Famed for their style and passion, Italians have long been regarded as the prima donnas of the fashion world. But if you thought that Italy's flair for beautiful creations was confined to the catwalk at Milan fashion week, think again - Italian design has also had a massive impact on the porcelain paving market, and their influence has brought the beauty of the bel paese to countless British gardens.

Here at PrimaPorcelain, we offer a number of high-quality porcelain products that are designed and manufactured in Italy. Here's why our Italian-style porcelain tiles are the best choice for your outdoor living space...

Benefits of our Italian porcelain tiles

PrimaPorcelain's tiles and paving slabs are engineered to deliver aesthetic allure and practicality in equal measure.

Hard-wearing and durable, our top-quality tiles bring outdoor design up to date with beautiful, state-of-the-art material that is built to last.

Highly resistant to scratches, stains and abrasions, these beautifully-crafted outdoor tiles are also treated to resist a variety of other eventualities, including fading, frost and slip hazards.

With a number of features specifically designed for the demands of outdoor use, porcelain is the perfect material for your garden or patio.

A taste of Italy

So, now we're all well acquainted with the power of porcelain paving, what of the Italian style that goes with it?

Here are some of our finest Italian tiles:

Modena

Created with a distinctive silvery-grey hue that blends classic and contemporary design, these metallic shades provide a visual effect that's as pleasing to the eye as it is underfoot.

The subtle differences from tile to tile limit the design variation, heightening the effect of a uniform finish. Not only does this finish look seriously striking, it also enhances the contemporary colours of the tiles themselves.

Highly textured for both grip and slip-resistance, it also provides an attractive stone-like appearance that won't fail to impress.

Tirolo

Blending classic functionality with artistic flair and unusual design, these unique outdoor pavers offer a world of wood-look and faux-stone with outdoor functionality of 21st-century materials.

Ranging from bright and elegant to deep and modern, this collection oozes charisma and personality, culminating in a product that's both easy on the eye and easy to maintain.

Tirolo White   Tirolo Grey

Verona

Available in two contrasting colours - Sand and Grey - our Verona porcelain paving has all the romance you'd expect from a product that's named after the home of Romeo and Juliet.

These gorgeous tiles have a distinctly Mediterranean personality, and they look fantastic in all sorts of outdoor spaces. Why not combine both colours to create a beautiful two-tone patio?

Don't forget, you can order up to 3 free samples of our Italian-style porcelain paving!

Making your driveway stand out from the crowd can be a tough task. After all, what’s so sexy about parking space?

Well, with a bit of effort and a little imagination, you may be surprised!

A unique approach, a splash of colour and a quality choice of paver could turn your plain, personal parking spot into a radiant runway fit for a king’s carriage.

How so? Read on to find out.

Driveway Design Ideas

When creating a unique driveway design for your home, it’s important to remember that a driveway isn’t just a designated area for your car. It’s often the first thing you and your visitors will see when approaching your front door, making it a prime focal point of the property.

As such, a memorable driveway design is a fantastic way to create a great first impression.

Tiles for Driveways

Block paving has been the staple of driveway design for decades, creating a visually appealing pattern that is both functional and fashionable.

That being said, fashion changes and functionality can be achieved just as well with a variety of other means and materials, from gravel to tarmac.

At PrimaPorcelain, we take great pride in providing top quality paving solutions that offer design and durability in equal measure.

For a truly unique finish that’s as practical as it is attractive, the world of porcelain paving is well worth exploring.

Things to Consider for Driveway Designs

When planning your driveway design, considerable thought, attention and organisation can make all the difference.

This is particularly applicable to tile designs; here’s a few things to consider when designing your driveway paving plan.

Colour

Tile colour can naturally have a profound impact on the overall design of your driveway, with the ability to influence the mood, feel and ambience of your home in one fell swoop.

Clean, crisp colours and silvery greys can create an urban style that’s rich in cosmopolitan appeal, whereas a more traditional vibe can be created using natural stone-look tiles and lighter colours for a warm and welcoming homely feel.

