Tile, Tile on the Wall

I love ceramics. I always have. I have my grandmother's china and my great-grandmother's china. And my own. And a couple of yard sale purchases. So as we approach the end of the first phase of the Market St. remodel, I am thinking about what the second phase will hold, and I want to include more tile. The decision is two-fold: where and how.
The first time I saw tile being widely used for decorative as well as functional purposes was in Barcelona in 1992. Park Guell took my breath away. Gaudi used many overstated architectural elements to create a memorable statement (something he referred to as evolved Gothic architecture). While I love the buildings and the design elements that are characteristically Gaudi, what I brought home from that trip was a love of what could be done with broken tile, beyond the mosaic.

Gaudi did do some representational tiling, but the things I love best are those that are free-style murals of color. At the time we were finishing our guest house and I did a Gaudi inspired countertop, breaking all the tile myself and arranging it into a cautious design. I am not going to do a countertop in this house--but a backsplash? Maybe in the kitchen? I think it will be too busy and there is already alot going on there.

The second place that I saw ceramic decoration outdoors was in Thailand--this photo is from the Royal Grand Palace, but I saw it everywhere. I don't know how they achieve this effect, but it has the appearance of pieces being cut out, glazed, and then put together in a 3-dimensional mosaic design. I am not ready to do an outdoors major art project (benches for the upcoming deck would be one option, but it might be too grand--I am already having trouble finding the creative energy to re-upholster the seats of the mismatching dining rooms chairs I have picked up for the house!). Maybe the upstairs bathroom? That would entail taking down the fake tile wall, putting up green wall and then tiling, but that might be a forgiving project in terms of not many eyes on it while it is in progress. I am starting to visualize white subway tiles, then a wide band of broken tile, maybe a foot wide encircling the room, with another two to three white tile rows on top of the broken tile band to set it off. Maybe a black cigarette tile above and below the band to set it off, maybe not. That might be a good start.