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A person installing white subway tile backsplash in a kitchen - Ruslan Sidorov/Getty Images In recent years, subway tile has seemingly found its way into just about every home. A historical design ...

Designer Shannon Eddings used simple square ceramic tiles to create colorful stripes in this children’s bathroom in Highland Park. Molly Culver We love monochromatic subway tile as much as the next ...

Ah, subway tile, one of those rare design staples that never really disappears.

There are primarily two ways to add a little spice to this classic backsplash. The first is by deviating from the gloss white; the second is by deviating the installation pattern on the wall.

In the world of tile patterns, there's always been super-uniform (e.g. stacked subway tile) and super-custom (e.g. a black-and-white line drawing on the floor), and not much else in between. But we're ...