• Ceramic tiles offer the chance to stamp your individuality onto your wallceramic tile image by Karin Lau from Fotolia.com
  
  Ceramic tiles offer a uniquely creative opportunity to imprint a decorative representation of your individual personality onto the walls of your home. You will rarely get as close to an infinite choice of possibilities as you get when you decide to add ceramic tiles to your walls. The infinite is obstructed only by the most basic of utilitarian hurdles that hints and tips can help you deal with before you face them.
  
  

Color Variations

• Ceramic tiles come in packs and those packs are usually from the same manufacturer's lot. Each lot may contain very subtle variations in color, however, so you should always take the tiles out of the boxes and shuffle them among each other. This will reduce the effect of color variation according to "How to Decorate."
  
  

Preparing the Wall

• Tiling your wall with ceramic can be easy for a beginner as long as you prepare the surface appropriately beforehand. "The Decorating Book" recommends stripping old walls completely before you begin applying new tile. Remove paint flakes and fill cracks before sanding. Once cleaned, surfaces to receive new tiles should be coated with a stabilizing primer.
  
  

Tiling Over Tile

• You don't even need to remove existing tile to install new tile. As long as your current tile is securely adhering to the wall and only a handful of tiles are loose but in good enough shape to be refastened, you can add new tile right onto existing tile. More than a few loose tiles may be an indication of a problem with the substrate that should be addressed directly. You may need to remove only a section of existing tile to determine if loose tiles is a sign of water damage or just the result of poor adhesion.
  
  

Inappropriate Surfaces

• Think twice before deciding to add ceramic tile to wood-board paneling and wainscoting. This material is subject to expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature and humidity and this can in turn create cracks in the grouting.
  
  

Tiling Over Wallpaper

• Lighter and thinner ceramic tiles are the best choice if you absolutely must work over existing wallpaper. The weight of ceramic tile is eventually going to loosen the wallpaper and cause peeling. Try everything possible to remove all traces of wallpaper before giving in to the temptation to just place the tile directly onto the wallpaper. If necessary, rent a steamer in your effort to remove particularly stubborn wallpaper, advises "Quick Guide to Ceramic Tile."
  
  

Matchstick Spacers

• If you forgot to buy spacers, don't fear. Wooden matchsticks are perfect for using as spacers when you begin grouting your ceramic wall tiles. Matchsticks are actually preferable to plastic spacers because they are cheaper and reusable whereas some spacers cannot be removed once the grout has dried.