Show Stopping Bathrooms: Unique Takes On Tile

You don't have to be an interior design pro to create a stunning bathroom. Bathrooms are functional, but also offer a place to decompress and relax — and should reflect your personal sense of style. Not only is natural stone and porcelain tile easy to maintain and keep clean, its beautiful colors, textures and patterns make it simple to create a fresh and exciting bathroom. Whether your style is classic, rustic or contemporary, you can use the following designer tips to transform your boring bathroom into a showstopper.

Classic Design with a Creative Twist

In your bathroom design, don't settle for traditional bead board. Marble and other natural stones — available in slabs, mosaics, and various tile sizes — create a solid, upscale ambience. Try a pop of pattern in a classic hexagon shape; geometrics are a hot trend in home interiors, familiar yet updated for today's designs. Using the same type of stone in varying sizes and shapes creates a cohesive look and feel. In this bathroom, the hexagon backsplash blends flawlessly with the subway tiles, the matching baseboards, and the rail moldings.

Rustic/Modern Mash-Up

Featured: Greecian White Marble Collection

Mix it up to create a look that's all your own: Try pairing traditional materials that, together, aren't traditional at all. For example, combining wood plank tiles with metallic mosaics seems unlikely… but it works to create a showstopper. This design features 6x40 porcelain tile planks. In addition, the floor tiles are used to wrap both the bathtub and the sink, for a more cohesive look. This surprise pairing contrasts the refinement and modern aspect of the mosaic accent wall with the rustic feel of the wood-look flooring. 

Contemporary Design with Down-To-Earth Accents

Featured: Salvage Musk Porcelain Tile, Madison Avenue Mosaic

Mix creative design elements to make a sleek, contemporary look feel cozy and down-to-earth. This featured room combines the warm, rustic look of wood with the easy-maintenance durability of porcelain tile. Placing the wood-look tile on the wall instead of the floor offers a unique take on the "cabin in the woods," and perfectly complements the focal point of the luxury bathtub. The soothing color and intricate texture draw you in, unifying the space perfectly. 

Mosaics Add the Playful Touch

Featured: Forest Natural Wood Pattern Porcelain Tile 

Mosaic tiles break up the stark, ultra-modern look of this luxury shower, adding a playful feel and lively visual interest. Continuing the dramatic black and white pebble meshed-back insert from floor to ceiling brings a cohesive look to the space, contrasting with the linear pattern of large format tiles. The seamless glass enclosure makes the space look larger while allowing the combination of these tiles to be the showstopper of the room. 

Timeless Elegance

 Featured: Focus Porcelain Tile, Black and White Pebbles Mosaic 

The key to creating a timeless design is to use a variety of premium surfaces in traditional formats and materials — mixing and matching with flair. This bathroom is the perfect example. The light large format tile flooring displayed here contrasts with the traditionally styled cabinets in a dark rich finish. The classic, polished 1x1 Italian marble mosaic tiles in the shower continue to the recessed arch above the bathtub, and the quartz countertop bridges the divide between the lighter tiles and the cabinetry.

Embracing the Dramatic

Featured: Pietra Pearl Porcelain and Lagos Azul Quartz

Combining three different sizes of green tile can create a dramatic bathroom design. It requires careful planning to ensure the proper balance, but the result is stunning — the ultimate retreat, reminiscent of a walk through the rainforest. The "wow" factor in this bathroom comes from the 1x1, 4x4, and 12x12 Multi Green Onyx tiles.

Featured: Multi Green Onyx Collection 

With today's natural stone and porcelain tiles, you can create the perfect bathroom. Start by creating an "inspiration board" of your favorite colors, textures and patterns. Large format tiles work great for accent walls or flooring. Combine tiles from the same family of stone in different sizes to add interest. Most important of all, embrace your own creativity and think "outside the box" when brainstorming that design; sometimes the most unlikely elements combine in the perfect way to create the ultimate showstopper!