Size

The size of the tiles will also naturally dictate the number of tiles you need to cover the area of your driveway, so be sure to take this into account before ordering.

Larger tiles are ideal for creating the illusion of space, while smaller tiles are perfect for intricate, more detailed designs.

You may want to include a variety of sizes to break up the design, while bordering your larger pavers with smaller tiles can make for a fantastic boundary to your drive space.

Orientation

For rectangular pavers, in particular, the orientation of the tiles can have a big influence on the overall design.

Horizontally laid tiles will give an organic sense of width for a wider aesthetic finish, while vertically laid tiles will make your driveway seem longer.

Meanwhile, diagonal paving placement can also create a fantastic finish that also provides an appealing sense of direction at the same time.

Pattern

Much like orientation, the way the pavers are laid can also have a distinct influence on the overall aesthetic; e.g. criss-cross patterns have a completely different visual effect than uniform tiling.

For the ultimate unique finish, a combination of tile colours, shapes and sizes can be utilised to great effect for an awesome finish that’s truly one of a kind.

 For more details on driveway designs and our range of porcelain paving solutions, give us a call today. Call 029 2080 3756 to talk with one of our paving specialists or drop us an email using the button below.

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Anyone that has ever attempted to renovate their outdoor space will know that the art of creating a great looking garden is a real skill.

Imagination, creativity and ambition can see your garden go from plain old plot to superstar social spot in no time. Meanwhile, poor design, shortcuts and lack of planning can just as easily see a solid idea disintegrate into disaster.

That being said, with so much choice and variation on the market, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to garden design. Just as similarly, it can be hard to know where to finish.

To help you out with the latter, here’s a quick rundown of the best ways to edge out the competition with garden borders that will leave your outdoor design with a finish that’s truly complete.

Patio Borders

From choosing the size and picking out your tile design to settling on the coverage area and how you want them laid, creating a paved area that has real wow-factor is a lot harder than it seems.

One area in particular that is often overlooked until the last minute is the patio borders. Seen by some as a non-essential extra, a great border can instantly upgrade an average paving finish to a truly awesome looking patio.

For a partially paved garden, this can be a fantastic way to transition from patio to lawn without making a harsh cut from one to the next. Meanwhile, it can also be the perfect way to incorporate an additional tile design to the overall aesthetic of your patio.

Lawn Edging

Similar to patio borders, lawn edging is essentially a way of bordering the perimeter of your grass area. This technique is commonly used to separate the central grass from a soil area of plants and flowers surrounding the lawn.

While this can be done in a variety of ways – including wood, metal and brick edging – a commonly overlooked method is the paving option. Stone-look slabs can be utilised to great effect as a means of adding additional light and colour between the lawn and the soil, while raised paving provides garden borders that are rich in depth and dimension.

Raised beds also make for a fantastic lawn edging option, creating a garden border that is well defined and accentuates the plants above the lawn. If using stone or brickwork to create the raised bed, topping this off with a unique paver is the perfect way to add a stylish unique finish.

Garden Paths

Paved pathways are a fantastic way to break up your garden space in a simple yet aesthetically pleasing manner. Best of all, there are a myriad of ways to do so, from pebbles to gravel and everything in between.

One of the most popular options is the paving tile route, creating notable departure from the grass. However, as the contrast between paver and lawn can be quite harsh, a fantastic way to temper that deviation is to include a border tile to soften the blow.

Similar to patio borders, this is the perfect opportunity to explore a different tile design and enhance the existing tile used for the path. It also gives you the opportunity to explore different levels and potentially incorporate other garden features, like flower beds, pebbles and plants.

Poolside Paving

A unique feature in UK gardens, swimming pools can be a wonderful addition to any British property. If you have or are considering adding one to your home, a suitable border can set this off a treat.

Border paving around a pool is the perfect way to round off your wondrous water feature. From raised edging to contrasting colouration, the paving route is the perfect garden border for your outdoor pool, definitively separating your poolside from the rest of the garden flooring.

