Mosaic tiles: small pieces, mounted in sheets
A mosaic tile is a set of small pieces mounted together on a backing so they can be fixed as one sheet. The small pieces are sometimes called tesserae, and they can be glass, stone or porcelain. In this collection most are porcelain, with a good run of marble and natural stone, and they come in squares, finger shapes, penny rounds, octagons, herringbone and cobblestone sheets.
Mosaics suit wet and detailed spaces: bathroom walls, shower recesses, splashbacks and feature areas. They can go on floors in some cases, and that depends on the exact tile, so this page spends time on how to read the listing as well as how to choose a look. If you'd like the broader picture of wall and floor options first, the wall tiles collection and the floor tiles collection sort the full range by where the tile goes.
Where mosaics came from
Mosaic is one of the oldest decorative art forms. Evidence of mosaic work goes back to Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC, and the technique spread across almost every part of the world. Traditional mosaic art was built from pieces of many shapes that fit together to form a pattern or a mural, and glass and natural stone are still the materials most used for bold patterns of that kind.
Classic mosaic arrangements have stayed in use: tessellated patterns of regular repeating geometry, basketweave that gives an interwoven look, and random or broken layouts sometimes called crazy paving. Modern mosaic tiles take those ideas and add new sizes, shapes and colours, sold as mounted sheets.
What are mosaic tiles?
Making a mosaic is slower than making a standard tile. Small pieces are assembled on a mesh-backed mould, dried, fired and glazed, and the result is one tile made of many smaller pieces. The materials vary: glass, stone and porcelain mosaics each carry their own visual variation and care needs.
That construction shapes how mosaics behave. The pieces are small, so the grout lines are many, and the sheet format covers an area quickly while still giving a detailed surface. Mosaics also take more skill to lay than a large ceramic tile, and a professional installer may be needed. The Cottesloe and Middleton listings say installation must be carried out by a licensed tiler to the appropriate Australian standards.
Where mosaic tiles work
Bathroom walls, feature walls and shower recesses
Mosaics are a common choice for bathroom feature walls and shower recesses, where small tiles follow the room's detail and add texture to a whole wall. Several listings here are tagged for feature walls and wall use, and the bathroom tiles collection has every tile tagged for the room.
Kitchen splashbacks and islands
Mosaic tiles are a popular splashback, with marble, glass and porcelain mosaics all used for a rich, textured finish behind a stove or sink. They also clad kitchen islands, where a hard-wearing surface holds up to daily use. The kitchen tiles collection covers the wider range.
Laundries and small rooms
Laundries, powder rooms and bedrooms suit mosaics too.
Floors
Many mosaics suit floors, but only the ones rated for floor use, and the exact tile has to be confirmed. The small format and the extra grout lines help grip, which is why mosaics are popular in wet areas such as bathroom and shower floors. Textured surfaces, whether natural, honed or matte, add to that. The product pages here say which is which. Some print Application lines such as walls and floors, and others say walls only, with a wear rating of 0 or 1 meaning not recommended for floors. Check the page for the tile you've chosen.
Shapes and formats
Shape and scale change the look and the installation. A tile guide lists the common formats as square, kit kat, herringbone, fan and hexagon, with plenty of other decorative patterns. Check the individual chip size, the sheet dimensions, the joint spacing and the pattern repeat before you choose, since they decide how the mosaic reads on the wall.
Finger mosaics are the long, narrow chips, and the kit kat tiles collection gathers them. The herringbone tiles collection has that layout across the store, and the penny round circle tiles collection collects the small rounds. The octagon dot tiles collection covers octagons with a contrasting dot, which the St Kilda listing places in a classic period style. Basketweave is another traditional pattern, in the basketweave tiles collection.
Ranges in this collection
The product pages print the details for each range.
St Kilda is a period octagon with a black dot, in matte porcelain with a cushioned edge and tonal contrast between light and dark accents. The listing says it suits bedrooms and bathrooms and carries a wear rating of 2, suitable for floors in light traffic with soft soled shoes. Castaways is a glazed porcelain kit kat at 15 x 145 in gloss, with a three-dimensional look and a wall application. Mooloolaba is a 20 x 20 penny round in gloss with blended colours.
