Bathroom

[Catchycatchytune]

I’m having a new bathroom. It will be white, of course, but what tiles do I want? Ideas please. Also, I’m looking at tiling the whole bathroom, as it does away with painting the walls. Is that a good look? Do I tile the floor in the same tiles?

My head is spinning with possible options. I like a plain simple look, nothing fancy. Thank you.

Walls:
If tiles are what you love ..
I'd plan to have as little grout to clean as possible. Large matte white, close together on three walls.
I would choose something blue/green shiney or handmade for one wall - or just part of one wall or behind the basin or above the bath. This I would choose for my own aesthetic reasons.

If tiles are not your fave, research large sheets of vinyl or other bathroom wall sheeting. I love the sheets that look like round vertical wood strips, and v board. Some wallpaper is made for bathrooms. Having a picture rail as high as the top of the door top is a good way to separate an upper painted surface from a lower different wall treatment.

Floors: Choose a non slip surface that is not too hard if you fall. I love cork tiles and vinyl options.
If you choose ceramic tiles, make them large and mid grey or mid umberish, patterned or plain, with the grouting the same deep colour as the tile.

My considerations are cleaning.
Scour pictures and magazines.
Always go and see exactly what you are planning in real life.

White tiles on a bathroom floor will show every tiny spec and hair.

Why do you want to do away with painted walls?
Ive always had painted plaster in my bathrooms and if the plaster is properly prepared, you have a good extract and use a good quality bathroom paint, then it stays put/no peeling. Full tiling is very cold

I have Lustre tiles from Topps - white but with a sheen as the name suggests.

Like you I prefer a plainer look. My bathroom is only 6ft so I have three tiled walls and one painted. If your bathroom is bigger, you might want to do differently.

My floor tiles are lovely and a joy to look at but I will point out: the floor is cold and unforgiving if you drop something. Im fine with those but you might not be in which case I'd look at LVT.

Thanks everyone. I like the idea of a fully tiled bathroom as then it will never need painting.

I really need to get this right, as I’ll be spending a lot of money.

I’m thinking floor tiles and then a similar shade for the walls.

Keep it minimal by using* *plain white tiles on the walls and a light gray or soft neutral tile on the floor. Tiling the entire bathroom gives a sleek, low-maintenance finish, and sticking to simple shapes like squares or rectangles keeps the look clean and timeless without feeling busy.

@Catchycatchytune The best looks for you can be found at Porcelanosa. I’d not have fully tiled but accept it’s sleek. Definitely large format and non slip for floor. We have fully tiled in one bathroom though! Others are a mix of tiles in shower and painted. We have fully tiled bathrooms in a holiday house and I wish we didn’t!

But painting a wall is way way less effort than redoing grout. You can expect proper bathroom paint to last about 7 years or so, and grout about 15 years. Painting twice is way easier than regrouting once!

All tiles will be very like a swimming pool/commercial area, but if you're okay with that aesthetic, then my tips are:

• get samples of a few tiles, then wipe them with a wet cloth and leave it to dry. Hold it to the light - is it streaky? Buy tiles that do not show streaks, or you'll not only have to wipe your walls, you'll have to polish them with a dry cloth too!

• for the floor, choose a colour which will not show your hair, and whatever colour hair other people in the family have.

@Macadamian I’m not sure what tiles you are talking about, but modern large format tiles virtually butt up to each other. We’ve never touched grout and our fully tiled bathroom is over 25 years old. As good as new. If you have small tiles and space them out, there’s more grout and I think it looks awful. Always go large format and keep it sleek,

Yes I’m looking at the large tiles.

What about micro cement? Warmer underfoot than tiles, waterproof, matched to F&B and no grout? Can be done smooth or rougher for a more "period" look. I have friends with 17th century farmhouse and v modern "cube" and looks great in both.

I have just had a new bathroom and I have the same tiles on the floor and walls. I also made sure everything- toilet, cupboard and vanity unit were wall hung. So much easier for cleaning. Toilet at comfort height( future proofing).All fixtures are white and the tiles are beige. Our previous bathroom was white with white tiles and the tiler suggested they needed to have a bump in them not be completely flat as it would be dull. He was right as the light played on the tiles. I wouldn’t have white tiles on the floor it would be too much. Definitely agree with a poster saying large tiles and I agree. Attaching photo so you can see how they go together.

That looks really lovely. I’m stealing the free standing idea, thanks for sharing.

following for ideas!

@Catchycatchytune Free standing, or wall hung, is hardly new. Have you not looked in magazines or bathroom retailers? Always have wall hung if you want easy cleaning, but you have to accept the cistern and plumbing are hidden behind tiles.

Thank you. I was a bit annal as I wanted everything square / rectangle. Couldn’t believe the number of showers with square shower heads but the controls were round. I highly recommend Plumbworld. Very reasonable and decent quality. The other make we were pleased with was Hansgroh. Lovely shelving and grab rail in our shower which we use to hang bath mat on , it’s square- chrome. Just think worth paying a bit extra for aesthetics. Hope your renovation goes well.

Painting is a MILLION times easier than maintaining tiles. Grout cleaning on a fully tiled bathroom is a never ending job plus if you break a tile thats a whole other big issue.

My old house had a fully tiled bathroom and it constantly looked dirty as the group faded and discolored over time especially due to the horrible damp issues we got. 10 years in it might as well have been the set for Saw or Supernatural it looked so bad. I would have re-grouted but it would be so much work with that many tile that it was just a hugely daunting job that we kept put off. Some of the floor tiles broke, right in the middle of the floor, nothing we could do about it except rip everything out.

Our new house has cracked floor tiles too from before we bought it (bathroom one of the few room left to reno).

Our new bathroom in this house (the one we have done) has panelling, its the easiest option by far and comes in loads of style. We have a white oak effect (although in photos it just looks white but in real life you can see the white on white woodgrain effect). We have a dark coloured wood effect LVT on the floor, the fitter basically doesn't use anything else on floor as he says it been proven to be the best option overall (he gives a lifetime warranty so avoids doing stuff that he knows will need constant call outs to fix, all his suppliers are ones he knows last).

@housethatbuiltme It’s absolutely not! I virtually never clean grout. The key to a sleek bathroom is large format tiles that almost butt up to each other. Eg 600 x 400. Very little grout is exposed. It’s straightforward modern bathroom design. If you are willing to have a darker tile, you can use darker grout too. Always ensure bathroom is well ventilated and heated. This more or less removes grout issues.

OK nice to know you don't clean your house, strange brag. Just because you don't clean and use dark colours doesn't mean its clean, its just better hidden dirt. Which isn't always the case either as limescale is often off white colours.

Does not invalid my lived experience though which is a non debatable fact or my many valid points.

Your lived experience (yuk) is probably wide grout and lots of it. Of course the grout isn’t dirty! How bizarre. I’m now assuming you have never been in a modern bathroom with modern large format tiles. The op wants a new bathroom, not some outdated tiles with manky grout!

Here are a couple of quality bathrooms! Spot the grout!

I know you are correct about the grout. My friend has a fully tiled bathroom and you can’t really see the grout.

We had rectified tiles which means the edges abut the next tile and no need to buy strip edges. The tiles need to be porcelain and 10mm I believe otherwise on the floor they would crack. I have also noticed there are people out there advertising their services to clean the grout for you.

Floor tiles tend to be thicker.

I've just finished an additional shower room (the family bathroom will be later this year) and I used shower panels because they are so easy to clean. I just painted the walls.

For the family bathroom I'm having shower panels again, pink tiles, painted walls and I'm considering lino for the floor because the tiles I had in my other house broke under foot.