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When it comes to choosing a floor for your bathroom, beautiful options are not as plentiful as you might think.
I recently received this question:
“I Googled for advice on what to do when your whites don’t match and came across your site. I started a small bathroom project and I’m at a stage where I haven’t completed putting things together so I can spend a little more money to repaint but it really puts me over the budget. I’m hoping maybe you could offer some advice as my hopes is that once we accessorize the space it will not be as noticeable? We used a chevron tile in the shower and shiplap around the entire small bathroom walls. Please let me know what you think?”
Worry about pattern not paint
So here’s the thing. I’m always slightly surprised when I read questions like this because it seems like too many people are so casual and self assured about throwing tiles together and think that their biggest concern is paint colours.
When combining hard finishes, especially tile in bathrooms, the right combination has only ONE pattern. The end.
Staple this to your dash when you go shopping for tile and your bathroom will look 10 times better than you ever expected it too.
More is not more when it comes to tile selection even though it seems that way at the tile store!
Read more: Two Steps to Choosing the Right White Tile
Mixing patterns
The most pressing issue in this bathroom is not that the white of the shiplap is too cool and stark to coordinate with the marble look chevron shower tile (though that is the case).
It’s that the chevron is a pattern, the marble veining on it is a pattern, the shiplap too is a linear pattern. And then we’re going to install a heavily patterned black and white cement tile floor. That’s at least three patterns too many for such a small space.
Mixing patterns in hard finishes rarely works. As a rule of thumb I simply say don’t.
The fix
To save this I suggested he find a greige hex tile to relate to the greige herringbone tile. I think a lot of people are surprised at how much ‘greige’ is found in most seemingly ‘white’ tiles and quartz.
Take that tile sample with you to find the perfect one, and make sure you use grout that matches so you don’t create another pattern on top of a pattern. (When you use high contrast grout, the cut of the tile becomes a strong graphic pattern, whereas grout that matches the tile creates more of a texture.)
I’d definitely walk away from the black shower tile as well. . . especially if you don’t have any more black in your bathroom.
There is less variety in beautiful bathrooms than you think
The tile in your bathroom is glued-down-permanent. Even though there’s a gazillion different bathrooms out there making it seem like there are countless combinations to choose from, there are very few bathrooms that are done so well that they are magazine worthy.
And usually what makes that bathroom fabulous is restraint in the fixed finishes and how it was decorated in the end.
Go ahead and review your inspiration photos again and you’ll see that what I’m saying is true.
It’s okay, I’ll wait while you do that.
So many things to consider before paint
Paint colour options are endless and the cheapest finish in the space. That final $75 you spend to change the paint colour to make it all come together is the least of your worries.
If you have just found my site and are thinking you can pull this off on your own, I think this post has demonstrates how quickly any project can go off the rails where you end up with a bunch of choices you now regret.
Each element of your bathroom or kitchen installation should support the star element that fills you with joy.
At each stage of the installation process (like the bathroom above) you should be congratulating yourself on how beautiful it looks and most importantly that you made the right choice.
If you are not feeling that way BEFORE your install, it’s not going to accidentally get better.
And I’m only saying all this because I really, really, really want you to love your home forever!!
So sign up for my free trends webinar now.
If you would like my help creating the perfect bathroom, check out my Create a Timeless Bathroom package here.
Related posts:
Dos and Don’t for Installing Accent Tile
Encaustic Tiles: Should you Embrace the Trend
My Sister’s Timeless Black & White Bathroom: Before & After
Great advice! Hopefully she heeds it.
It’s an interesting point you make that the marble veining is a pattern *within* the chevron pattern. (2 in 1).
I’m trying to put together a clear way to describe the rules for a pattern quota with that.
I’m thinking of our bathroom, we have marble countertops with veins, and then the floors have the marble veining, but in a herringbone pattern (uh-oh, two patterns) and the shower floor has the same marble veining in a hex pattern (which adds another!).
I haven’t thought these ‘fight’ with each other, I’ve thought of them as happily married.
Thankfully color matched the grout for a green-grey which matches the Calcutta veining.
If this works, does it work because the veining all matches and the grout is hardly noticed? Or does it automatically *not* match because of the different tile shapes and patterns created by their installation?
s.o.s. It’s too late to change so at this point I’d just love to hear your thoughts on the matter.
