Small bathrooms can be slightly trickier to tackle from a layout and design perspective. When you have a small space, you might instantly find yourself looking for smaller scale items and tiles, however, this is the worst thing you can do.
Scale is really important, by adding small tile patterns and small decorative accents, it often has the reverse effect and will make your space feel even smaller.
If you’re ready to go on your small bathroom redesign, we’ve put together a list of the best bathroom tile patterns for small spaces and interior design ideas that are still big on personality.
11 Small Bathroom Tile Ideas That Are Big On Personality
1.Stack Them Vertically To Fake Height
One of the greatest ways to add the illusion of more height to a bathroom is by adding a sense of verticality.
Stacking tiles vertically challenges the visual expectation of horizontal tiles too. It brings design flair and taking the tiles to the ceiling, heightens the look and feel of the space.
2. Use A Maximum of Two Types of Tiles
The worst thing you can do with tiles in a small bathroom is to overload the space with a series of different tiles. It will cause a clash of senses and your eyes won’t know where to land next.
Instead, use a maximum of two types of tiles in the space. In a small bathroom, it’s generally best to opt for one style with a plain style of pattern and intersperse with one that carries a pattern for visual endearment.
3. Create Interest With Borders & Niches
Interesting tile play is a fun way to create interest in your bathroom. Take inspiration from the below image and tile your shower niche in a different tile. Or if you have a pillar in your design, tile it in a juxtaposing tile for a sense of luxury.
4. Go Large Scale On The Floor
In a small space, you might lean towards small scale tiles, but this will make the space feel even more inferior. The floor is a great place to start when choosing tiles and opting for a larger scale design on the flooring will ground the space and give the illusion of a larger space.
These large hexagon tiles fit the bill perfectly, whilst their black design lends a modern interior design look.
5. Introduce Neutral Tiles on The Wall
North facing small bathrooms can bee even trickier to tackle, and dark tile patterns should be avoided unless you want to lean into the darkness.
To help counteract the blue light associated with North facing spaces, instead opt for neutral or beige based tiles to bring warmth and light into the bathroom. It will make a huge difference to how the room feels, and it provides the perfect base for introducing other colours into the mix.
6. Wrap The Room In Horizontal Classic White Subway Tiles
White subway tiles are a bathroom classic. They’re a timeless design and a great starting point to build in other colours.
Wrap the tiles around the whole room, the horizontal positioning will give the illusion of a wider space.
7. Have Fun With The Floor Tiles
If you want to experiment with pattern in a small bathroom with your tiles, the floor is the best place to do it. It immediately draws your eye in as you enter the room, it grounds and adds definition, and it lets the wall tiles breathe, creating a beautiful contrast between the two types of tiles.
8. Ground The Space With Black
Adding black to a space will bring modernity and ground your space. Do this with your floor tiles, and add something light and neutral to your wall tiles which will naturally lift the room and draw your eye up to the ceiling.
9. Use Half Wall Tiles For Added Interest
You don’t need to tile up to the ceiling just because you have a small bathroom.
Tiling up to the half way point in a bathroom is a clever design trick. It allows you to incorporate another colour on the upper half, but it also works in drawing the eye up, giving the illusion of taller ceilings.
10. Create A Two Tone Wall With Tiles
Challenge the expected in a bathroom and instead of doing half wall tiles, create a two tone wall with different tiles instead.
Whilst the colours are fairly busy in the space, the running continuation of vertical stacked tiles continues to elevate the walls in the bathroom.
11. Add Width With Horizontal Wood Effect Tiles
Create a feature wall with tiles, it entices the eye in and in a horizontal design, it creates the illusion of wider walls.
Wood effect tiles are less seen in bathrooms, but they lend a lovely rustic feel to the bathroom and work beautifully with neutral spaces.
Which of these small bathroom tiles ideas is your favourite? If you need any other help with tackling a small bathroom space, please let me know in the comments below!
