bathroom tile dilemma!

cuffie

I just wanted some advice really... I am looking for bathroom tiles and in my mind I have two looks - both very different but I don't want to make a mistake.
The bathroom is not that big - we have extended into the landing slightly so that we can get in a separate shower cubicle which will all be tiled. There is a chunky wall which will be tiled and the bath is along the same wall - the whole of that wall will be tiled. Along the back wall is a big window and we were thinking of tiling half way up. The left hand wall will have the toilet, sink and towel rail - the only tiling on this wall will be a splashback above the sink. The bits that aren't tiled will be painted white.
Look one- grey slate tiles on the floor, matt large white tiles for wall, small matt white mosaic tiles for shower cubicle. or would glossy white be better? My problem with white is that I am worried about it looking dirty after a little while. I imagine the slate tiles would need to be sealed? I don't mind sealing the floor but - definitely don't want to be sealing the wall tiles.
Look two-Large creamy beige ceramic tile-same on floor as wall. I have seen a tile I like, then to stop it being completely plain maybe a brown ceramic mosaic tile just for the inside of the shower cubicle and the splashback.
I just haven't seen anything in showrooms or mags so cannot imagine what it would look like.
What do you think? Any ideas or pictures would be gratefully appreciated!
Thanks. X

mdhughes03

I think your decision might be best informed by how long you are likely to keep the bathroom looking the same. I am currently scraping off some hideous pink "splodgy" tiles my parents fitted in the 80s without considering how much they would date so I may be biased here! I would say that slate and white colours would be much less likely to date so that would be what I'd choose and slate will last a lifetime if you want it to

pingua

After chopping and changing our minds, we are going white on the walls. We are having the vinyl stuff on the floor - probably blue moasic pattern? which we should be able to change if we feel like a change of colour down the line. Apparently our boards are not good to tile over? But am happy to go vinyl and its not expensive.

It is so hard to pick and there are so many nice 'pictures' out there - The ideal home site is quite a good starting point for ideas.

Would love to go for a totally bright bathroom - lots of colour but I know that in a few years it will probably look naff. So white it is and I suppose colour can be added with bits and pieces. And the bits of the walls that will not be with tiles we shall paint a nice blue whilst we have the blue vinyl. If we change that we just have to change the paint.

ginvzt

We just had our ensuite redone (by landlord) and we chose all white tiles (gloss) for the walls (floor to ceiling) and the same in the shower. Then a single line of blue/grey/black tiles around all ensuite, including the shower. This is the row of tiles we went for, and the white tiles are very similar (a bit more even, not so rippled).


Forgot to add - we got vinyl on the floor, an imitation of big dark grey tiles.

Partizannka

WOW! Is it the picture of your basin? What a great design idea! I love it!! Where did you get it?

ginvzt

No, it is not a picture of my bathroom, but from a website. there would be no space in our en-suite for this basin!

Sorry to disappoint....

keith969

When I had the shower room done in the last house, I went for smooth white gloss tiles - think they were 8 inch square - for the walls. Easy to clean and keep limescale off where they get wet. Matt tiles will get dirty and be much harder to clean. Floor was amtico, bit warmer on the feet than tiles.

To make it more interesting had a dado rail of coloured greenish blue glass tiles sort of like ginvzt's photo.

Becles

I've just bought these white Laura Ashley Highgate tiles and I love them to bits!
http://www.tileclick.co.uk/i/range/575x575/42.jpg

I was keen on slate on the floor but then decided to get these instead from Topps:
http://www.toppstiles.co.uk/tprod1459/section249/Zamora-Grey-Wall-and-Floor-Tile-30X60.html

Bathroom is currently a shell, so can't wait to get it all done.

I've got mosaic tiles in the ensuite shower. They are big tiles about 12" square with the tiny mosaic tiles on. However they have grooves between each piece of mosaic. The water collects in there and the grooves go black very quickly. You have to give them a good scrub down with a scrubbing brush weekly to keep on top of it. If I was buying again for the shower, I'd either choose flat tiles, or grout each tile to fill the grooves up.

Tucker

I toyed with creams and beige, but went for white as it doesn't tend to date. I just used cheap white tiles and splashed out on a few mosaics to break it up a bit as all white does look a bit too plain.

Floor wasn't done at this point, but used charcoal tiles on the floor with a grey grout and they came out looking good (took me two goes to get it right on the wooden floor though!).

Ladybird20

i went for white shiny and chrome border ,,looks very clean and swish and i thinkit will date very well,,,,,i have been trying to put up a foto without much success

cuffie

Tucker wrote: »

I toyed with creams and beige, but went for white as it doesn't tend to date. I just used cheap white tiles and splashed out on a few mosaics to break it up a bit as all white does look a bit too plain.

Floor wasn't done at this point, but used charcoal tiles on the floor with a grey grout and they came out looking good (took me two goes to get it right on the wooden floor though!).

That looks lovely. Where did you get the mosaics from? I like the colour. Are they glossy white tiles? I just cannot imagine everything together. I see things I like, then I put them together with samples, and they look crap! How dark was your flooring? I picked up some dark grey tiles from tile giant today, but they don't look right....too dark.
Thanks for posting your picture. You've done really well - its lovely. x