Four Ways to Reuse Broken or Leftover Tiles

If you have recently installed tile on a floor or countertop in your house, then chances are you had enough pieces for the project, tiles to be stored for a rainy day when replacement tile is needed, and possibly some extras. These extras could have a slight flaw, they might not be a perfect color match, or they have broken in handling while the project was completed. Whatever the case, these tiles do not have to be thrown away; they can be reused and recycled to create some unique touches in the home.

Tile a Small Room

While typically you would not have this much tile leftover from any one home improvement project, it is possible to happen onto a small stockpile leftover from a home-wide project or from several years' worth of little tasks. If you have a small hallway, mud-room, a tucked-away kid's room, or a medium-sized closet, these tiles can be utilized to create an abstract floor pattern. In any of the rooms mentioned the abstract look and feel would be a nice conversation point and seem one hundred percent intentional versus haphazard.

Make a Tile Border

Lighter weight tile capable of adhering to a wall can be used to create a wonderfully creative and exotic border in any room of the home. For instance, if you utilized a blue tile to accent the walls of your bathroom and had tiles left over, a fun border could be created surrounding an adjacent linen closet or within the closet itself. Minute details such as a decorative closet may go unnoticed by your guests, but they can quickly become a beloved, and private, accent.

Make Tile Art

If you have several broken tiles in various colors you can break them into a variety of sizes and then utilize the shards to make a piece of art. The tiles can be layered and adhered within a shadowbox style frame. The tile can make for a heavy decorative piece, so you will want to make this artwork for display where it can be propped against a wall from the floor or added to a sturdy shelf in the same manner.

Make a Shim

Shims are needed sometimes in a home, especially an older home. When they are a tile piece can be a perfect and sturdy way to add a bit of height to the corner of a shelf on a slightly un-level floor.

There are numerous ways to recycle old tile instead of discarding it. Even if you do not have an immediate use for broken or leftover tiles, if you have room in your home store them for future projects.