Since a very, very long time ago, the ceramic tile has been the finish of choice for any bathroom floor and walls; for one practical and specific reason: its impermeability! Out of necessity at first of course (since waster splashing does happen in bathrooms) grew a predictable tendency to make these tiles actually look very nice. So from the shiny 'subway tiles' we had in fancy bathrooms of the beginning of the 20th century, we have evolved to the large stylish tiles we have today. While nice 1900s period correct tile design fits perfectly in a vintage house, for the modern house there are many more options. Nowadays one can litteraly go wild with how they will tile their bathroom.  Will you tile the floor with an even color or will you allow yourself to take advantage of the nice tile
patterns available today, that when put together create a specific  picture or design?  Depending on the dimension and layout of your bathroom being renovated, there will be possibilities.

To go back to main bathroom design page, click the expression underlined here. The other important aspect you have to decide upon here is how you want to lay your tiles. Simple but effective is to lay tiles in a diagonal pattern instead of the conventional straight pattern. Diagonal layout gives the bathroom an impression of space; the inconvenient is with such a pattern there will be more wasted tiles; so you will need about 10% more tiles in the project. If you have a bathroom that is large enough, more interesting patterns can be considered; such as straight, half-tiles running off the sides, with an inside laid out as diagonal. As mentioned before also it is a good idea, when bathroom size permits, to actually use the patterned tiles available in hardware stores.

Another element in this would be how big do you want your tile joints to be? A bigger joint helps with that rustic look; smaller joints are better for antique looking projects. The joint grout color choice is also important... may I recommend here against pale colored joints? Pale joints are very easy to stain and thus need much more maintenance in order to look clean; and it is not easy maintenance I am talking about. Use darker grout shades, please! Maybe not every tile you may want calls for a darker colored grout... but for what it's worth you have been warned!