How to decorate your home with marble effect ceramic tiles

Marble has always proven popular, thanks to its beauty and elegance, having been chosen to embellish institutional buildings and the palaces of kings and queens all over the world, becoming synonymous with luxury and prestige.

The sheer style of marble cannot go unnoticed, and it succeeds in lending its surroundings an attractive and sophisticated visual impact, something which is a must-have in any self-respecting classy interior design.

But all that glitters is not gold, especially when it comes to everyday settings and challenging contemporary environments. Indeed, marble does have some practical drawbacks, above all when used as flooring. Quarried in the form of blocks of rocks, marble is expensive, difficult to source, not very practical during installation and challenging to care for due to its weight, delicacy and fragility once it has been cut into thin slabs.

To overcome these technical limitations, architects and interior designers often prefer to opt for marble effect ceramic tiles. Designed faithfully to replicate the styling of their inspiring natural marbles, porcelain stoneware surfaces and white body surfaces offer a large number of advantages in terms of hard-wearing resistance, safety and versatility.

Ceramic tile proves suitable for any setting and can also be used to create  large size slabs, devised to minimise the number of joints, to speed up the installation process and to maximise the styling effect of these surfaces.

Marca Corona’s large marble effect stoneware slabs are available in the extra-slim 6mm thick version. This latest-generation wall tiling makes handling and installation much easier thanks to the lighter weight, allowing full-height installation and minimising raw material wastage, so it can also be used for refurbishment work on top of existing material, considering their reduced thickness.

Why choose ceramic tile instead of natural marble?

Ceramic tiles are the ideal solution to achieve impeccable style and the utmost functionality: porcelain stoneware floor and wall tiling faithfully replicates every styling and chromatic detail of natural marble, generating more technical advantages in terms of hard-wearing resistance, durability, slip resistance, hygiene and ease of cleaning.

However, looks also count, especially when it comes to interior design, in both residential and commercial contexts.

What are the best marble effect floors for each setting? Here are some tips and ideas from the latest Marca Corona ceramic tile collections.

The marble effect to make living rooms and lounges stylish and unique

A marble effect floor is the ideal choice to turn an everyday sitting room into a show-stopping living room. The natural charm of the marble surfaces is conveyed in floor tiling with unrivalled expressive flair, perfect for making sitting rooms and living rooms welcoming and relaxing, a haven to wind down and feel pampered in.

Often, marble is only associated with images of kitchens and bathroom floor tiles oozing chic, forgetting that the sitting room too, whether it is classically styled or modern, can be better emphasised by this evergreen styling effect. Marble effect porcelain stoneware tiles - whether matt or glossy - are capable of injecting some character into your lounge, flooding it with light while also valuing interior furnishings with an understated design.

The new Foyer Royal ceramic tile collection  by Marca Corona faithfully replicates the most prized marble varieties, lending lounges and living rooms a scenic and highly decorative touch. Marble effect tiles create a suspended atmosphere, with timeless charm, thanks to the faithful revisitation of sophisticated marble varieties, which also play the starring role of some of the most famous ancient architectures. The marble effect stoneware floor and wall tiles  in the Foyer Royal collection lend their surroundings an exclusive flair, turning the sitting room into a prestigious space.

Foyer Royal comes in five different prized marble-like graphics: the three more versatile, neutral and harmonious shades, Cozy, Delicate and Chic, are supplemented with two brighter colour accents, Drama and Green Ama, distinguished by bold hues and charming vein patterns.‎

Thanks to the reduced thickness 120x278 large size slabs, Marca Corona’s marble effect surfaces pack settings with plenty of personality and dynamism, enhancing their expressive potential.

Indeed, the large size tiles ensure greater visual continuity, reducing the number of joints, and adapt more to the minimal look that is currently trending in contemporary design.  Moreover, the large slabs offer additional practical advantages: their light weight makes them practical and easy to handle, simplifying the installation phase, their large size means they can be installed along the entire height of the wall without needing to be cut, and so avoiding material wastage. The reduced thickness means that the slabs can also be laid on top of existing wall tiling, with obvious budget savings for refurbishment projects.

Turn a modern bathroom into a sensory experience

Marble effect tiles give you the satisfaction of having your own spa in the comfort of your own home. We don’t only mean classic bathroom styles: marble effect ceramic tiles can also be used to create modern bathrooms, both elaborate and minimal, with an amazing decorative impact at all times.

A bathroom with marble look floor and wall tiles brings to mind feelings of pureness, sophistication, cleanliness and well-being. The pale, bright hues of marble effect ceramic tiles imbue a bathroom with natural splendour that you will never tire of.

A marble effect floor is capable of emphasising the natural light in a room, improving visual perception and the welcoming feeling it provides.

Colour plays a significant role in the interior design of a modern bathroom. The pliability of porcelain stoneware not only allows any type of marble to be faithfully replicated, but it also allows unusual graphic and chromatic processing to be carried out.