Middleton is a petite 12 x 92 finger mosaic in gloss, with a cushioned edge and a recommended grout line of 3mm or more. The listing says it suits bedrooms or main bathrooms, and that it suits interior wall and floor surfaces exposed to regular wear with soft shoes or bare feet. Flute is a narrow finger mosaic at 22 x 145 with a gently concave profile, mounted on a 296 x 300 sheet. The curve catches light along its length, and the listing says it's for wall use only. Ava is a satin kit kat on a 300 x 296 sheet, listed for walls, low-traffic floors and pool mosaics.
Cottesloe is a marble mosaic, honed, in either a 23mm penny round or a 35 x 150 herringbone. The listing says sharp-edged tiles allow grout lines of 3mm or less, and prints substantial variation in colour and texture. Briq is an unglazed porcelain in a 48 x 48 square on a 306 x 306 sheet, with a matte surface that's the same colour through the body of the tile, listed for walls, floors and benchtops. Valerie, Alicante and Avorio carry stone looks and patterns across their mosaic formats, and the travertine look tiles collection and the marble look tiles collection show the full ranges.
Materials: porcelain, marble and glass
Porcelain mosaics are the most common in this collection. Several listings say cleaning is easy with no sealing required, and others say to wipe clean with a damp cloth or a standard household tile cleaner. Unglazed porcelain, like Briq, has a surface that's consistent through the tile, so the colour doesn't depend on a glaze layer.
Marble and natural stone mosaics have more variation and different care needs. The Cottesloe listing prints substantial variation in colour and texture, and natural stone generally asks for more care than porcelain. Stone and marble mosaics suit a feature that should look natural. The tumbled natural stone tiles collection has more stone options.
Glass is the third common mosaic material. The tiles on these pages are porcelain, marble and stone, so check the Material line on any tile before you assume what it's made from.
Materials in more detail
Ceramic and porcelain mosaics are the most popular choice for most spaces, and they differ in make-up. Ceramic is natural clay fired in a kiln and then glazed or left unglazed. Porcelain is a composition of feldspar, white clay and sand fired at a higher temperature, which makes it significantly denser and more durable. For wet areas the denser body is the reason porcelain is the usual pick.
Natural stone mosaics have been used for thousands of years, for both decoration and function. Stone such as slate, marble, limestone and granite is cut from the quarry and finished into small pieces, and cutting stone into mosaic sheets takes expertise and precision. Stone brings an earthy, classic character, with variation in colour, shape and finish that porcelain can only copy. Glass mosaics add luminosity, and some mosaics combine materials, such as stone with metal or glass, for depth.
Water resistance and wet areas
Mosaics are typically made from materials such as glass, stone and porcelain, and those tend to resist water well, which makes them a good fit for kitchens, bathrooms and other wet areas. Ceramic tiles, made from clay, absorb more water and need regular sealing to avoid damage and stains. The porcelain mosaics here print easy-clean and no-sealing lines, and the Briq, Flute and Ava listings print indoor use. Where a listing names shower recesses or wet areas under Area, that's the line to rely on.
Cutting, installing and cleaning
Mosaics take care at the cutting stage. Because they're made of many small pieces on a mesh backing, they can be tricky to cut into shape, especially with DIY tools, and irregular shapes and detailed patterns are harder again. Cutting is best left to a professional with the right tools, and that's one reason a licensed tiler is the safer route.
Upkeep depends on the grout. A mosaic has far more grout lines than a large tile, so it needs regular cleaning to stop dirt building up and spoiling the look. A tile with fewer lines is simpler to maintain, which matters for a busy household with little time for cleaning. Mosaics earn their place where the detail is the point, on a feature wall or a splashback, and a larger format suits a surface that takes heavy use.
Laying a mosaic sheet
Sheets make mosaics more manageable than they look. The mesh backing holds the small pieces in place, so a sheet goes up as a unit, and the pattern lays out faster and more accurately than placing fragments one by one. Mounted sheets also need less cutting than individual pieces, though the edges and any shaped cuts still take care, which is why cutting is a job for the right tools.
