How to Choose Bathroom Tiles

They’re designed to repel water, they should last for years and they can make a shocking amount of difference to the appearance of your home; so when it comes to choosing the right tiles for your bathroom, you’ll undoubtedly want to make sure that you pick the ideal ones for your needs. Although most are made from similar materials their shape, size and appearance can differ – giving you plenty of options to choose from.

How to choose bathroom tiles in 5 helpful steps 

Simple, elegant, engaging – whatever your choice of style might be, we’ve put together 5 useful tips to ensure that you pick the perfect tile (or tiles) for your needs.

First of all – Choose your style 

If you like the idea of a single tone being featured throughout, you’ll likely be spoilt for choice. Plenty of people enjoy picking multiple colours instead however, as this can create a captivating aesthetic that oozes modern appeal.

Whatever you decide on, be sure that your main tile (whether it’s one, or one of three tile types) is exactly what you are looking for. Consider it your focal point, with any other tile styles and colours acting to complement it.

Secondly – Limit your colour options

You might have noticed that we said three above, and that’s for good reason.

If you want to achieve a stylised appearance in your bathroom, your tiles could set the tone to create a matching part of your home. For example, if your toilet, bathtub and sink are all going to boast a brilliant white hue, why not use the same tone for your main tile?

You could then pick a couple of other colours in different sizes or shapes to match the décor of your bathroom (such as that of your chosen towels). Your main tile will define the colour scheme, while your secondary and tertiary tiles should help to accent the overall theme, so be sure to check out colours that work well together before deciding.

Next – Think about your material options

Marble, granite, ceramic; depending on your budget, you might want to go for a particular type of tile that reflects your spending limits. One of the most appealing things about bathroom tiles is that they can truly reflect your style, whilst bringing a brand new level of functionality to the room itself.

Most bathrooms won’t be gigantic, which means that you could splash out on a particular material and colour guaranteed to have your guests talking (positively).

Or if you’d like an approach to save money, why not opt for a traditional, elegant white tile around the main body of your bathroom, and then introduce a stunning marble-effect (or other eye-catching pattern) to frame the white tiles instead? Your options will be almost endless and searching online for inspiration should be exactly what you do after reading this post.

Fourth – Think about the long term when it comes to cleaning and maintaining your tiles

A good type of tile should be easy to clean, but a great one? Well, they’ll repel dirt and stains as well. Some materials are especially good at all of the above and they include ceramic and porcelain.

When finished with a satin or glossy surface, both types could potentially retain their colour for years if not decades – and with frequent maintenance, they could boast an incredible shine with minimal fuss.

So, what about those of you that might want to go for a more unique type of tile, such as natural stone, or glass?

Well in these cases, the stone will need to be sealed to avoid discolouration, but you’ll also be pretty limited when it comes to choosing which types of cleaning products can be used on the surface of natural tiles.

That being said, there are dedicated products that could negate this concern and still protect these types of tiles in the process.

It goes without saying that glass tiles aren’t for floors do to them becoming slippery when wet.

Lastly – know your scale

If you have a small bathroom, huge tiles could actually detract from the perceived size of the room itself. This is why many experts recommend using smaller (palm-sized and below) tiles to increase the perceived size of a bathroom. There’s also no reason why you couldn’t have the tiles cut down in size to be used on the floor of a shower; whilst their original size is utilised on the wall instead.

Scale is important, so generally speaking those of you that want a quick, fresh looking fix for your bathroom could opt for larger tiles, while anyone wanting a more detailed aesthetic could invest in a smaller alternative instead.