Where rooms come together at a threshold, different floors often meet. With the popularity of tile, this is often one tile floor meeting another tile floor. When this occurs, a small transition is usually created at the threshold. Although you do not need to use decorative tile transitions, if your tile floor is meeting a carpet floor or wooden floor, you might consider this option. Tile transitions create a decorative entrance into any room.
Basic Transition
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One of the simplest transitions across a threshold is a line of plain, square tiles. As these are the transition tiles, they're much smaller than the ones used on the floor throughout the room. Each of these squares is approximately 2 to 3 inches across. Because they are smaller, they create a visual division line. Your design options include color choice. The two most obvious choices are to use one of the tile selections you have in the rooms coming together. Typically, you would use the ones in which the threshold is actually located. Another option is to use both tile choices and alternate them, tying the transition together with both colors. A third option is to use a contrasting tile that looks nice next to either tile, creating a distinct border between rooms.
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Diamond Transition
A popular transition is a diamond pattern. Again, the tiles in the threshold line are much smaller, in the 2 to 3 inch size. Instead of orienting them across the threshold as side-by-side squares, turn the squares on a point, creating a line of diamonds. Between each diamond, triangular shaped gaps appear. To fill these spaces, cut the smaller square tiles on the diagonal, creating the needed triangles. Again, for color options, you can use the tile pattern from one of the rooms, or use the diamonds from one tile and the filler triangles from the other. Or you can use an entirely different tile for more contrast.
Zigzag Transition
For the zigzag transition, all the smaller square tiles are cut along the diagonal, creating triangles. These triangles are then placed in a line along the threshold, pieced back together into squares. However, the diagonal cut line is alternated so that in the first "square" the cut runs diagonally upward to the right. In the neighboring "square" the cut runs diagonally downward to the right. By reversing this again and again, a zigzag is created. As with other tile transitions, you can opt for a single color, using one of the joining rooms' tiles, use both tiles for a more blended transition, or use a different tile entirely.