How to Decide Between a Diamond or Square Tile Layout

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Are you debating on how you want to lay out your tile, specifically, between a diamond or square tile layout? Here are a few tips to help you decide.

First, let’s look at the good points of a square pattern.

A square layout looks decent when you have any number of endpoints.

Real life scenario: the tile in my house meets carpet in the den, living room, kitchen, down a hallway to the bedroom doorways. I’d hate to see my house with a diamond pattern with all the endpoints.

Many points could end up looking like this:*

No thanks!

If edge ends with a small triangle on the edge of a threshold (like the one below) it will pop right off. One solution is to use a metal finish edge, but the small piece still looks like an afterthought.

I prefer an even line across a room transition like this instead:

You don’t have a lot of time.

Let’s be real. We don’t always have the schedule to take our time. Houses are generally square and a square layout is super easy in a square shape.

Expect twice the number of cuts when laying a diamond pattern. This equates to twice the amount of work on your beloved wet tile saw and twice the amount of time when laying the tiles along the outside of a room.

If you need speed, a diamond pattern may not be the right answer.**

Now let’s look at the good points of a diamond pattern.

It adds spark into a room full of squares.

Take this bathroom where pretty much everything is square: the cabinets, tile surround, bathtub, square floor plan, rectangle threshold, etc. The diamond pattern on the floor breaks it up, creating visual interest.

Diamonds highlight adjacent flooring choices.

The difference between a diamond versus a square layout highlights a change in flooring, rather than just continuing the straight line through the house. For instance, the diamond layout works well when paired with hardwood floors.

Diamonds create an optical illusion of space.

If you are looking at a long and narrow room (like the bathroom above), the diamond pattern breaks up the space. A square pattern creates a bowling alley look where you can’t help but notice how narrow it looks…

The ability to hide out-of-square spaces.

If a wall jigs unevenly, diamonds are more forgiving. Since you are not looking at a straight line it is not as obvious as two lines that are supposed to be parallel or perpendicular.

Last thoughts when deciding between a diamond or square tile layout.

IMHO I am a proponent of diamonds. All the bathroom and kitchen floors I have laid are diamond**. However, these rooms were all standalone with only a few entrances to address in the layout.

There certainly are good arguments for both. Deciding on a diamond or square tile layout just depends on your own situation.

Even if you are sure which way you want to go (and perhaps you even sketched it out), make sure you dry fit before making it permanent.

*The following photo montage is all of the corners in the ladies restroom of a beloved restaurant my family frequents. I first noticed the tile job when I was inside the stall. Then, I couldn’t stop taking pictures of all the corners in an attempt to figure out why it looked…the way it did.

Every corner was *just* off.

They lined it up with the doorway.

It is THE place to start, but nothing else lined up.

The point is not to bash against the establishment. Instead, take this as a clear case where a square pattern is a clear winner. No fun house corners!

**I should learn to take my own advice. Perhaps we should have opted for a square pattern when laying down the kitchen and bathroom tile in my brother’s house: we had two days.

I’ll admit I was the proponent arguing the floors would look better with a diamond layout. It took a good portion of the morning to dry fit and decide on the best starting point. Our “celebrate Easter to welcome my sister-in-law into the church” and lay a little bit of tile turned into a tiling death march. Everyone yelled “NEXT!” as we jumped in and out of the shower. The mad dash to the church may have involved an unintended mug of beverage tagging along because we did not have enough time to eat and were finishing our meal on the way to church.

For the schedule and the purpose of the trip, we should have gone the square layout route. I’m pretty sure I recall a parental threat of not getting into a vehicle to take us to the airport to go home if we did not finish. 😉 To clarify, the use of “finish” did not include grout. Since my brother and sister-in-law installed the entire air duct system themselves, we agreed they were qualified to grout on their own. 😉

It was an insane weekend.

Totally posed. In no way were the four of us kids working in that small of a space.

However, it would not look as visually pleasing if it was square AND we wouldn’t have stories (real or embellished) to tell.

Likewise, I laid tile in a diamond layout in both the kitchen and bathroom (pictured above) in my rental property when I was flying back and forth to renovate every other weekend. It took more time and energy I did not really have at the time.