Tiles make all the difference to the way your bathroom looks. Other than enhancing the looks, the correct bathroom tiles also control moisture and prevent your slipping on a wet floor.

Tiles are mainly categorised as porous and nonporous. Within these two broad types, tiles can be made of many different materials. These days bathroom tiles are available in all types of colours, sizes, patterns, textures and shapes.

Since bathrooms tend to be damp and can also sometimes get water-logged, the best flooring tiles for bathrooms are the nonporous ceramic tiles. They are durable, easy to clean and resistant to dampness.

Within ceramic tiles there are options; for example, you can get tile surfaces that are skid resistant or even those that function as foot scrubbers. Unglazed tiles are a little cheaper but they absorb stains easily and so need to be washed frequently and require more maintenance.

Bathroom floor tiles are generally rectangular or square, though hexagonal and octagonal tiles are making a comeback with Victorian designs. 'Accent' or design tiles (used typically as borders separating the lower tiled and upper painted surfaces of walls) are available in narrower sizes and also in diamond shapes. These tiles can be combined with the regular square or rectangular tiles to create interesting patterns and designs.

Diamond-shaped accent tiles are also available in motifs, which can be used to give your bathroom a designer look. Narrow accent tiles, used in borders, can also separate two sections of the wall or floor using different tiles. This enables you to use a different style of tile for the floor and a different one higher on the walls.
Floor tiles in the bathroom need to be chosen especially carefully. They must be of good quality and preferably with an anti-slip surface.

Wall tiles, on the other hand, are less prone to wear and tear and need not have any special surface texture. However, if you mix and match two different types of tiles, make sure they have at least one similar feature, whether it is the size or the colour or the texture. Completely disparate tiles can give your bathroom a patchy and unpleasant look.

An element of design can also be introduced to your bathroom tiles by laying them diagonally. Alternately you could use tiles of one colour throughout the bathroom and choose sanitary ware of a contrasting colour.

Bathroom floor tiles in deeper colours give the bathroom a warm look and the floors look less dirty for longer. Other than ceramic tiles; rough, unpolished granite is also a good option for bathroom floors. It is water resistant and anti-slip. Be careful not to use polished granite, as it is dangerously slippery.

Smaller bathrooms can be made to look bigger with lighter wall tiles. White with a slight floral pattern is an all-time classic.

How to buy tiles
If you are planning to tile the entire bathroom, simply calculate the tiles required with this formula: 2 x (length x breath) + (length x height) + (breath x height). Subtract the window and the door space by calculating the area of the door and the window (length x breath). Once you have the area of your bathroom, you can buy just as many boxes of tiles as you need.

Remember, tile companies change designs often and often older designs cease to be available, so if you have a chipped or broken tile, you will have a problem finding a replacement. So it’s a good idea to buy a few extra tiles and keep them as spares.

Extravagant bathrooms
Wooden floor tiles treated to resist moisture or bathroom floor tiles with a faux wood look can give a romantic look to your bath space. Hand painted tiles or Mexican tiles on floor interspersed with terracotta tiles give the bathroom a Mediterranean look. You can also use hand painted tiles along with plain colour tiles on countertops of basins and bathtubs.

Walls can be made attractive by creating murals with mosaic tiles. Mosaic tiles are expensive; so, if you don’t want to tile up the entire wall with these tiles, you can create a small design around the shower or wash area. Alternate the mosaic tiles with tiles of a darker colour to create an attractive pattern. Murals and bold designs usually look good only in bigger bathrooms.

So, instead of dreading bathroom tiling, get creative with your bathroom tiles and before you know it you will be having longer baths than ever before.