7 Great Places To Use Tile (That Aren't Your Floor)

Tile is an affordable alternative to using masonry for the area around a fireplace. It's attractive, too, and tile offers a modern look that can match the hearth.

Use a porcelain tile that's been certified by the Porcelain Tile Certification Agency (PTCA). The tile will be marked as certified, which means it meets specific testing requirements and is typically denser than non-certified tile. That means it has a higher breaking strength and will withstand the fireplace heat. Use a premium-grade thin-set mortar to set the tile. This kind of mortar is fortified with polymer for greater bonding strength.

Giving a birdbath an attractive tile exterior will create a focal point for your backyard. You can tile only the bath, or cover the bath and the stand. Either way you'll end up with an appealing design.

If the birdbath is terra cotta, apply a terra cotta sealer before installing the tile. After that, the tiling process is the same as with a flowerpot—trowel on a thin set mortar, apply mosaic or small (broken) pieces of tile, then grout. Make sure to follow up with a grout sealer.

If you watch much HGTV then you know tile backsplashes are suddenly all the rage, and for good reason. They're a great way to spice up your kitchen.

Subway tile is popular for backsplashes, although mosaic, glass, or accent tiles can add more variety, color, and visual appeal. Besides transforming the boring space between your countertops and upper cabinets into something interesting or even attention grabbing, a tile backsplash makes clean up easier. Food or grease splatters from cooking or food prep just wipes away.

To make installation faster and easier, use a doubled-sided, peel-and-stick membrane, also called an adhesive tile mat, that sticks to the wall and also holds the tile in place. This eliminates the need for a troweled on adhesive. MusselBound is one brand, which is available at Lowes for $28 that covers 15 sq. ft. This product also lets you grout the same day since you don't have to wait for adhesive to dry.

Wooden outdoor planters for flowers or shrubs are inexpensive and easy to build, which is why they're popular DIY projects. Go one step further with yours and adding tile to the sides of the planters to give them a little character. Use certified porcelain tile for this project because it's more impervious to water than other tile and better able to withstand the weather.

You can adhere the tile directly to the planter's wooden sides, but because wood expands and contracts as the weather changes, you'll probably end up with cracks in your grout lines. Avoid this by screwing cement board to the wood (although this will increase the thickness of the sides) and tiling over that. Also, because water can get into cracks in the grout lines and then freeze and expand, causing the grout to break apart, you can use an outdoor silicone caulk instead. The caulks are available in various colors.

Jazz up a boring flowerpot with colorful tile. You'll want small pieces for this project. Mosaics will work, but this is also an opportunity to break different colored or patterned tiles into small pieces to create a new design.

To break the tile, wrap it face down in a towel and gently hit the tile with a hammer. (Note! Always wear safety glasses for this part. Even witht the tile wrapped in towel, pieces can still fly out.) Be careful to not hit the tile too hard with the hammer or you'll end up with slivers of tile instead of usable chunks.