Whichever garden design option you happen to have in your property, PrimaPorcelain can provide a fantastic edging option that truly borders on perfection. For more information, call 029 2080 3756 today or click below to request a FREE sample.

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Seeing as this blog resides on a porcelain tile website, you may be able to guess where we’re going with this…and you are probably right.

There’s no avoiding it, grass requires a lot of TLC to keep it looking green, healthy and attractive – ask any gardener, lawn expert or groundsman for proof of just that.

From mowing, watering and weed control to aerating, scarifying and fertilising, maintaining your garden is endless job with no salary in sight.

Presumably, if your reading a blog about low-maintenance gardens, that probably doesn’t sound like your cup of tea.

Why make yourself a slave to the ground? Kick grass to the curb and replace it with a low-maintenance garden paver that packs a porcelain punch!

Low-Maintenance Garden Ideas

As mentioned earlier, grass is a labour-intensive feature that, unsurprisingly, features intensely laborious grass. As such, the first rule of Maintenance Avoidance Club (besides “don’t talk about Maintenance Avoidance Club”) is to avoid grass at all costs, so don’t be afraid to tear up the turf in favour of a man-made replacement.

That being said, there’s more than one way to pave goodbye to your garden grass. Here’s a few ways you can remove the year-round yard work and hard work and replace it with summertime chilling and grilling.

House Tile Takeover

The larger the paved area, the less grass, plants and vegetation you will need to trim, maintain and man-handle. If you really want a low-maintenance garden, it makes sense to tile as large an area as possible.

However, that doesn’t mean you need to accept fate that your garden has to look like a 1950s schoolyard. PrimaPorcelain has one of the widest selections of tiles in the UK, allowing you to create beautifully bewitching designs that mesmerise and wow in equal measure.

Natural Selection

If you’re not quite ready to let go of the greenery entirely, there are ways around that too. Why not draft in some potted plants, garden beds or window boxes?

These can inject a bit of garden green and natural colour into your outdoor space without necessitating the laborious nature of maintaining a whole plot.

Best of all, they also require minimal upkeep and can be easily modified, moved or removed if you ever feel like switching up your outdoor style.

Border Patrol

If tiling over your entire garden area seems a little excessive, you can always leave a border around the edge of your outdoor property. This provides a patch of perimeter for you to indulge in any green garden goodness without having to worry about covering metre after metre of square floor space.

Whether you want to surround your paved space with bushy hedges, flourishing plants or colourful flowers, the border option is a nice touch that can make the transition a little less wholesale and stop your garden from becoming void of nature. Meanwhile, the addition of a border also allows you to play around even further with your paving design.

Meet You Halfway

Similarly, another way to get the best of both worlds and effectively cut your ground maintenance in half is to simply pave over half of your garden with a partial patio area covering.

This really is the perfect solution for those on the fence and torn between a garden and a patio, while it does still dramatically reduce the amount of garden maintenance you have to sign up for.

Path to Greatness

Another great way to avoid further groundwork without turning your garden into a complete concrete jungle is to add a paved pathway.

In addition to breaking up your garden design, this can also be a great way to link different sections of your garden and create a natural flow to your outdoor space.

Meanwhile, a paving path can also be used in conjunction with other non-grass options – such as chippings, gravel, pebbles, etc – to complement your garden design and break up areas of solid tiling.

Creating a Low-Maintenance Garden

We understand that, when creating a low-maintenance garden, it can be difficult to know where to start and envisioning a new landscape in place of your existing one can be hard to imagine. That’s why we offer a FREE 3D design lab service to help bring your vision to life before it becomes a reality.

Chop and change between tile design, paving placement and overall colour scheme at the click of a button. Best of all, to really give you a feel for what’s to come, you can even request up to 3 FREE tile samples to get to grips with your paver of choice.

Why choose porcelain paving tiles?

Our porcelain paving tiles are hard-wearing, durable and built to last. Stain, scratch and fade resistant, they maintain their original aesthetic long after they are laid and can look great year after year with little to no upkeep nurturing along the way.

