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What Makes a Tile Look Expensive?
10 Designer Secrets for a Luxury Finish

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Luxury bathroom with marble look tiles, large format floor tiles and brass tapware
Peter Yusuf
July 10, 2026 What Makes a Tile Look Expensive? 7 min read

Have you ever walked into a luxury resort, a designer hotel, or a high-end restaurant in Sydney and immediately been awestruck by how everything looked so perfect and the entire place felt luxurious with beautifully selected luxury tiles.

The polished posh surfaces, the seamless finishes and the effortless sense of opulence that leaves a lasting impression on you and makes you want to recreate that same experience in your own space.

So, what makes a tile look expensive? As the top interior designers say, the most sophisticated designs do not shout wealth, they whisper craftsmanship and expertise.

Making a space look upscale and luxurious isn’t always about the huge price tags, it’s a meticulous planning of tile choice, installation, size, grout, tile shape complemented by the perfect choice of lighting, furniture, decor and more.

In this blog, we will explore how you can replicate that opulent finish with the best designer secrets and tips for a luxury finish.

Best Designer Tips to Make Your Tiles Look Expensive

A beautiful tile catches the eye. A beautifully installed tile convinces the eye. Hence, a lot of things have to go right if you want to get your desired finish.

Luxury isn’t always about what you buy and how much you spend, it’s often about how thoughtfully you use it.

Let’s delve into some designer tips to give your space that elevated look.

 

1.  Choose Large Format Tiles for an Instant Luxury Feel

One of the easiest and most effective ways to get an instant luxury feel is to go for large format tiles while renovating a space as this allows fewer grout lines.

Tiles sized 600×1200 or 800×800 cover more ground and have less visual interruption creating a luxury look. Collections like the Taj Mahal porcelain tiles and French pattern porcelain tiles in larger sizes are gaining popularity in Sydney for open space kitchens and living rooms.

2. Minimal Grout Lines for a Difference

Another tip that has less to do with the price you paid for the tiles and more to do with the tile installation technique is the application of minimal grout lines.

For rectified tiles, go for joints as narrow as 1.5 to 2mm. For non-rectified tiles, you will need 3mm or more. While this looks trivial, the difference is quite striking when it’s on a wall. Improper grout line implementation can make even expensive tiles look mediocre.

3. Go for Matching Grout Colours for a Seamless Experience

An easy and cheap upgrade that you can apply to get an elevated visual appeal is to use matching grout colours to the tiles. This creates a seamless look without visual interruptions. A beige grout for beige tiles gives a continuous look surface. On the other hand a contrasting grout for a beige tile creates a grid pattern and catches all the attention.

Contrasting grout colour does not work unless it’s intentional for a design like checkerboard or graphic herringbone layout. Most of the time, matching grout colours is the way to go.

4. Marble Look Tiles to Mimic High-End Natural Stone

Marble is often seen as the ultimate symbol of luxury when it comes to styling a space. They have been used for ages to elevate the grandeur of any special place, look at the beautiful Taj Mahal, for instance, the best testament to the beauty of marbles.

 The luxurious marble look you see at many hotels or resorts are most likely expensive marble. But the easiest alternative to natural marble is the best quality marble look porcelain tiles like the Crema Marfil Porcelain Tiles, Botticino Porcelain Tiles and Onice Reale Tiles.

Good marble look tiles like the Marvel T Marble Look Porcelain Tiles collection allows slabs to mimic luxury marble with veining mirroring across a joint.

5. Try Floor to Ceiling Tiling for a New Architectural Experience

For years, half height ceiling with paint above it was the standard in most Sydney properties. While this design is effective, it divides the room into two halves visually. The new trend for a luxury look is to tile floor to ceiling in bathrooms and powder rooms that makes it look intentional and gives the space a larger appearance. This technique also helps to make smaller bathrooms appear larger, modern and contemporary while giving off a clean subtle luxurious look.

 

6. Neutral Colour Palettes for a Timeless Experience

The secret to creating an expensive looking space is to create a timeless and classic experience that is not too loud and feels effortless.

Hence, colour palettes like soft beige, warm white, greige and soft grey are the perfect choice for large surfaces like floors, main walls to get an expensive look.

Trending colours tend to age fast and spoil your idea of a luxurious look. Go for colours but keep it reserved for more niche spaces that won’t hurt even if the trending colour runs out of fashion faster than you expected.

7. Avoid Visual Noise, Add Depth through Texture

The difference between a tile that looks rich and a tile that looks loud is the use of depth through texture and natural variation over the bold and busy looking patterns.

Collections like Tivoli Tiles and the Terrazzo Look are the perfect examples of tiles that add natural variation and catch light differently depending on where the person is standing.

Hence, the key is to avoid using bold patterns and instead, lean on tonal movement and beautiful textural depth that makes your space look posh and glimmering.

8. Luxury Spaces Rely on Cohesion, not Overuse of Materials

Giving your space an opulent look relies more on cohesion rather than over use of tile materials in efforts to make it look expensive.

This is actually good news because rather than trying to impress yourself with the installation of multiple tiles in a room like bathroom where it is not required, focus on simplicity as restraint at times is the actual luxury even if you want to throw in more tiles and materials to the design.

 

9. Consistent Tile Flooring for an Opulent Look

As discussed in the earlier point, luxury at most times is achieved through a disciplined and subtle approach to tiling rather than trying to throw in every tile you buy into designing a space.

High-end homes do this smartly by applying the same floor tiles to create a seamless indoor outdoor experience through the kitchen, Living areas, alfresco and outdoor space, 

Tile ranges like Travertine Porcelain Tiles, available in matt internal finish and a slip-rated Porcelain Pavers external format in the same colour palette lets the consistent look run from the kitchen straight out to the alfresco without compromising on safety underfoot.

 

10. Right Symmetry and Layout over Tile Price

Always plan your layout properly before you begin installing tiles. This doesn’t cost extra but improper application can cost you the desired expensive look you were hoping for. Moreover, even expensive tiles fail to deliver the look if the planning and layout is not proper.

Invest some time in deciding the perfect layout and how you will start installing tiles for that expensive look.

Magazine and flower pot on white penny round mosaic tile floor Magazine and flower pot on white penny round mosaic tile floor mobile version

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Visit Royal Tiles Sydney for the Best Tile Collection and Tile Consultation

Making any space look expensive is a result of a careful planning and execution job. You can achieve this without spending huge money on tiles as well.

Royal Tiles Sydney offers you one of the largest tile collections in Sydney with some of the best tile consultants in Australia to help you achieve that expensive looking space.

Explore our beautiful tile collection that rivals and mimics the properties of some of the most expensive natural stone and tiles without compromising on the quality.

Shop tiles online or order a sample today and talk to one of our tile experts, who will help you get started with your dream renovation.

Peter Yusuf - Royal Tiles

Peter Yusuf

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Peter Yusuf is a seasoned Sales and Business Development Manager at Royal Tiles in Sydney, Australia, with a proven track record of success in the global architectural and interior design sectors. With over a decade of experience, he possesses a rich understanding of tile selection and design that has helped countless clients transform their spaces. Peter's expertise spans a wide array of materials and styles, positioning him as a trusted authority in the tile industry.

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