Features of white tile finishing
There are a number of nuances:
- This finish gives the room more light.
- White tiles are especially appropriate in small bathrooms in Khrushchev, as they visually change the dimensions of the space, making it more spacious.
- This design is aesthetically attractive and has a fresh and stylish look.
- The finishing material is white, the main advantages are that it has no design restrictions, due to which it fits perfectly with any style decisions.
Advantages
- The common belief that shades of white are impractical is erroneous. The tile is easy to clean, and on white, marks from splashes and stains are less noticeable; it is also a universal tool in the hands of designers.
- Firstly, this design is considered classic. Secondly, using white as a background, you can experiment with colors, and by changing accessories, you can change the interior of the bathroom as many times as you like.
In addition, white color can visually expand the room, create a feeling of spaciousness and lightness. And if the bathroom is narrow and elongated, then a combination of white and darker colors will visually correct the disproportion of the room.
Location of tiles in the bathroom
Several accommodation options.
On the walls
Thanks to the huge variety of shapes and designs, regular or seamless ceramic cladding is the best decorative element for decorating walls and creating a unique interior.
The photo shows the interior of a modern bathroom with white tiles on the walls.
On the floor
White porcelain stoneware floor tiles are more durable, quite easy to clean, have a very attractive appearance and a refreshing color, giving the atmosphere expressiveness, sophistication and style. The only drawback is increased soiling and impracticality.
In a niche
A recess decorated with white tiles fits especially harmoniously into the overall styling of the room, adding personality to it. Such niches can be located near the door, above the bathtub, toilet, near the shower or washbasin.
The photo shows a bathroom and a narrow niche with lighting, decorated with white mosaic tiles.
In the shower
For walls and floors in the shower, clinker tile cladding is the most popular and practical solution that is not susceptible to fungus and bacteria.
We have made a detailed article about tiling a shower stall.
Mosaic
Modern mosaic tiles are an excellent alternative to traditional ceramics. A combination of several shades with a pearlescent tint looks great.
This design will never look boring and monotonous. By choosing the right color scheme, you can create the perfect design.
White tile color combinations
In order to slightly dilute the snow-white design, harmonious shade combinations are used.
White and brown
They are an excellent complement to each other and represent a win-win design option that favorably emphasizes the bathroom interior.
Black and white
A contrasting duo of white top and dark bottom, or vice versa, divided by a border in the middle, is considered classic. A snow-white finish, complemented by dark accents in a checkerboard pattern or in any other arrangement, takes on a more interesting and impressive look.
Be sure to check out our selection of black and white bathrooms.
The photo shows a contrasting combination of white and black tiles in the interior of a bathroom combined with a toilet.
Gray-white
Graphite, lead, steel, anthracite or wet asphalt shade, in combination with white, look truly stylish. With the help of this perfectly balanced tandem, rooms in the style of minimalism or hi-tech are especially often decorated.
Check out the bathroom interior with gray tiles.
White and blue
To create a stylish design, use a combination with blue, light blue, azure or turquoise tile cladding. These two shades allow you to create a light and slightly cool atmosphere, and when decorating surfaces with pebbles, shells, starfish or themed patterns, you can create a truly marine interior.
With beige
Such a calm combination, due to its neutrality, will visually enlarge and expand the space.
The photo shows a bathroom interior with a combination of white and beige tiles.
White-pink
Gives the atmosphere a particularly gentle, elegant, attractive and at the same time noble appearance.
With silver
It will be the final, slightly glamorous touch and a wonderful accent in any bathroom.
With gold
It has an unusually solemn and sophisticated appearance, imbuing the design with aristocratic nobility and high cost.
Mother of pearl
Due to its spectacular glow, golden, greenish tints and blue and gray highlights, mother-of-pearl looks especially amazing and magnificent.
Use of metal surfaces
Metal surfaces are invariably present in the bathroom in the form of faucets, door handles, and facade elements. In a room in the modern and high-tech styles, various metal accessories may be present. They go well with all shades of white and emphasize the rigor and modernity of the bathroom.
