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Wall tiles are carrying more of the design work in a bathroom than they used to. Floors have settled into quiet neutrals, and the walls are where the decisions now get made.
Full-height tiling
Stopping the wall tile at door height is becoming unusual. Running it to the ceiling removes a horizontal break, makes the room read taller, and removes the painted band that was always the first thing to show damp.
The feature wall, done properly
A feature wall works when it has a reason to exist — it backs the basin, or the tub, or it is the wall you see when the door opens. A feature wall chosen at random reads as a mistake.
- Behind the basin, where the mirror and lighting already draw the eye.
- Inside the shower recess, visible through glass from the rest of the room.
- Behind a freestanding tub, where the tub gives it a subject.
If you cannot say which wall is the feature wall from the doorway, there is no feature wall — only an inconsistency.
Finishes leading the year
- Carved and fluted — vertical relief that catches light and adds depth to a single colour.
- Soft satin — some sheen, none of the glare of full gloss.
- Honed stone effects — matt, warm, closer to quarried stone than polished marble.
- Deep gloss colour — greens, burgundies and inks, used on one wall only.
Matching walls to floors
The reliable approach is to take the floor from the palest tone in the wall tile, or the wall from the palest tone in the floor. It keeps the room coherent without matching them exactly, which always looks flat.
Grout
Matched grout continues to win. Contrasting grout emphasises the grid, and a grid is exactly what large-format tiles are chosen to avoid. Epoxy grout is worth the extra cost in a shower — it does not absorb, so it does not discolour.
Putting it together
Pick the wall tile first and let the floor follow. It is the surface at eye level, it is the one in every photograph, and it is the one that decides whether the room feels finished. Sizes and finishes are listed in the product catalogues.
