HOUSE AND GARDEN 
J 
ANUARY, igi2 
One needs not expect a bathroom to look like 
a hospital where tiles are used 
The Germans are partial to the glazed tile 
which they use in infinite variety 
A tiled bathroom which gets decorative effect 
from laying tiles in herring-bone pattern 
Tiles often are used for this entire fireplace and mantel. 
Here they have all the beauty of bas-relief carving 
"first cost” is the only one to be con¬ 
sidered. Tiles chief cost is in the 
labor employed to lay it. and this labor 
is about the same no matter what ma¬ 
terial is used. Exact figures, as one 
will readily see, are impossible because 
both cost of material and cost of labor 
vary in various parts of the country. 
The very best method to arrive at the 
actual figures is by obtaining esti¬ 
mates, cheerfully given, we feel sure, 
for your work in the materials which 
would he appropriate. Tile will be as 
cheap, and if it is well laid will surely 
give entire satisfaction. 
Its great durability, then, is the 
point of its "reasonableness”; what¬ 
ever floors are subjected to rough 
not scratch. If properly set, that is 
laid by an experienced tile setter, a 
tiled floor is virtually everlasting. 
Knocks and blows incident to moving 
furniture and baggage to and from 
the house, and to moving about of 
chairs and tables make no impression 
upon the hard clay tile. Therefore on 
the laundry, porch, bathroom and 
conservatory floor the important item 
of repair work is eliminated where til¬ 
ing is used. The fireplace, too, is not 
scorched or warped where made of 
tne, and the danger of the mantel 
catching fire is entirely eliminated. 
Such facts make tiles cheaper by far 
in the long run. 
It is not easy, we know, to dissoci- 
The laundry has the stamp of 
cleanliness when tiled 
usage, to constant splashing 
of water or to liquids con¬ 
taining organic matter that 
wood is likely to absorb and 
thus become decayed, are 
made much more lasting 
when tiled. The clay tile is 
baked so hard that even the 
steel nails of the shoe, which 
are the most destructive 
agents of wooden floors, can- 
ate the thought of tiled walls 
from the bathroom. Even 
colored tiles are uncon¬ 
sciously relegated to the soda 
fountain and the hotel. 
However, a new concept has 
arisen. The modern texture- 
glazed tile of tender hue is 
available for the whole of 
the home from vestibule to 
boudoir. 
Tiles remove the evils of wet floors 
in the conservatory or sun room 
Borders of patterned tiles used in repetition add the touch of color which takes the dull from otherwise bare bathroom walls 
