Tile Finishes Guide

TUMBLED – A gentle ageing process, softening edges and stone markings. Stones with a tumbled finish yield a more subtle, pastel-like appearance.

SEASONED – Seasoned finish adds a slight warmth and texture to the surface.

BRUSHED – A process that removes softer parts of the stone, revealing a slightly textured surface, whilst still retaining some smoothness and straight-cut edges.

HONED – Smooth appearance with straight-cut edges.

SOFTLY WORN – Textured finish lightening the tiles natural shade, with soft but clean edges.

SOFTLY AGED – Textured finish lightening the tiles natural shade, with softened edges.

RIVEN - A slight texture to the surface of the tile, a common finish for natural slate. It will still have a degree of smoothness and will be comfortable under foot.

ANTIQUED – Textured finish with a slight sheen and a hand dressed edges to varying degrees.

TIME WORN – Smoothly textured finish complimented by aged edging.

POLISHED – A high gloss finish, creating a smooth and reflective appearance, with straight-cut edges.

RUSTIQUE – Delicately aged surface with softly chiselled edges.

WORN ANTIQUE – Gently aged surface and edges.

AGED CHATEAU – The finest hand-aged finish with pillowing across the face of the tile and cushioned edges.

NATURAL – A matte surface finish that emulates the feel of natural stone or wood.

GRIP – A grip finish designed for exterior applications or any areas requiring high slip resistance.

GLOSS – A glazed porcelain surface with a glossy finish.

Porcelain tiles can come in a tumbled effect finish. This is manufactured in two ways, with the first being most common:

Straight cut with a textured surface edge.

These tiles are straight cut and rectified which allows for narrow grout joints. The grout can be applied as normal which would provide a linear grout joint and an exposed texture to the surface edges. Alternatively, the grout can be applied higher than usual and worked into the textured surface edge, creating the illusion of a tumbled tile.

Wavy edge
These tiles are unrectified and have a wavy edge. The grout is applied as normal and will showcase the tumbled edge.