If you want a garden space that looks fantastic without requiring arduous upkeep, our selection of porcelain paving tiles is the route to go down. Available in a huge variety of designs, sizes and colours, the options are limited only to your imagination, so dream big with PrimaPorcelain!

For more information about our wide range of paving options and the variety of garden designs available, call today on 029 2080 3756 or get in touch online using the button below.

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When the nights are warm and the weather is fine, enjoying the outdoors in the evening can be a popular past-time.

In fact, it’s not unusual for family barbeques to run long and a summer social can often run on long after the last chunk of charcoal has lost its glow.

Avoid a premature curfew by accessorising your outdoor space with effective patio lighting and keep your garden radiant long after the sun goes down.

Do I need patio lights?

For those that love the outdoors, appropriate patio lighting can be necessary piece or equipment. It’s also a great way to really make the most of your garden, adding hours of enjoyment to an evening.

After all, why should you have to abide by a daylight deadline? It’s your property and you should be able to enjoy it as you like.

But it’s not just a case of “any old lights will do”. The right lighting can make all the difference, especially when it comes to gardens at night.

Patio lights in particular can be the ultimate ambience enhancer. Choose wisely and your patio could become an enchanting site of visual delight the moment the sun takes a bow.

What patio lights are best for me?

There are hundreds of patio lights on the market, varying in shape, style and colour, as well as power. Here are a few of the most popular options to help get you started.

Wall lanterns

Ideal for illuminating a specific area of your patio, fixed wall lanterns can spread light into a chosen focal point of your outdoor space. They are also excellent all-weather lighting solutions that won’t let you down when the weather takes a turn.

Caged lights

Also known as coastal lights or marine lights, these caged lamps are reminiscent of the ones you would expect to see on a boat. Quirky and different, they provide a unique lighting solution that’s both stylish and memorable.

Hanging bulbs

Hanging bulbs can create somewhat of a festive ambience that’s acceptable all-year round. A popular choice among wedding decor and festivals furnishing alike, these trailing cables of colour can brighten up your patio perfectly and help add an element of fun to your outdoor space.

Table lamps

Found in a variety of styles and colours, cordless table lamps make the perfect light for a quiet night on the patio. Meanwhile, multiple lamps can be ideal for illuminating a smaller patio for a larger gathering. These are typically rechargeable, providing a reusable lighting solution that doesn’t require installation, while they can also be used indoors if desired.

Solar markers

Typically found in the form of pointed markers reminiscent of the Olympic Flame, these javelin-like stakes are the perfect solution for eco-friendly garden lighting – provided you have somewhere to plant them into the ground. They are also commonly available as spherical orbs that can simply be placed in an area of your choice, ideal for garden planters, flower pots and even window boxes.

Outdoor lighting tips

Once you’ve settled on the right light for you, there are a few other important things to keep in mind.

One of the most important things to consider is just how much lighting you’ll need. Be sure to measure the area to ensure you don’t overcompensate on lights or underestimate the space. This will allow you to buy the appropriate amount of lighting for your space.

Meanwhile, the light itself can also be a factor. If you plan on using your patio for entertaining and socialising, bright lighting can often be a bit of a mood-killer. Nobody wants a beaming spotlight in their eyeline when they’re eating, chatting or relaxing, so it’s worth opting for subtle lighting instead.

That being said, LEDs – although often bright – typically use a lot less energy than traditional bulbs, making them more energy efficient for your garden. Meanwhile, for an even more eco-friendly solution, solar-powered bulbs are obviously the king of clean green lighting.

Finally, bear in mind that lighting can also provide an effective security solution for your home. Keeping your entrances well-lit can deter intruders, while it can also make detection a lot easier, should you suspect something untoward is afoot, so it’s worth lighting your entry points well.

For more information on how to light your patio and what lights may best complement your tiles, give us a call on 029 2080 3756.

Our paving experts will be able to shed some light on your patio plight and point you in the right direction!

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