Floored by Checks

For nearly as long as people have been laying tile and stone floors they’ve been doing so in that captivating black and white checkerboard pattern. A traditional mainstay, you’ll find it in grand hotel lobbies, classic foyers, and long, dramatic corridors. The pattern is, after all, serious enough to grace the floors of Versailles.

Lately I’ve been completely taken with these images of checkerboard floors in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette:

Stunning, right?

But my favorite uses of the pattern aren’t the opulent examples but rather the everyday kitchens and bathrooms and entryways. The classic clean lines and uncluttered palette of a black and white checkerboard floor provide an orderly backdrop and opportunities for juxtaposition. As Celerie Kemble in Black and White (and a little bit in between), puts it, “Like a black cloth under diamonds or a white sail against a dark sea, those strong shades not only set each other off and intensify the colors and spaces around them, they also heighten the drama.”

P.S. A checkerboard isn’t the only pattern than can achieve the effect. Check out Popham Design’s black and white polka dot tile. So cool. I think Marie Antoinette (or at least the Sofia Coppola movie version) would have appreciated these.