Am I mad not to get a tiled bathroom?

[CoolKitkat]

It seems that most people prefer tiles on the walls and floor, but I find them cold and hard to keep clean. Am thinking of shower panels and waterproof paint on the walls, and vinyl on the floor as it's softer and easy to clean.

Not planning on moving for at least 10 years (so not too worried about selling on just yet / resale value) but I'm wondering if I'm missing something, as everyone I speak to about this (including bathroom fitters), looks at me like I'm crazy. Am I?

If money was no object I'd be tempted to have tadelakt in my bathroom.

I have waterproof laminate personally in the bathroom as I'm not keen on tiled floors (too cold, too hard), but I think most modern vinyl looks fine. I'm less keen on wall panels - I loved the idea of them for ease of cleaning, but even the pricier ones still looked a bit cheap and plasticky to me, so I went with wall tiles in the end.

Would you consider smooth large tiles with dark grouting in the shower area (easiest type to keep looking clean) and waterproof paint in the areas less likely to get soaked?

We have concrete-look panels on two walls in our bathroom and it looks amazing! We’ll be getting a vinyl floor to go with them & painting the other two walls. Previously had tiles which were freezing and a pain to clean. They don’t look cheap (which really is a miracle bc my DP was not keen on spending money on anything ).

I have panels all the way round my bathroom and love it. No grout to clean! It's also basically maintenance free.

Panels here too - they weren’t cheap and they look brilliant. Mine are ‘aqua ice’. Mystified by the panel hate here my bathroom has been lauded by all three of the people who have seen it post restrictions easing 🤣 I have black and white floor tiles and they look awesome with the walls.

We have tiles in the shower only, vinyl flooring, paint on the walls. Was like this when we moved in. Not had any problems with it - only thing that might have been better is if they had either tiled the window sill or put a window sill in as the paint there is just emulsion and is chipping a bit on one windowsill

@Housemum

We have tiles in the shower only, vinyl flooring, paint on the walls. Was like this when we moved in. Not had any problems with it - only thing that might have been better is if they had either tiled the window sill or put a window sill in as the paint there is just emulsion and is chipping a bit on one windowsill

How do you not get the wall wet when having a bath though? Do you sit very still and wash very carefully??

I've not splashed the walls, but I suppose I also have the advantage that my kids are older so whilst when we moved the youngest still played in the bath she wasn't at the toddler splashy stage

How do you not get the wall wet when having a bath though? Do you sit very still and wash very carefully??

Yes we do, we’re old though.

Plastic panels look cheap. I’m tiling just the shower and floor (underfloor heating) and installing another radiator to keep the room warm.

I’m doing wood panelling behind my own freestanding bath. Then the kids’ bathroom is a shower over bath, so the entire wall will be tiled

Thanks everyone, lots of food for thought. It doesn't seem that there's a practical reason not to get panels, more about how it looks (cheap vs stylish).

The cost thing is interesting, as the panels are coming in about the same price as the tiles. Think I'll try and look around at some designs with mixed options, and showrooms (eg shower panels, painted walls, tiles around the sink etc).

If you haven’t already, plan in a few days painting once the plaster has dried while the room is empty before the installation of bath, sink, loo and all that.
We didn’t.
Oh how we laughed masking every nook and cranny, worried about paint on everything.

We wanted the practicality of paneling when we did the bathroom, but when we went around showrooms, or in friends houses we saw nothing we liked up close. The ones with either tile effect or sparkly to me looked fake. The plain ones just plastic looking. Most had joints that were very noticeable. Some people see this as a modern look, but it just isn't for me.

I also know a couple of friends who have had them installed for a while and have holes in them, they don't seem to take much to damage, one was when she was changing a blind and bumped the wall with the metal end, the other got a hole in them when son slipped in the shower and somehow put his elbow through it.

The only ones I saw that I really liked were acrylic with no visible joints or glass, but they were well outside our price range. We ended up with large scale tiles with matching coloured grout and are happy with the result.

Vinyl on the floor, LVT and the nicer stuff, is great and much warmer. I find panels make me think of rental properties and student housing, mainly because that's all I've seen them in other than caravans.

The cost thing is interesting, as the panels are coming in about the same price as the tiles.

Including fitting? Tiling fitting cost varies massively with design and size of tile - small, intricate designs cost much more.

How do you not get the wall wet when having a bath though? Do you sit very still and wash very carefully??

I've got two kids and they definitely splash the wall behind our bath (which is similar to housemum), but it hasn't caused any issues and the bathroom is 3 years old now. We did use bathroom paint though.

I live in a country where tiled floors and walls are mandatory in bathrooms, and I don’t like it much. It’s cold in the winter.

In my previous (U.K.) house I had tiles round the bath / shower and F&B bathroom paint everywhere else. It was lovely. The floor was waterproof imitation seagrass from Unnatural Flooring. So comfortable under foot.

I have tiles in the shower and they are a pain. If it were not for the bleach based Dettol spray that was recommended here on Mumsnet, for the grouting, I might have ripped it out with my bare hands.
Now considering the microcement to replace this. Thanks again, Mumsnetters.

The rest of my bathroom is half panelled, with yacht varnish on it and on the wooden floor. I have no plans to change it, as I like the dark stained period panelling.

Panelling and vinyl looks lovely.
Tiles feel dirtier to me. Tiles on the wall remind me of public toilets, on the floor they remind me of swimming pool changing rooms with lots of random people's pubes.

Vinyl on the floor is fine and warmer underfoot. I’d definitely tile around the shower / bath though.

@AlfonsoTheTerrible

It was by Clark about Michael Heseltine.

And good catch, @JaninaDuszejko! I wondered if anyone would recognise the reference.

Love that quote, Alfonso! It's a stupid sort of ongoing joke in our house, mainly because most of our furniture is crap from elsewhere.

As long as you have a sense of humour about it you're coming out ahead, @muckypaws.

A confession: all of my furniture is second-hand but my artwork and flatware (how grand I sound!) are inherited from my grandmother, who was an art historian and who inherited it herself or was given it as a wedding gift. The rest of the paintings were done by my grandfather, who was a member of the RA.

@thatonehasalittlecar

Get microcement on the walls - it looks amazing and is so easy to keep clean

My DD has talked about this but doesn’t know much about it. Have you got any pictures we can see?

We have large tiles in the shower, patterned tiles on the floor and half panelled walls using waterproof MDF, painted in bathroom pint. I love it!