15 Bathroom Tile Ideas to Transform Your Home

While there are many ways of enhancing the look and feel of a bathroom, one of the most effective and often cost-effective solutions is to opt for new bathroom tiling.

In today’s blog, we look at 15 bathroom tile ideas to transform your home, whether as a singular approach to renovating the space or alongside other upgrades.

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1. Marble Tiles

This timeless bathroom tiling material can be used to provide a stunning natural and earthy appearance. Marble tiling is also known for being highly durable, eco-friendly and its shine.

As with most types of bathroom tiling, marble tiles may be added to the wall, floor or both depending on your preferences and needs.

The luxurious marble aesthetic, often accompanied with intricate lines, etched in by mother nature over time, comes in various forms.

Popular types of marble tiling include:

• Carrara Marble Tiles - Popular, durable, clean and elegant
• Breccia Marble Tiles - Usually reddish-brown with a fragmented undertone
• Calacatta Marble Tiles - Stylish grey on white design
• Statuario Marble Tiles - Very durable and more uniform design with fewer lines
• Thassos Marble Tiles - Strong, reflective and plain surface with even more uniformity

While marble tiling has many upsides helping to explain its popularity, at the same time marble tiles can be hazardous with a higher risk of slips and falls. They are also susceptible to scratching.

2. Large-scale Terrazzo Tiles

While there are many traditional and timeless options, some trends are more in now such as large-scale Terrazzo tiles. Terrazzo is a composite of various materials with a natural material (e.g. granite, quartz, marble, glass etc.) broken down into chips alongside a chemical or/and physical binder.

Large-scale tiles in general can act as a sleek addition for a modern home design while also providing a sense of scale and reducing the number of grout lines.

Large-scale Terrazo tiles (a.k.a. Large-format Terrazo tiles) are a solid option for those seeking a contemporary and clean form of sophisticated tiling that also emphasises space

3. Luxury Tiling

Across the board, there exists a wide range of luxury tile options to choose from in 2024. Some of the best types worth exploring include marble-effect porcelain tiles as well as hexagonal, glass and luxury vinyl tiles.

Marble-effect porcelain tiles can offer an opulent appearance along with durability and low-maintenance. In terms of hexagonal tiles, this option provides durability, ease of maintenance and water-resistance. Glass tiles are known for their unique, luxurious aesthetic, strength and durability.

Lastly, luxury vinyl tiles (LVT) are relatively low-cost, water resistant and easy-to-maintain flooring options for bathrooms in 2024. There are many LVT designs for bathrooms like patterned LVT.

4. Subway Tiles

This commonplace tiling design involves arranging tiles in a pattern that is half offset on the row directly beneath and lined up with the row two levels down.

There are a range of materials to choose from including glass, ceramic and porcelain. While subway tiles come in matte and glossy forms, it is best to opt for matte bathroom floor tiling.

5. Colourful Bathroom Tiles

Bathroom tiling with striking colours can enhance the look and feel of a space while adding a certain mood or atmosphere depending on what colours you’d prefer.

Among the bathroom tiling options that tend to be colourful include porcelain, mosaic and terracotta tiles.

Other notable choices include Moroccan zellige tiling, decor petals pattern tiles, colourful penny round tiles, geometric bathroom tiles, encaustic cement tiles and retro patterned tiling.

6. Patterned Tiles

Extending on the mention of patterned tiles above, there are a range of patterned tiling choices on the market that can transform for your bathroom.

Some of the most notable patterned tiles designs include:

• Patterned ceramic tiles
• Burgundy decorative patterned tiles
• Decorative terrazzo effect tiles
• Pamplona Rosso patterned porcelain tiles
• Decorata design pattern tiles

7. White Tiles With Dark Grout

In most cases, the grout in bathroom tiles is a mid-grey, however, opting for white tiles with dark grout is that it can provide a more contrasting with enhanced opulence.

Dark grout on white tiles can also better highlight the shape of the tiles in a more detailed and subtle way - hence why it can look fancier.