The large ceramic slabs offer architects and interior designers the utmost freedom of expression in bathroom designs, both in private homes as well as in public venues and accommodation facilities. Light-weight and simple to install, the large sizes are designed to create continuous surfaces, that are visually even and uniform and joint-free.

Continuity is therefore achieved not only within the room itself, but also between different rooms, thanks to the possibility of installing porcelain stoneware in any room of the home, including the kitchen, the living room, office spaces and entrance halls. To support design creativity better, the Foyer Royal collection offers maxi slabs for use as wall tiling measuring 120x278 with a thickness of 6 mm in all the colours of the range and in a variety of finishes.

Foyer Royal succeeds in expressing its creative flair from even the smallest sizes, from the 120x120 down to the classic 30x60, without forgetting the precious square, diamond-shaped and micro decorative tesserae, devised to distinguish recesses, vanity areas and shower enclosures, to achieve a designer product impeccable down to the smallest detail.

Thanks to the superior technical performance levels of ceramic tiles,  marble effect porcelain stoneware now stars in a number of hotel and accommodation settings, as it is a must have to team styling with functionality. 

As beautiful as marble, as reliable as stoneware: much more than a “classic kitchen”

High temperatures, acids, stains and aggressive detergents: life is never easy in the kitchen, and to make it a welcoming and functional, practical setting, you need to choose hard-wearing, durable and easy to clean surfaces that are also attractive to look at. Indeed, the kitchen is the heart of every home, where we spend most of our time indoors: the chosen floor and wall tiles have to reflect our own style and make us smile day after day, even several years down the line.

Marble effect stoneware tiles succeed in combining functionality with impeccable styling, becoming a veritable benchmark for any amateur chef, whether the chosen style is a classic kitchen, a modern one or an eccentric one.

White marble effect porcelain stoneware is the ideal choice to enhance the value of a classic kitchen. The details and delicate vein patterns of the Foyer ceramic collection restyle the textures of natural rock in the form of three sophisticated variants in pale colours: Foyer Joy, Foyer Pure, Foyer Clear. The original Inlay decoration, distinguished by “Terrazzo effect” coloured spider webs, contributes towards embellishing the kitchen floor and wall tiles with a simply unique, originaltouch.

The vein patterns on marble effect ceramic tiles, which are especially recommended and popular for use as worktops, washbasin backsplashes and island tiling, manage to convey character and charm to the entire kitchen. A combination with natural stone floors or wooden furnishings can then lead to some surprising, unusually modern designs.

The sizes of the marble effect tiles also encourage us to think big, beyond the space of a standard kitchen. Marble effect floor and wall tiles can for instance be found in a large number of open spaces, the latest new trend in contemporary living.

Style and impeccable performance levels for large public and commercial settings too

Floors that are hard-wearing, durable, easy to clean and maintain. Owing to its technical features, porcelain stoneware is the perfect fit for accommodating all contemporary design needs, including in the most challenging public and commercial spaces, such as restaurants and shopping centres.

Large-scale projects - intended for the greater public - require more precautions and superior functions compared to domestic settings, starting with the need to withstand constant stresses, significant loads, frequent foot traffic and repeated daily washing with aggressive detergents.

The flooring in high-end boutiques, luxury hotels, workplaces, restaurants and wellness settings not only needs to be hard-wearing and durable, but strictly slip resistant, waterproof, immune to mould, mildew, bacteria and chemicals, as well as immutable to light, sun rays and other atmospheric agents.

In addition to superior performance and safety, marble effect porcelain stoneware provides personality and flair for shopping centres and shops of all shapes and sizes. The endless finishes, colours and graphic details of “marble look” ceramic tiles allow architects and interior designers to let their imagination run riot, accommodating any stylistic and design requirement and providing settings with a feeling of luxury and prestige, in both classic and contemporary surroundings.

Inspired by the famous Calacatta marble, the Motif Extra collection is a first-rate example of the expressive potential of large size ceramic tiles. The large slabs in the collection transform large public venues into exclusive settings, with an iconic and refined character.

Marble effect: a prestigious choice for all contemporary settings

The timeless beauty of marble is capable of embellishing any interior design project with sophisticated suggestions. The technical properties of porcelain stoneware and the extensive range of available sizes mean the aesthetic styling of marble can be exploited in any context, from sophisticated residential interiors to exclusive hotel rooms, boutiques, office spaces, swimming pools and wellness settings with superior styling impact.

Why choose ceramic? The splendour of marble is evergreen, but its hard-wearing resistance is not, especially if it is installed as flooring: porcelain stoneware overcomes this technical limitation, making its style truly immortal.

Beauty and hard-wearing Resistance, a must-have combination for contemporary designs, a successful duo in marble effect ceramic tiles, designed to reinterpret the charm of marble with various styles and in new setting solutions.

Marble effect stoneware tiles are a smart and sophisticated choice for every interior design project.

Browse Marca Corona’s ceramic floor and wall tiles inspired by the most precious marble varieties.