow tile used to accent an otherwise generic set of tiles. Listellos were used anciently, as far back as 400 BC. Back then it was used as long narrow bands running along the façade of a building. This ancient idea is used in modern times as a scaled down, decorative border, usually used inside the home in conjunction with other wall tiles. A deco is a dramatically designed tile used as an accent among other field tiles. Used often on fireplace mantles, wainscoting, or as floor medallions, decos add areas of interest amid analogous tiles.

Kitchen and bathroom decoration is the number one equity builder in a home. Listellos and decos can dramatically change the most uninteresting tile layout into a design statement with a worthwhile investment. Listello borders provide a center of interest and much-needed emphasis, the level of which is determined by the scale, color and design of the listello. What kind of effect do you want to achieve? A bold selection will seem daring while a subtle, smaller scale choice appears more graceful. To help save money, consider using listellos and decos with a cheaper assortment of field tiles. The combined effect will still look elegant without straining your wallet.

When selecting a color scheme, consider the amount of emphasis you are going for. If a dominant emphasis is your goal, high contrasting colors within the same space could be ideal. Alternately, if a more subtle emphasis is desired, matching listellos and decos to the surrounding tile or choosing muted tones will be the way to achieve that look. Saturation, or color intensity, can give the illusion of depth. A warm color or light tone will seem to project while a cool color or dark tone will appear to recede. Decide on the effect you would like to create and match other colors in the room to this decision. Start with something monochromatic, or all one color, and see what looks best. When it comes to enhancing your home's tile work, installing listellos and decos is the way to go.