This is so interesting and I get it … but am I doomed? My 90s bathroom tile and floor is super boring yet inoffensive square white tiles (not the giant ones). I would like to put in a new shower without the huge expense of retiling the floor, and the area with the oversized bathtub/jacuzzi. Do I have to tile the shower again with this no-style square white tile? I suppose you’d say yes. 😞
Maria would say “Boring now equals timeless later.” Style, as I understand it, is not provided by your hard surfaces, but by the “styling” or decorating you do. Keeping it “boring” allows you to restyle without the expense of replacing hard surfaces. You’re not locked in to a color or pattern. For example, my rental bathrooms are done in tan Tuscan tiles, so I’m limited to warmer colored towels, etc. I hope this helps. I can’t quite visualize wThe exact question you’re asking, so I’ll leave that to Maria or someone else.
We are buildng a new house and the builder has no upcharge for 6” square Baker Blvd white which is DalTile product. I googled Square bathroom tile and there are plenty of current pictures on line showing that or similar white sq tiles. We just used it in the 3 bathrooms—tiles 50/50 offset up to ceilings….2 are walkin showers w glass wall and 1 is tub/shower combo
Looks crisp, clean and pretty timeless. These bathrooms are small and two have no windows
I didnt want lot of pattern/movement. I can paint, add pretty shower curtain in one bath, use colorful towels or art because the rooms are not overdone with competing tiles/patterns
We are building house nxt door for our daughter and family. She chose same finishes to save money toward other aspects—
We both went with the standard tile in wet areas—a 17”’square—dated maybe but not worth it to me to upgrade to 12×24 at higher price when I know that is Not a fair pricepoint.
Maria
My point was we went with square vs rectangle tiles and are happy even if they are “dated” by today’s opinion
Her bathroom looks like it’s going to be incredibly busy looking rather than calming and soothing, as you’d wish for a bathroom – just too many different textures and surfaces for such as small space. This is a good example where an interior designer would be helpful (I’ve hired one in the past who trained under Maria). I applaud the owner’s sense of adventure, though. Perhaps a glass door will hide the busy chevron and a more simple floor pattern will pull together the floor and shiplap walls. Hope she finds happiness with the final results
Thank you Maria! I have been thinking and talking about my ensuite for much longer than I care to admit… and I have been stuck for weeks in trying to figure out what tiles I want. My husband (and a few friends) quite honestly cannot understand why I am making this so complicated. So, thank you for this post!
I’m with Nathalie except I’ve been stressing on new tile for my master bath for YEARS. What I just read on Maria’s current post confuses me more. When combining hard finishes, especially tile in the bathroom, the right combination has only ONE pattern. The end. Maria, in your lovely bathrooms don’t you use more than one shape(pattern) of tile like in your blue bath in your previous house. May I ask, what hard finish do you use in your shower in your present yellow bathroom? Thanks in any help you can give.
So when I say pattern, I’m not talking exclusively about different shapes of tile. I’m saying you get one pattern, my blue bathroom had a small scale patterned diamond shaped tile on the floor and I had a black countertop and a subway tile surround in the shower. However, you can also create two patterns if you use contrasting grout on BOTH your floor tile and your shower tile which mostly doesn’t work either. Can you sometimes mix two patterns and end up with a beautiful bathroom? Once in a while yes, but if you haven’t hired a celebrity designer to coordinate all the details and are doing this yourself AND you’ve never done this before, stick to ONE pattern and you’ll be much happier in the end. Hope this helps, Maria
Ohhhhhhhhh okay yes that makes sense whew yes crisis averted thank you
I am in the final stretch of trim and accessorizing a master bathroom Reno and did not Follow your rule of patterns in permanent surfaces. In this instance, I feel like it worked and the room is both calming and timelessly beautiful. Marble tiles on the shower floor, wall feature inset and the niche back plus on the vanity backsplash. It is a different and smaller shape of the same marble material used on a larger scale shower surround tile. The smaller shaped tile repeated a leaf printed on the main area bath floor tile. What works is the similar tones. The relief is the simple quartz counter with a minimal muted vein. I used the same grout on all and it blended with every tile used drawing no attention whatsoever to those seams.
Reading between the lines, I think solid subway tile in brick lay arrangement with matching grout would not really be considered a pattern.
That’s what I now understand: grout matches tile = texture, grout contrasts tile = pattern.
My first thought was thank god Maria will help them avoid the mistake of using that floor tile. As a designer, I see it in so many new builds and it is going to quickly date itself to 2024. I don’t mind a pattern on the floor if it is in cheap vinyl that is going to be replaced anyway in less than 10 years. I hate seeing these expensive tile mistakes over and over when builders feel they need to add drama to their already all white interiors. Give me a calm timeless tile and styling can do the rest for so many more years to come.
Im with you! I feel sad knowing that that trendy floor tile (which is actually kind of pretty) is going to fall out of fashion super-fast, yet remain stuck on thousands of floors nationwide, painfully dating the spaces. It would be fun wallpaper, though.