Kent Farmhouse: 17th-Century En-Suite

Working inside a building of this age means accepting from the start that nothing is straight, nothing is level, and nothing behaves the way it would in a modern construction. The floors in a 17th-century Kent farmhouse are not flat. The walls do not meet at right angles. The structure has been settling and shifting for four hundred years and it does not intend to stop. Every decision about materials and method has to begin with that reality rather than trying to work around it.
The floor needed levelling properly before anything else could begin. Underfloor heating was installed at this stage too, which brought its own set of constraints. The heating system and the tile bed had to work together without raising the floor height beyond what the low-ceilinged space could absorb. Getting that build-up right required careful planning before any tile was ordered or cut. The handmade Moroccan tiles for the shower walls added a further layer of complexity. Handmade tiles are not uniform. Each one varies in size, surface texture and tone, which is exactly what makes them right for a building like this but requires a different approach to setting out than a rectified tile would.

The shower walls are tiled in handmade pink Moroccan tiles laid in a herringbone pattern. Laying handmade tiles in herringbone inside a shower enclosure that sits within a structure of exposed oak beams and uneven plaster walls requires patience and a steady eye. The variation in the tiles had to be distributed evenly across the wall so the surface reads as intentional rather than inconsistent. The pink tone shifts with the light throughout the day, which works particularly well in a room with the kind of natural light that comes through old leaded windows.
The floor is French limestone, sealed on completion. Limestone has a natural warmth and variation that suits this kind of property far better than a polished or rectified tile would. It sits quietly under the room rather than competing with it. The combination of the handmade Moroccan wall tiles, the limestone floor, the exposed beams and the marble vanity top is a considered one. Every material in the space has age and character. The tiling had to match that standard and the two and a half weeks on site gave us the time to make sure it did.