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Domino Reno: Glowing Transformations, Questionable DIYs, and Wisdom From People Who Actually Know Stuff
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When we recently watched the founder of a tile company coverhis own kitchen wallsin zellige tile, it proved to us that this trend genuinely isn’t going anywhere. Personally, I get why so many people are drawn to the raw texture, the slight imperfections, and the color variations of Moroccan tile—but as a design editor who watches the same materials play out in home after home (zellige backsplashes being a prime offender!), I’d be nervous to commit to it myself. A temporary, affordable, DIY-friendly stand-in, though? That I can get behind.
While doom-scrolling TikTok the other day, I got served an ad forSmart Tiles(the brand also runs anAmazon store). I’m familiar with the products, thanks in part toAlexandra Gater, the serial rental renovator who has used the company’s peel-and-stick tile in a bunch of her projects. (She once walked me through how she installed the brand’spink Metro Ava option in her tiny kitchen.) But what popped up on my screen wasn’t the usual white subway or patterned antique tile I’m used to from adhesive brands. TheMorocco Sefrou tile in greenlooked a whole lot like actual zellige.
For starters, Smart Tiles has the tonal range you’d expect from Moroccan tile (since the real things are made individually by hand, no two are ever identical). The sheets also have a slight gloss, which appears to make them shine when the light hits just right—not unlike zellige.
On the company’s website, the tile boasts a 4.8-star rating and roughly 1,600 reviews. A customer in Australia raved about how fast it arrived, and another said their only learning curve was cutting the tile to fit around switch plates and outlets (a sharp X-Acto knife does the trick). The imagery on the site mostly shows the tile in a vertical stack, but you can orient the 12-by-9-inch sheets horizontally, too.
So what do they look like in the wild? DesignerShelby Eanescovered (most) of her bathroom walls in them and they look pretty legit—especially with the walls painted inBenjamin Moore’s Peale Green.
A post shared by the one and only 𝗸𝗿𝗻𝘀𝗻𝗼𝗿 ➕ 𝘄𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗼𝗿𝗼 (@thornior)
Texas-based digital creatorBecky Georgesshowed just how easy it is to cut the tiles to fit around light fixtures in her video recap.
DIYer @bex.plants slapped them in her kitchen and they instantly gave her builder-grade wood cabinets and white countertops more personality than they ever dreamed of having. Proof that sometimes the best renovation is just sticking things to other things.
There are fewer reviews on Amazon, but we did spot them in design bloggerKiva Brent’s storefront,aka the spot where she stashes hertop-recommended products. If green isn’t your color, here are a few more faux zellige tiles we’re eyeing.
Lydia Geisel has been stirring the creative pot at Domino since 2017. She writes and edits her way through home tours and design stories like it's a competitive sport. She lives in Brooklyn—because of course she does.
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