Subway tile (rectangular)

Very popular nowadays, this early 20th century style has made a big comeback. It was originally used in subways as an easy to keep clean and almost indestructibe wall surface, and it can serve the same purpose in kitchens and baths today. With rectangular tiles, often 3″ x 6″, laid in a running bond brick pattern, the style is slightly more linear than you can get with square tiles, but doesn’t have the excessive number of grout lines that the long thin glass or stone tiles do.

Variations:

many colors as well as white (pale green is especially popular)
grout colors to blend in or stand out
sizes from 1″ x 2″ to larger than standard, including liner tiles as borders or horizontal stripes
set vertically instead of horizontally.
If you want a truly stunning but labor-intensive effect, use small rectangular tiles horizontally or vertically to form “flame” patterns as used in bargello or florentine style needlepoint (picture).

The rectangular shape can also be used in other traditional brick patterns as well as running bond – any brick pattern will work such as herringbone or flemish bond, although you’ll need to do some cutting to get half tiles.

Square tiles

These are a standard shape but they can be found in many sizes from less than 1″ across to over 12″, smooth or textured, glossy to matt, all colors including metallic, or transparent or translucent glass.

Setting patterns include, as well as the normal square-by-square: running brick pattern, diagonal (“on point”), large and small tiles combined, square and liner (long and thin) tiles combined.

Round tiles

These are usually mosaic-size (2″ or smaller), otherwise the pattern would include a lot of grout. Gives a pebbly effect and can look great in glass tile, particularly.

Mosaic Tiles

Small tiles, usually bought already set onto a 12″ square backing sheet for easy setting. They can be square, rectangular, round, oval, or hexagonal. Get them in all one color, stripes, random patterns, even design your own random color blends on a website and get the tiles shipped to you. The small tile size means lots of grout lines, which is good for grip (especially on a bathroom floor or shower pan) but can mean lots of cleaning.

Glass tiles

Very fashionable at the moment, glass tiles are beautiful but more finicky to set than regular ceramic tiles. They are often transparent or translucent, which means you can see the setting mortar behind them, along with any gaps or discoloration in it! White mortar is normally required, so as not to change the glass color.

Stone tiles

Stone tiles come in many finishes, from polished through honed (matte) to tubmled, with rough edges and surfaces. The colors are often variable, and the edges may be uneven, requiring wider grout lines; stone tiles may also require sealing, like countertops, if tey will be exposed to food splatters etc. Tumbled stone tiles may collect dirt in their crevices if used on a backsplash behind a range, for example, so be cautious about where you use them.

Tiling ideas can be used in many areas of your home, but the bathroom and kitchen are the most popular.

Choosing a new bathroom floor has two main aspects: practicality and looks.

The floor will get splashed, at least, and perhaps soaked, so it needs to be able to resist water and not get slippery when it’s wet. It needs to be easy to clean, especially if it’s to be installed in a heavily-used family bathroom. It must be able to be installed on the floor substrate that you have available – for example, a ceramic tile surface needs a substrate that does not flex, otherwise it will crack.

Bathroom flooring materials fall into two main categories: hard or resilient/soft.

Hard Bathroom Flooring Materials

These include:

• marble tiles or slabs
• stone tiles or slabs (eg limestone, slate or granite)
• terra-cotta tiles
• ceramic or porcelain tiles
• wood (solid wood or engineered)
• laminates (wood, stone or ceramic-look)

It’s very important that whatever hard material you choose has a non-slip surface, for safety in the bathroom, as well as being water-resistant.

Wood and laminate materials have to be carefully sealed and engineered in order to be water resistant, and may not be suitable for bathrooms where the floor is likely to get soaked, rather than just dripped on.

Most stones must be sealed, and re-sealed at regular intervals in order to resist water and stains.

Tiles of any kind require grouting, and grout requires sealing to prevent grout stains which are especially likely on a floor. Consider using a grout color which won’t show dirt, as well as sealing and resealing whenever necessary.

Resilient/Soft Flooring Materials

These materials are either soft, like carpet, or have a little “give” to them and can feel warmer and easier on the feet than the hard materials. Some examples are:

• rubber in sheets or tiles
• vinyl in sheets or tiles, cushioned or not
• linoleum
• cork
• carpet

Carpets in bathrooms go in and out of fashion, and are currently “out” – for good reason. A bathroom carpet will always get wet eventually, and moisture+carpet=mold. Carpet around a toilet will get nasty, sooner or later, unless the bathroom sees very little use. It’s much healthier to have a hard or resilient floor with removable rugs on top that can be easily removed, washed and dried, than to permanently install carpet.

Heated Floors

What could be better for bare feet than a warm floor in the bathroom! Floor heating systems are a great addition to your bathroom and because the space is usually fairly small, are not prohibitively expensive. Homes with hydronic (hot water) heating systems can run hot water tubes under the flooring, and others can install electric resistance heating wires. There are systems which will work with wood floors as well as hard stone or tile floors.

Small Bathrooms

Flooring choices for small bathroom designs have some unique limitations.

In a small bathroom, the floor space may not lend itself to custom borders or medallion designs, simply because you won’t see enough of the floor to make the design properly visible! On the other hand, because you don’t have to buy many square feet of the material, you may be able to splurge on something more expensive than if you had a larger area to cover.

Diagonal-set tiles make the small room look larger

To expand the floor space visually, there are some tricks you can use:

• Get as much as possible up off the floor, so as much floor can be seen as possible. That suggests a wall-hung toilet, pedestal sink, wall hung cabinets or cabinets on legs, and perhaps even a clawfoot tub.
• Make design lines extend as far as possible. In most bathrooms that would be diagonal lines, so consider planks set on the diagonal of you’re doing a wood-look floor, or diagonal tiles in a tile or tile-look floor.

Functionally, there are many things to take into account. When choosing tiles, make sure the tile you pick is suitable for the area you plan to use it – waterproof enough for the bath or shower, and textured and tough enough for the floor.

Here are some pictures of tile use in bathrooms to help you come up with your own bathroom tile design ideas.

Large wall tiles broken up with narrow contrast stripes behind a white vessel sink

The large pale mottled/marbled effect tiles have a quiet, soothing effect, while the contrast stripes are made up of multiple small stone tiles in different colors, and break up the expanse to a more human scale.

Pale blue/grey/silver mosaic tiles behind a white vessel sink

The subtle damask-type pattern in these pale blue-grey tiles sweeps over all the bathroom walls. It gives the walls lots of interest while not being obtrusive, and makes a great background for the natural wood, metal and stone finishes.

Shades of black, grey, white and silver mosaic tiles

This is quite a busy mosaic tile pattern. It might make a good shower or bathtub surround for a morning-use bathroom when you want to be woken up! Alternatively, panels of this pattern surrounded by white would pop out and make a statement without being overwhelming.

Large pale diagonal tiles with narrow striped accent

These are the same pale marbled tiles in the first picture above, with the same small rectangular stone accent tiles, but here the large tiles are set on the diagonal. The swoopy towel ring makes a nice contrast with the straight lines of the tiles.