However, metal is susceptible to moisture and can quickly become rusty in such a room. To avoid this, only special alloys with high corrosion resistance and chromium content should be used. To care for such materials, you will have to use special chemicals that will allow the metal to always shine and not become covered with plaque.
What grout color is best for white?
White tiles with black grout or with gray grout are definitely a very practical solution, since dark seams will not lose their attractiveness over time and do not require regular cleaning, which makes caring for the tiled surface much easier.
The photo shows a bathroom and white square tiles with black grout joints.
Also, grout joints can be plain or have a contrasting design. For example, red, orange, pink, yellow, blue or any other colored grout will emphasize the geometry and highlight the white tile installation.
Choosing quality tiles
Some time ago, it was possible to safely recommend material from Italian or Spanish manufacturers for use. However, new brands have now entered the market and are quickly gaining popularity. Therefore, when choosing tiles, it is worth checking with consultants about compliance with the standards and tolerances that determine the quality of the tile.
The following tolerances guarantee low porosity of the material, resistance to moisture, strength, good geometry and high wear resistance:
- UNI EN (Italian production);
- BS (made in Great Britain);
- DIN (Germany);
- ASTM-ANSI (American made);
- UPEG (French).
This product has no doubt about its quality and is characterized by a uniform and bright color.
Shapes and sizes of bathroom tiles
White ceramic tiles can be square, rectangular, or have more complex shapes, such as a hexagonal shape that looks like a honeycomb, oval, round, or in the form of a diamond and small mosaic elements. Due to unusual shapes, it is possible to create a more complex play of light and achieve various visual effects.
The photo shows the interior of a bathroom with white hexagon-shaped tiles on the walls.
Layout options for the bathroom
A fairly current and classic option is staggered or diagonal placement, which helps to hide and play up some surface irregularities. Also, the plane can be decorated with white tiles in a staggered pattern, due to the offset reminiscent of brickwork. A very original look is the herringbone layout, which involves joining the tiles at an angle of 90 degrees or a linear version with intermittent, parallel, broken or chaotic stripes.
The photo shows white rectangular tiles with a herringbone layout in a bathroom interior.
Examples of projects
Finally, let’s look at photos of several Russian projects in which designers approached the use of light tiles in bathroom design in completely different ways.
Playing with textures
Increasingly, bathroom design is moving away from mono-finishes and using several materials, textures and colors. This project is a prime example of such a combination. Three main elements coexist in the room: deep gray-blue paint, figured light tiles, and a pronounced wood texture.
Moisture-resistant paint is used in dry areas and in the upper part of the walls; below, there are small white tiles along the perimeter. Here the authors of the project used an interesting technique: instead of laying out a fairly large area with the same hexagon, in some places they diluted it with a chevron. Due to the partial similarity of the forms, an original effect was achieved: the finish seems to be pulled upward, smoothly changing its appearance.
Otherwise, a large amount of white visually enlarges the space and balances the rather dark paint color. And wood, due to its natural warm texture, adds coziness to the room. It is complemented by precious metal fittings.
Graphic design
White tiles in the bathroom don't necessarily mean a completely light palette. For example, in this project it plays an unusual role as an accent and works as a zoning tool. In total, there were three types of finishes in the room.
- Mustard-colored wall panels, behind which communications are hidden (the toilet bowl matches them).
- Large slabs of porcelain stoneware line the walls and floor of the spacious shower box.
- Small rectangular tiles in the sink area.
Despite the neutral color, the wall in the part of the bathroom where the washbasin is located turned out to be accentuated thanks to small tiles, vertical placement and contrasting grout. It is echoed by textured black details that unite all types of finishes.
Bathroom Tile Design Ideas
Popular design ideas.
Bricks
A product made to look like brick or white tile hog, which is also called metro, can have a completely different design, be matte, glossy, aged or sprayed. This cladding option always looks very interesting and modern.
