Small bathroom - fully tiled or half tiled?

[Sum2021]

Just that really. A small bathroom with tub, sink with vanity and toilet, a bit of floorspace (not much).

Ive always thought fully tiled in a small bathroom looks too enclosed. I like the half tiled look of new builds - i want to tile the wall with the batbtub and sink and half tile the remaining walls.

DH says it looks cheap if not fully tiled.

Opinions please. TIA

I think it looks far better to tile around shower and half tile rest of room. I take it you’ll be having shower over bath if it’s small? Full tiling will be too oppressive unless white. I did last house bathroom Matt white tile then soft grey paint on upper half. It was small. Our new house, there is tiny bathroom which needs redoing but non bath areas painted and it looks good. And easier to update if you get sick of colour too.

I’ve had half and half and have enjoyed being able to paint the tops and change the look regularly but now I’ve gone for panelling, quick, cheep, easy to install and it looks bloody lovely!
Looks like tiles.

Fully tiled but use large tiles especially on the floor.

I have been thinking the same thing for our downstairs loo and upstairs bathroom. I'm going for half tiles and half paint. (Large tiles)

Mine is half tiled. I like it.

Half tiled, but not the same height all around.

If it's done properly it doesn't look cheap, all tiled i find claustrophobic/like a public toilet

Tile and tiling costs way more than paint. I'd tile the bath wall and to shower screen at the head of the bath, which is a natural stop to the tiling. plus the splash back.
Depending on your layout, if the sink is on the same wall as the head of the bath you can half tile it there. The other two walls I'd just paint. If your sink is opposite the bath, just tile from sink to mirror (I like mirror to be same width as sink unit) and paint the rest of the wall. I don't like fully tiled bathrooms, I like to use the right type of paint, hang artwork and make it more of a room, which you can do no matter how small.

Half tile. I'm redoing a fully tiled bathroom soon and I'm absolutely dreading having to rip them all down., I'm expecting the wall to come away too. If iI had half tiled I would have had more opportunity to refresh the room. But, full tiles makes this impossible and the whole bathroom looks really tired and dated even though it's in neutral colours.

I'd fully tile round the bath, because of splashes, and probably the wall with the basin (unless it is rather large) and behind the WC, but possibly only half way, or to the windowboard (also tiled)

That leaves about half the bathroom you can paint or (vinyl) paper.

I favour weak colours for the walls, you can add strong colours with mats, towels, curtains/blinds and change those easily and quickly at whim.

I do not approve of shower mixers and pipes, or WC cisterns, being buried in the walls and tiled over.

Walls fully tiled with large format tiles and with vinyl flooring. Spotlights in ceiling.

Looks great, especially in evening with lights on.

Fully tiled. Less up keep with painting regularly!

I still move my fully tiles bathroom. I love the (large) tiles and it looks lovely imo

*love Darn auto correct

Half tiled. I love the fact that it’s very easy to change the look of a small bathroom with a tin of paint.

We currently have a tiny and very out-dated fully tiled bathroom and I hate it - it looks so boring, tiles are similar to 'chicken' tiles so very ugly, and it's quite cold.

My only worry is that it's fully tiled because it's a very damp room, and so they fully tiled to prevent mould. The ceiling does need re-painting with anti-mould paint every couple of years. We intend to put in a new super duper fan to improve things.

In terms of decor I am so looking forward to having colour on the walls, rather than beige tiles!

Depending on the layout, can you fully tile the wall behind the toilet and basin and around the bath, but then have the other walls painted?

I'm in the middle of having mine done. Still got the bath panel, shower screen and illuminated mirror to go up next week. I've got rid of my tiles and had splash paneling all the way around. It looks bright and clean and a bit bigger than before. It's hard to get a good photo as the rooms so tiny.

I think it massively depends on the tile and the pattern you’re laying them in. We used metro tiles for the shower but laid them herringbone and it would have been hideous to have it everywhere in our small bathroom. But I’ve seen people use similar tiles but stacked (either horizontally or vertically) and it looks amazing. Brick bond can look a bit subway/public toilet but depends on the styling. Large marble/marble type tiles look good fully tiled too. We did half panelling in the end and I like it a lot better than the half tiles we used to have which felt cold all the time.

We are just about to rip out bathroom and en-suite with fully tiled 90's horror tiles of peach with flowers, and green with flowers. Honestly can't wait. We are replacing with half tiling, other than in the showers, where obviously full. Going for biggest plain tiles we can get 😀

@HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime where did you get your bath panel from please?

@zzzzfthg sorry I can't help as my builder sourced everything.

We had our main bathroom completely gutted last year - we got 60x30cm matt grey wall tiles with a section of matching split face tiles to break it up. Also had the floor tiled. I love it, it looks fab and very low upkeep.

Agree with a pp to go for spotlights in the ceiling if you can.

My tiny bathroom was fully tiled before we had it redone, now there’s very few tiles - we have panelling on the walls. It feels much cosier, plus it’s far cheaper, and as the panelling can be painted, along with the walls, we can change it when we get fed up.
The photos show it panelled but unpainted, when it was fully tiled and then after the panelling was painted.
We don’t have a bath, our shower cubicle is tiled in very big mid grey gloss tiles.

What a lovely bathroom @Soontobe60 - those huge grey tiles from before look so overpowering!

Thank you for all the responses. We have decided to stick to bath and sink (same wall) fully tiled and half tile the remainder. We are using large marble tiles 60 x 60 and hoping it looks spacious.

Thank you for posting photo's, you can deffo see the difference with the perception of space with fully tiled and not.