What colour tiles should I have in my bathroom?

[MuffinMclay]

I desperately need advice from people who have a flair for this kind of thing. I don't.

I am having 2 bathrooms refitted. One is a fairly normal sized bathroom and will have tiles on 2 of the 4 walls (around the bath, window, basin). The other is huge, and will be tiled all over (apart from 2 floor to ceiling mirrors on the walls).

I have to decide on tiles and am completely stumped. In our old house (small bathroom) we used plain white over-sized tiles and it looked great (I thought). I was going to replicate this, but the plumber was horrified and said it woould look awful - too white, too clinical - as did a few RL friends.

I haven't a clue what would look nice. I'm not keen on mosaics, and I don't like that effect where you have basically plain tiles with a few random patterned ones scattered around. So I'm thinking either plain white (or another colour) with a band of colour around the centre, or the top half in one colour and the bottom half in another? I have no idea what colours are appropriate (MIL suggested black and grey like her bathroom but that looks horrible IMO).

I want a 'luxury hotel' look in the bigger bathroom, but I also want it to be inoffensive and something that would be a selling point; we are planning on moving house in the next 2-3 years.

Help!

make the small one "jewel like" with small sized glass / mosaic tiles in fab bright coulour. paint walls in clashing colour if brave / white / neutral if cowardly.
make the large one tastefully lux.... are you sure you want ALL walls tiled florr to ceiling? this will be rather "cold" if v large...... i might tile all but one wall or tile up to a height but not ceiling i think. these tiles should be in matt neutral tones of stone / marble / something low key and paint in neutral toning colour......
ok?

I like plain white, or off white/beige, in over sized tiles to floor and walls personally. I like my bathrooms clean looking and sparkly.

We currently have white tiles, and white flooring. Just need to pain the untiles walls white now - still builder's magnolia which I hate.

The big one does have to be all tiled, really. I think we'd have a condensation problem otherwise, and it is easier to clean (in theory - can't actually see myself wiping tiles regularly in pactice). It is all tiled at the moment, in a fetching shade of orange.

We did our (very small - can you have a 'boutique' bathroom ) in large white rectangular tiles with a slight wobbly texture and a thin border of blue pebble slightly above half way up. Suite is all white and we have blue towels etc. I like blue and wanted blue everywhere but was a bit as the cost of coloured tiles and DH reckoned it would have been too dark.

Message withdrawn

I couldnt decide on tiles for our small bathroom so we had tongue and groove panelling instead

Well, I like white tiles, and i like bathrooms to look clean and a bit clinical. You can then do whatever takes your fancy with towels or plants, or funky fittings. Maybe some wood.
Or I saw some transclucent (sort of frosted) pale blue glass tiles put onto a white painted wall - they looked gorgeous. Not too flashy and shinly, not tooo clinical.)
Lots of white tiles and a nice coloured resin or rubber floor?

DP fits bathrooms and if his opinion is sought, he suggests plain white with plain white suite. Nothing dates a house as much as an out of date bathroom and white just never dates. You can change the colour scheme with towells, shower curtain/screen etc, flooring, but once a bathroom is tiled its a very expensive job to get it changed. Especially if you are putting your house on the market - PLAIN WHITE, but not the cheapest, go for quality and quality fittings.

Have white tiles with our white suite. Full height on long side of bath and one end (have shower). The rest is dado height with a pencil trim.
The tiles were justy about the cheapest you can get, whilst the pencil trim was mid range expensive iykwim.
The wall colour can then be changed, along with towels etc and carpet.

We had plain white tiles in our last place with a blue border round. I got very sick of the blue after a few years and would have loved to change it.

Another vote for white/cream tiles and then add the colour through use of paint and accessories.

You can then up-date or change it, if needed, without too much upheaval or expense.

We've just bought some big 45cm sq beige/ brown porcelain tiles from Ebay; they're beautiful - Got the idea from a hotel we stayed in and it is certainly starting to look very luxurious!

we have big white tiles with random glass tile strips inserted into a few of them. The glass tiles are in shades of blue

We did our big bathroom in a creamy beige colour - the tiles are intended to look like limestone but are ceramic which is easier to use. Floor tiled in the same. There is a band of matching mosaic type effect about 1/3 up the wall. Looks like plush hotel room. Our small bathroom is done with large white tiles with small black inserts on the corners.

I have pure white in both bathrooms.In ours I have white tiles and white plaster.Black slate floor and stone coloured painted furniture.I have old style rose patterned flowery towels Not cold or clinical and so easy

We have white shiny bumpy tiles which slightly reflect the light. Unfortunately they are spoilt by 90's motifs occasionally but the white effect with a rich navy rope border tile alone is rather nice.

I think borders are a bit dated if you want a boutique look plain is better.Fake limestone very b and q now (sorry)batter to choose a bold plain colour or white if you want a look to last.Adding colour style is easy with big mirrors art etc.

Plenty of food for thought, thank you.

Any more?

I like large tiles, ours are rectangular in a matt white finish. The bathroom is quite large so we tiled up to waist height so it didnt feel too cold/clinical.
Am not a fan of borders, even posh glass ones, as I think they date easily and also have the effect of "cutting up" the wall IYSWIM.
Also think mock limestone tiles look chic, if you get very plain tiles.
Add glamour with posh towels/orchids/smart flooring.

I would go for a beige colour tile or darker. Don't like white floor tiles as the grout stands out. Unless you have a light coloured grout but I have founded this type of grout hard to keep clean looking.

used beige-y limestone in our bigger bathroom - used mainly BIG tiles with some mosaics (medium and small) to break it up (as a mid-wall border and in wetroom area). Fired Earth do some good ceramics that look like limestone, though we went with the real thing (and not fired earth - got it much cheaper from a direct supplier).

All white would look too hospital-like I think and limestone doesn't show dirt as much as not shiny - am also lazy about wiping down tiles

It's personal taste but I think the white with random patterned tiles looks a bit old-fashioned (eg my mil's taste) - even though such tiles can be v expensive.

Good point on grout - our grout is a grey-ish one so no need to keep it sparkly white!

We opted for white, on the basis that we've no intention of doing the bathroom again for years and white less likely to date. We've got large white tiles with bevelled edges (stops it looking so "flat"), broken up by a narrow border round the middle and another just below the ceiling. Border is black & grey. Intended just to have one border, but once the tiles were half way up, decided it would be too white so went for second. Floor tiles are light grey & textured. A full length mirror attached to one wall and a long chrome towel rail on another breaks it up so not too clinical (IMO!)

Hadn't read earlier posts thoroughly. Good point on accessories so I suppose all white could be made look traditional (Cath Kidson type florals/spots etc) or funky as you wish with some different towels, etc.

My point about white grout stands though - nightmare to keep clean if you are lazy like me and then you end up with toothbrush and bleach scrub scrub scrubbing! and white tiles need white grout really.

grey grouting looks good with white tiles. Grey grouting doesn't get grubby

i would def try to avoid tiling whole room - surely an extractor fan would be cheaper? not very expensive in bathstore.com

then you could have more plastered/painted areas? then choosing tiles may be easier