During the boom of hydraulic tiles, innovative, bold designs were created that would have been unthinkable in other periods. Many factories had specialized draftsmen on staff, and occasionally commissioned famous artists to design tiles. A wide variety of design elements were employed: geometrical shapes, stylized floral, vegetal and other organic motifs, and, on rare occasions, animals or human figures. The most widely used colors were shades of maroon, green, pink, yellow, brown, cream, grey, white and black, although other colors such as red, blue, orange and even purple can be found. The tiles were made in a variety of sizes and shapes, the most common being squares measuring 20 x 20 cm and hexagons with each side measuring 11.5 cm.
The designs devised to create a flooring pattern using hydraulic tiles often bear some similarity to carpet design: a central panel consisting of a repeated pattern, framed by tiles with a length-wise repeating design with matching corner pieces. The design would be framed by an outer border, made of plain tiles in subtle colors. These elaborately designed ‘carpets’ were mainly used in the rooms in the main part of the house, such as the entryway, the living room and the dining room.
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