• Earth colored tileFootprints in Tile image by bnstrong from Fotolia.com
  
  You want to lay tile in your house but cannot decide on a single color or pattern that will work for the whole house and still blend with the décor of each room. You could choose different styles, but they may clash when seen from an adjacent room. If this is your dilemma, relax. There are a number of ways to have the tile you want, where you want it and still make a smooth transition from each room to the next.
  
  

Checkerboard Solution

• Two colors of tile -- one you have chosen for each room -- should be laid in a grid pattern to within a few rows from the door between the rooms. Randomly lay an opposite-colored tile here and there in the rows of last third of the pattern before reaching to the doorway. Increase the number of tiles of the opposite color with each row as you work toward the other room so that the last row in each room and the row that spans the space between the door's frame are a checkerboard of alternate colored tiles. The effect will be one of a checkerboard in the middle "breaking up" to its individual colors in each room.
  
  

Color Blend Solution

• Color blending is another good transition technique. Choose two tiles that, colors blended, will make a third color. For example blue and yellow blend to make green. Next, find a tile that matches the color you would achieve if you could somehow actually blend those first two colored tiles together. Call the first two colors A and B and the blended color C. Find two more colors of tile that match the colors you would get if you blended A with C and B with C. Call those AC and BC. Lay the tiles from the center line between rooms outward. Place two or more rows of C tiles in the center; follow with two or more rows of AC on one side and two rows of BC on the other. Finish with A on the AC side and B on the BC side. The finished effect will seem to blend the colors from room to room. For help with choosing compatible colors, try using a color wheel such as the one at ColorMatters.com.
  
  

Color Pickup Solution

• If you are using a patterned tile in one room and want a solid color in the adjoining room, choose a pattern with a color in it that matches the solid-colored tiles in the other room. The solid colored tiles will "pick up" and enhance the color in the patterned tiles to make a visually smooth transition.
  
  

Central Focal Point Solution

• A design such as a mosaic or a tile faux rug can be created to straddle the space between rooms. If that space is a doorway, consider creating a long runner style "rug" using narrow tiles to outline it. Fill the interior space on the tile rug with patterned tiles that match colors found in the solid tiles of the rooms on either side. The effect will be one of a rug laid in the doorway between rooms. For larger or less-defined spaces between rooms, consider a mosaic within a circle or diamond, something that clearly separates one area from the other.