How to install a mosaic at home (and why they aren’t just for entrance halls!)

Where can you have a mosaic at home? Absolutely anywhere! From the kitchen floor to splashbacks or your porch. The bathroom, though, seems to be a popular spot for a mosaic moment – especially the nice, small area above a basin. The size is more manageable, so it’s often within budget, and I can ship personalised creations for that space anywhere for people to assemble at home. A mosaic can be quite a commitment, so this is a nice entry point.

Designer and mosaic expert Amy Exton

An above-the-basin mosaic with a Sagittarius theme

Which style do you work in? I usually work with ceramic tiles in a neoclassical style. I trained at the London School of Mosaic, where we learned contemporary methods and traditional styles like Roman and Byzantine – using marble and smalti, which is an Italian glass technique where you cut tiles by hand using a hammer.

The ingredient-dotted pantry commission (pictured) is an ‘unswept floor’ design, which was popular in classical Roman mosaics. They’d install the mosaic in the centre of the dining room where guests were entertained, and it was designed to resemble the food on the table.

Maddux Creative tasked mosaic specialist Pierre Mesguich with producing a bespoke design that would add 1920s glamour to this bathroom. The resulting creation is reminiscent of the work of pioneering artist Jean Cocteau

What does the installation process look like? It is notoriously tricky, but there are two methods. The first is when you work directly on fibreglass mesh – delicately placing the tiles directly onto the mesh and then attaching it to your substrate from there, before adding cement to stick the fully formed creation onto the surface and adding grout.

The second is commonly used for floors. You draw your design out in reverse onto brown draft paper, then use diluted PVA glue to stick the tiles face-down onto the paper. When you come to install it, it needs to be a perfectly level surface. Put cement onto the floor and then flip your mosaic pattern into it. Flatten it all out and wet the paper so you can peel it off – this should give you a perfectly smooth finish.

London-based interior designer Heather Kane’s custom mosaic on the floor of her downstairs powder room is peppered with quirky inside jokes – guests can play a game of spot the squirrel, doughnut or Diet Coke can

How long does it take? That varies, depending on how intricate your mosaic design is and how many cuts of tile have to be made to create it. If you have a motif in the middle, and the rest of the mosaic is just full tiles that you don’t have to chip to shape, that would take much less time than if you’re doing something like the unswept floor, where each illustrative item is quite delicate. That one was just over a metre squared and took me almost six weeks. Interior projects from £500, amyexton.com