Bathroom - where to tile?

[NigelHarmansNewWife]

I'm feeling slightly panicked as the bathroom fitters are starting work two weeks earlier than I had in my head so I need to crack on ordering tiles...I've attached a floorplan.

We need to fully tile the shower area but what would you do in the rest of the room? Half height all the way round? Half height around the bath and vanity? Or just a splashback for the vanity?
If we tile around the bath, is it weird to just do a splashback for the vanity? Help!

I personally would tile the whole room floor-to-ceiling

Thank you. Unfortunately that's the one thing we are sure we don't want to do! You can't tell from the floorplan, but the ceiling is weird (old house) and the shower can only go where it is on the plan due to this. If we tiled full height, it would emphasise the different ceiling levels.

Whole room, but to the top of the door frame.

Is it a free standing bath?

If you can't do whole room I'd go above the toilet maybe even 3/4 of the way

I would half tile all round - I think a whole tile would be overwhelming!

Have you found some tiles?

you could stripe the central bath part and come down on the floor with floor tiles in the same colours.

If there is a window then up to the sill.

Thanks everyone - to answer your questions/respond:

@OneForTheToad - that would effectively be full height with the shower tiles going higher.

@AGodawfulsmallaffair yes, with separate stand taps with shower spray

@Scarletttulips - flooring will be LVT. The tiles we both like are Paintbox in taupe gloss by Mandarin Stone. The house is Edwardian and we don't want anything very modern looking.

If it’s a free standing bath I can’t see any need to tile behind it. So just the shower and splash back. I had a free standing bath in a Victorian house and tongue and grooved the walls half way up.

If you go for tiling so far up the wall(s) , I’d paint the ceiling and walls now before the tiling.

@AGodawfulsmallaffair we're getting rid of panelling, not tongue and groove, but it gets really dusty and we want rid of it.

@tanstaafl can't do that as much of the room is going to need to be taken back to brick and re-plastered as existing tiles and panelling are coming off. We could possibly paint the ceiling.

What was a separate toilet and bathroom are being knocked together.

Can't you create an artificial ceiling to level the heights?

Edited to say in my Edwardian house I've gone full tiles all walls with a subtle texture matching tile on the shower wall. I think plaster is more like to go mouldy and will get dingy and need painting again.

@ZenNudist - that wouldn't work. The ceiling in the original bathroom area is vaulted (original) with sloping edges and there's a massive supporting beam which the shower area will go behind. If the ceiling height were levelled it would be very low and weird, plus there's a second window which would be half blocked and DP wouldn't be able to stand upright!

The Paintbox tiles are slightly rippled, which I think will look good.

In that scenario you could just tile the shower. Freestanding bath doesn't need tiling. We don't have tile behind our sink either, it's not an issue.

We stripped our fully tiled bathroom and en-suite a couple of years ago and part tiled. So much nicer. Much more open and fresher. Less like a municipal toilet!

Interesting there are so many different views. I'm leaning towards half tiling the room - it may end up being a bit higher than halfway; just been making a note of the toilet and vanity heights. I think that will work, given the oddities of the space and is probably what it was like originally.

I had a look a bit earlier and there's nothing to be gained by trying to paint anywhere before the work starts: part of the ceiling near the beam needs re-plastering. There might be a false ceiling put in above the shower space for lighting and extractor.

When I had my en-suite done I had the minimum possible area tiled. So up to the ceiling in the shower, half way up the wall around the bath and a splash back behind the sink. Previously the bathroom had tiles everywhere, the grout had got dirty and was impossible to clean. It’s much easier to clean walls and so I think they look nicer longer.

I would half tile from the sink around to the toilet. And have nothing by rad/door and between toilet and shower.

Ok, but is the replastering happening now/soon?

It can take a week for plaster to dry properly for further work like painting and tiling.

@Sanch1 - I think we now have all options covered! What puts me off not tiling to the door is that the shower will be open at that end.

@stealthninjamum - I'm not sure I agree re: cleaning, it's more the overall look I'm concerned about. If it was just me, I'd reduce the amount of tiling to the minimum needed. But then I'm tidier and less prone to splashing water everywhere than others who will be using the bathroom.

I think I could do with some photos to show how the different things look.

We're having a new bathroom soon and have been restricted by a slope, so have had to go for a bath with shower over (room not big enough for a separate bath and shower screen heights have been an issue. We've having it tiles around the bath and tiles over the sink as we currently have (the slope which ends about 80cm above the height of our sink). So for that reason I'd say tiles around shower and above sink. If not, and you're unsure if wall will get splashes from bath, tile half way around - that way you can vary the colour/theme sometime.

I'd have an end panel on the shower then a short panel on the long side. One reason being if the door is open then you'd have a draft through the shower from the hall, and water does get out so you'd potentially have a bath mat or similar getting caught on the door all the time and people walking over it with shoes just to use the loo?

Half-height all the way around with full height inside the shower enclosure.
But FGS avoid the public convenience brick tile look that has been the fashion for a while!

Anyone showering would shut the bathroom door though? We're not having an end panel to the shower as it would create a corridor effect as you walk into the room. Bath mat for the shower will go on a towel ring/rail when shower not in use. We already don't leave the bath mat on the floor when the bath/shower are not in use.

@dog in a tent - hopefully the styling of the room will avoid that. We are having a rectangular tile laid in brick pattern though!

To maintain the authenticity of an old house i would tile only we're absolutely necessary.... just the shower.

I have lived in three houses and in all three the first thing I've done is rid the bathroom of floor to ceiling tiles!