Marbled
Noble aristocratic white tiles with fancy brown, gray, pink or bluish veins add sophistication and visual high value to the bathroom environment.
Under the tree
This imitation very accurately conveys the texture and has a rather natural appearance that can be distinguished from the original only by touch.
We advise you to look at interesting wood-look tile ideas.
Mosaic
It has special edges that beautifully refract and reflect light; it can have a traditional look or be decorated with fragments of stones, glass or fancy and intricate patterns.
Glossy
Such a surface, thanks to its reflective effect, creates interesting illusions in space, adding elegance, freshness and even a certain coldness to it.
Matte
To achieve the opposite, warmer and more cozy design, white matte, slightly rough tiles are suitable.
The photo shows a bathroom with a shower lined with white matte hexagonal tiles.
With drawings, patterns and ornaments
A variety of detailed designs, patterns or patterns, such as meander, arabesque or patchwork, add spice and intrigue to the setting. Tiles with flowers can become a truly powerful accent piece that looks bright and expressive and gives the bathroom an exotic touch.
Embossed
It has a voluminous convex texture, often used to highlight certain areas in a room and achieve a high decorative effect. Wave wall tiles look very unusual and, thanks to their streamlined wave-like shape, smooth out the interior space.
Lighting
Using LED strips, you can completely transform the room: depending on the color of such lighting, a white bathroom will look different.
However, many people prefer to use energy-saving lamps here, which provide lighting close to natural. In any case, white glossy surfaces that reflect light create a very comfortable environment.
How does it look with other materials?
White tiles can also be perfectly combined with other different finishes, for example, it could be just painting, wallpaper or plastic panels. For those who prefer natural and environmentally friendly materials in their design and a more stylish and presentable interior, a combination of tiles with wood or plaster is especially suitable.
The photo shows white marble-imitation tiles combined with wood trim in the interior of a modern bathroom.
Design methods
White tiles are a blank canvas, giving you plenty of design options: add a touch of gloss to create a glamorous bathroom; use gold - a classic interior will appear; wood trim will turn the room into a cozy spa.
The main thing to remember is that an all-white bathroom looks intimidating, bringing back memories of operating rooms. You can avoid this effect by using different shades of white: cold bluish or warm beige. There is also a stone-like tile, which will also help avoid associations with hospital walls.
But still, when decorating a bathroom, it is better to add at least a small amount of a different color, which will help transform the room. This can be done using small elements like mosaics or borders. Thanks to this move, the bathroom will sparkle with new colors. Colored grout can help achieve the same effect.
Combination with various textures
If the owners of the apartment do not dare to dilute the white walls with a different shade, you can pay attention to the surface of the tiles, because wall tiles may differ in pattern and texture.
At the same time, you can play with tiles, combining smooth tiles with textured ones, patterned ones with plain ones. A combination of tiles of different sizes will also look interesting: large slabs can be combined with mosaic squares.
White tiles and wood
The combination of white with wooden elements looks incredibly advantageous. Any type of wood, from light to darker, attracts attention. And if the former complement the picture, then the latter will become a contrasting highlight.
Wood, like no other material, adds coziness to a room, which cold snow-white lacks. Among other things, this is another way to add texture to the room.
The easiest way to add wood shades is to use them in the design of bedside tables, shelves and racks for storing hygiene products. A more unusual option is wall cladding using waterproof wooden panels.
Wood can also be used through laminate flooring in the bathroom, but here you need to pay attention to moisture resistance.
What styles are white tiles suitable for?
White cladding is the most popular for decorating Scandinavian interiors, minimalist or high-tech design. Also, this finish is no less relevant for classic, loft, Provence, shabby chic or other retro styles. This design and color scheme easily changes, complements and transforms the bathroom in any stylistic direction.
The photo shows a small Scandinavian-style bathroom with walls decorated with white hog tiles.
