Bathroom Tile Design: 5 Theme Ideas

Written by Doityourself Staff
on Dec 30, 2009

To ensure our content is always up-to-date with current information, best practices, and professional advice, articles are routinely reviewed by industry experts with years of hands-on experience.

Reviewed by
Charles Ramos, Jr.
on Mar 04, 2022

A unique bathroom tile design requires planning. Try these five design ideas.

1. Tropical Theme

Begin with a tan color to create the feel of sand. Keep it light and airy, like the beach. Next, add light blue tiles around the baseboard areas of your floors and walls. Add accent tiles in palm tree designs, seashells, or fish. Accent tiles can be expensive, but adding a splash adds the finishing touch to your bath.

2. Spa Theme

Using neutral colors will create a resort feeling. Beginning with the floor tile, look for a pattern that resembles rocks or pebbles. This style works well on a shower stall floor as well. Just be sure to keep the overall pattern in a natural tone.

The walls should have a marble look or the look of large stones in an asymmetric design. The grout should be a neutral tone as well. This theme is very simple, but it is quite luxurious and comfortable. If you do decide your room needs a little color, stick with light and cool colors.

3. Art Deco Theme

Think old Hollywood. Tiling the bathroom in white with splashes of black is important for this theme. Choose a color such as red, turquoise, or any other bright color that matches your palette.

Next add curves, sunburst patterns, and geometric shapes. To give it more interest, you can design a focal point by placing an interesting pattern behind the tub or around the mirror and vanity.

4. Rustic Theme

Rustic design is great for a log cabin feel. This space is ideal to install a wall mural of wildlife, keeping this theme in colors that are found in nature, such as greens, browns, and light blues. There are even tiles that look like wood. They can be used for trimming the tub or shower stall, mirrors, windows, and floors.

Most bathrooms with this theme have a lot of wood, so if you do use a wood patterned tile, be sure your tiles compliment the color of the wood. They do not have to match exactly but do need to be in a color that does not clash with the wood tone.

5. Asian Theme

This tile theme is very simplistic. You will use a base of natural colors with ornate accents. Start with a neutral tile, such as bamboo, as an overall color. This theme always uses gloss tiles. Red or black with some gold are excellent choices for the accent colors,. Yellow and green can also be used for accent colors. Use the black and accent tiles only as trim, as it is important to have clean lines.