That said, dark grout on white tiling requires quite a bit of maintenance and it may be too tricky to undertake DIY.

8. Slate Tiles

Another popular style of bathroom tiling is that of slate tiles. Among the many reasons why people love slate tiles include their strength, scratch-resistance and durability.

Slate tiles need to be sealed quite often, however. Other downsides include cost, installation changes and potentially uncomfortable underfoot. Due to the latter, it’s best to have a professional install slate tiling. That said, slate tiles are a great option overall offering a natural and rustic look that provides more dimension than many bathroom tile options.

Whether or not you might prefer to have slate tiles added to the flooring or/and wall will depend on how you feel about its advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned above, the underfoot can be uncomfortable for some so based on this some households will prefer to use slate tiling for walls only.

9. Hexagon Tiles

For a particularly stylish choice, hexagonal tiles are worth looking into as an attractive, modern option.

Hexagonal tiles can offer sleek, modern arrangements. When having them installed, if hiring a professional, consider requesting a certain type of design as mixing and matching hexagonal tiles can lead to unique outcomes.

10. Small Bathroom Tiles

Despite the popularity of large-format tiles, small bathroom tiles also standout for being a notable choice.

Small tiles do not often work in small bathrooms as they can make the already small space feel more compact. That said, it will depend on the installation proposed among other factors.

However, the benefits of small bathroom tiles may prove more worthwhile in a medium-sized bathroom where they can offer a balanced look while having less of an impact on the sense of scale.

Notable small bathroom tiling options include small iridescent mosaic bathroom tiles, only adding a backsplash with a non-tiling flooring instead, small glossy tiles for a small bathroom, small mosaic tiles and small penny tiles.

11. Ceramic Tiles

Ceramic is another common tiling material. This versatile choice is available in many designs and colours to meet a range of preferences.

Beyond that, ceramic tiling is super durable, waterproof and relatively low-costing. Further, ceramic tiles come with low VOC emissions. That said, ceramic tiles are at a greater risk of chipping or/and wearing down over time.

12. Go With a Rustic Look

If you’re thinking of going retro, you should consider rustic bathroom tiling such as wood-effect tiles, natural stone tiles, earthy-toned tiling in general and terracotta tiles.

When it comes to earthy tiling, opting for a natural material or even a material designed to replicate a natural material (e.g. wood-effect tiles which are made of glazed porcelain) can obviously contribute to this look.

That said, you’ll still want to ensure you consider earthy tones either way if you’re after a natural aesthetic. Popular earthy tones include taupe, beige, ochre, mushroom grey, burnt orange and sienna. Across the board, greens, reds, blues and browns can provide an earthy look and feel.

13. Zoning with Wall Tiles

It’s also possible to use wall tiles for the purposes of zoning spaces in your home - that is using distinct wall tiles for different locations, helping to visually distinguish these areas more effectively. You may also wish to go with one bathroom tiling design for the floor.

How much you want to distinguish wall tiles from one another is up to you and your preferences. Some ways of opting for significantly different wall tile zones is by using different tiling textures - that said going with a range of materials or/and colours can also prove effective ways of using wall tiles for zoning purposes.

14. Irregular Tile Shapes

Bathroom tiles can come in various shapes, sizes and styles. While square tiles are certainly the most popular with rectangular tiles also being quite common, circular and irregular shaped tiles can also be found on the market.

Combining a range of irregular tile shapes can produce interesting results with a unique and even an artistic visual. If considering having irregular tile shapes added, it’s best to discuss with a bathroom installer or/and interior designer to plan out something striking that also matches your preferences and budget.

15. Wood-Look Tiles

Wood-look tiles or wood-effect tiles are generally made of porcelain or ceramic but are designed to replicate wood.

While offering the aesthetic benefits of timber, wood-look tiles along with the advantages of being affordable, more durable, scratch- and dent-resistant and not susceptible to mould. Wood-look tiles are naturally suited to a water-prone environment like a bathroom.