The steps run in order. Prepare a surface that's clean, smooth and flat. Plan the layout and the position of the pattern before any adhesive goes down. Apply thin-set adhesive to the back of the sheets, set the sheets in place, and tap them down firmly. Grout the joints once the adhesive has cured. The method is straightforward, but it asks for care and some experience, particularly in laying the tiles level and sealing the grout.
Where each listing says it can go
The Area and Application lines draw the boundaries. Some mosaics are listed for indoors in wet and dry areas, including shower recesses, bathrooms and kitchens. Some say indoor walls including wet areas, and a group says indoors dry and covered outdoor areas. A few, such as Mooloolaba, are listed for indoors and outdoors, though its wear rating of 1 says not recommended for floors. Some ranges can go outdoors, from feature walls to patios, as long as the Area line says so, and the outdoor tiles collection covers the tiles built for open exposure.
Colour
Colours run from white, grey, black and beige to green, blue and terracotta, with brown, red and pink as well. A mosaic brings colour into a room in a small dose: a green or blue mosaic on one wall, with quiet tiles around it. For one colour across the store, see the white tiles, green tiles, grey tiles and black tiles collections.
Slip rating and wear rating
Slip ratings measure how well a surface resists slipping under set conditions. P ratings come from a pendulum test on a wet, flat surface, with P1 low, P2 and P3 moderate, P4 high and P5 very high. R ratings come from an oiled ramp test, from R9 at the low end to R13 very high. The highest rating isn't always the right pick, because heavily textured surfaces can be harder to clean.
The listings here print P5 on some tiles, P3 with R10 on others, and not rated on wall-only tiles. The P3 and R10 tiles are described as moderate to high slip risk and suitable for flooring in dry areas, which matters if you're planning a bathroom floor. The wear rating is a second guide. A rating of 4 is suitable for floors in normal use areas with a low risk of scratching, 3 is for light traffic with normal shoes, 2 is light traffic with soft soled shoes, and 0 or 1 means not recommended for floors.
Caring for a mosaic
Regular cleaning with suitable products and periodic grout sealing extend the life and the look of a mosaic installation. For the porcelain mosaics here, the listings give simple instructions: wipe clean with a damp cloth or a standard household tile cleaner, and for several ranges no sealing of the tile face is required. The grout is the part that collects dirt, so check it from time to time and clean it before marks set. Marble and natural stone mosaics ask for more attention than porcelain, so read the Maintenance line for any stone tile before you buy.
Grout and joints
Grout is a big part of a mosaic, because there's so much of it. A close grout colour blends the surface, a contrasting colour outlines the pattern, and a tonal grout, half a shade from the tile, sits between the two. On bathroom walls, a lighter grout keeps a space bright, and on floors a mid-to-dark tone disguises water marks and soap residue.
Joint widths follow the tile. Rectified and sharp-edged tiles allow fine joints, and cushioned or non-rectified tiles need wider ones. The listings here print a recommended grout line, such as 3mm or less for sharp edges and 3mm or more for cushioned ones. Use the figure for the tile you're laying.
Island cladding, splashbacks and layered finishes
Mosaics clad kitchen islands well, since they give a hard-wearing finish that's especially welcome around seating areas. A splashback can also combine two materials, such as a glossy mosaic and a marble benchtop and upstand, to add texture and dimension to an otherwise plain kitchen.
Mixing mosaics with other tiles
A mosaic works well as an accent next to larger tiles. Layering textures and materials gives a unique finish, and a mosaic feature can complement other tile shapes and sizes to give a balanced, varied look. Using a mosaic on a feature wall and a larger, calmer tile elsewhere lets the detail lead without overwhelming the room.
Mosaic tiles also form floor patterns. Shapes beyond the small square, in glass and natural stone, are the traditional route to bold patterns and murals on a floor, a look that continues in porcelain today.
Choosing a mosaic
Start with where the tile goes, because that decides the material and the rating. Choose the shape and scale next, then the finish, then the grout. For a bathroom floor, pick a mosaic whose page says floors and prints a slip rating for it. For a shower wall or splashback, a wall-only mosaic is fine. If you can't decide on a shape, the kit kat tiles collection and the herringbone tiles collection are two places to compare formats side by side.
