Tessellated borders are not just pretty; they serve a couple of important functions.

In old houses it is common to have walls that are not exactly parallel or at 90 degree angles to each other. Because of this a tessellated pattern that extends from wall to wall will appear to be crooked. To avoid this optical illusion AND to disguise the fact that the walls are not true a border is used, but set several centimetres from the wall. The space remaining is then tiled with a 'filler' tile - a plain tile, the colour of which is usually determined by the dominant colour of the tessellated pattern.

Take a walk along any inner-city suburban street (of Sydney or Melbourne) and you are bound to see house after house with a tessellated path and/or verandah - including a border. The border pattern may be elaborate or simple (the Norwood pattern being the most popular for Victorian, Federation or California Bungalows). In the majority of cases the colours of the border are determined by the colours of the main tessellated area, nevertheless the border pattern manages to stand out. It is a dramatic change from the rest of the floor pattern; it acts to contain the flow of the main floor and it brings a different energy to the floor. The Balmain and the Bristol patterns are particularly good examples of this