Bathroom tiles: 5 design ideas

When it comes to furnishing the home, the choice of bathroom tiles is one of the most critical aspects. Materials, colors and other characteristics of the tiles chosen have an impact not only on how functional the room is: they are also essential to determine the look and feel.

Furnishing choices for the bathroom must also meet specific aesthetic requirements regarding design, style and customisation options. Porcelain stoneware ceramic tiles are the perfect choice to guarantee top performance in the bathroom area in terms of resistance and hygiene; they are both easy to clean and stylish, with a broad variety of finishes and effects.

What makes ceramic material perfect for the walls and floors of the home and the bathroom area? We’ve discussed this in an article on the advantages of ceramic tiles. When choosing the perfect ceramic material, and specifically bathroom tiles, a variety of factors must be taken into consideration: colours, sizes, styles, shapes and finishes.

How to choose the most suitable porcelain stoneware tiles for the bathroom? We have five design solutions to suggest for a trendy, modern bathroom.

1. White tiles for an elegant, modern bathroom

White tiles are one of the most popular options for bathroom design, especially for completing the furnishing style of a modern bathroom.
White ceramics are the ideal choice for highlighting the furnishings with a touch of class, given the elegant, timeless allure that makes them perfectly suitable even for contemporary settings.
White porcelain stoneware tiles embellish floors and walls, brighten the room and make it seem larger, creating a profound sense of order and calm.

It is no coincidence that white was the choice made by the director Stanley Kubrick for every scene where the aim was to transmit a sensation of evanescence, suspension and futuristic progress.
To further amplify the brightness and style of your bathroom, the top choice from among the numerous floor and wall options offered by Marca Corona is undoubtedly the marble-effect reflex surfaces and the supremely glossy, luxurious glazed porcelain stoneware tiles.

Why should you choose the marble-effect wall tiles from the Foyer collection?

The bathroom tiles from the Foyer collection by Marca Corona use the sheen of the marble-effect surfaces to bring extra light and elegance to modern bathrooms. The faithful reproduction of the prestigious material it takes its inspiration from is complemented by a striking pop-luxe edge, thanks to the addition of innovative terrazzo-effect details, turning the bathroom into a truly exclusive, sophisticated setting!

Which bathroom tiles to choose to create a striking effect?

Versatile and easy to cut, white-body ceramic wall tiles are the perfect choice to give your bathroom walls a timeless allure. An example? The Soul Bay collection, with its material feel and natural, aquatic tones, is ideal for completing the decor of white, modern bathrooms, for a minimal, contemporary, elegant style.

2. 3D effect: for an intriguing, sculptural impact

While white tiles are designed to make rooms extra-bright, the aim of 3D tiles is to create delightfully original effects thanks to the refraction of the light: even wall tiles with the simplest, most elegant relief textures are able to create appealing aesthetic effects, thanks to a few simple light design tricks!

When we think of 3D wall tiles, we often don’t think of ceramics, or we only think of white-body tiles, ever a favourite for this type of installation. But we couldn’t be more wrong!

Porcelain stoneware engineering techniques have come a very long way, and today it’s also possible to create innovative 3D surfaces for the bathroom in stoneware: these surfaces are able to combine all the technical advantages of porcelain stoneware with an impressively wide range of effects, finishes and colours.

3D bathroom wall tiles, for a sophisticated allure

In the bathroom, 3D wall design need not be provocative or over the top. The Marca Corona collection of 4D tiles, for instance, makes the most of the expressive potential of three-dimensional wall tiles to shape simple, sophisticated settings, guaranteeing elegance thanks to the geometric and floral patterns and the simple, striking shades of white and irresistible deep blue.

Choosing these particularly striking, decorative wall tiles makes it possible to bring character even to the smallest, plainest of settings. One example is the bathroom of Villa Bonvicini, a private residence in the Paris countryside, where the 4D wall tiles bring a splendid allure to the various bathroom areas, creating a superbly appealing tactile and visual effect. The 3D decoration is the simplest solution to create a modern room that’s sure not to go unnoticed.

A bold total colour effect for fearlessly lively 3D walls

The three-dimensional ceramic wall tiles from the Bold collection bring out all the eccentric appeal and expressive power of the 3D tiles, shaping a decidedly eye-catching style thanks to the creative geometric patterns and fresh retro colours.

The pop side of this ceramic collection is more evident than ever in the bathroom of the Pool House, an interior design project created by Michelle Boudreau for the Modernism Week 2019 in California.

The three-dimensional details and satin-finish glazes of these 3D ceramic wall tiles create a vintage bathroom in perfect ‘60s style: the numerous international visitors were particularly struck by the fun combination of patterns and the bold colour blocking using Bold Round Marsala and Bold Line Sage. The three-dimensional wall tiles in the Bold collection have been specifically studied to enhance the personality of creative, multi-faceted bathrooms.

3. Hexagonal cementine tiles for a designer bathroom

Hexagonal cementine tiles are back in fashion, thanks to their retro allure and sophisticated shape, and they’re now featured in the most popular, instagrammable designer bathrooms. Why should you choose porcelain stoneware hexagonal tiles?

This type of cementine tiles is durable, resistant to water and stains, and most importantly, it’s ultra-stylish! The hexagonal shape is perfect for cementine bathroom tiles, to create decor projects with an authentic, pleasantly retro design.

Terra cementine tiles, for elegant bathrooms

The Terra collection offers several appealing sizes of cementine tiles, including hexagonal tiles: the natural beauty of the cotto effect is further enhanced by the small, hexagonal sizes, which can be used to create endless decorative combinations.

The versatility of this collection is able to bring style and character to any bathroom area, in both residential and commercial settings, and is ideal for use on both floors and walls. We can admire the decorative possibilities offered by these tiles in numerous Marca Corona projects, such as the Be Open Primary School in Prague, or the elegant combination of Astro, Cornice and Coloniale decor elements in the Piazza Mercato Restaurant in Pescara.

Back to the future: cementine tiles take on a boho, retro touch with Paprica

The serial geometric elements that characterise the vintage cementine tiles are given an elegant, colourful style twist in the new Paprica series of floors and wall tiles by Marca Corona, which take their inspiration from the eccentric, radical design of the Memphis Group, one of the sharpest on the post-modernist scene of 1980s Milan.

The genius of these tiles lies in their specific ability to bring a new slant to a major bathroom furnishing design classic – decorated cementine tiles – using all the superior technical and aesthetic potential of porcelain stoneware. Paprica is a decor solution packed with personality and graphic appeal!

4. Material allure and elegance, with stone-effect bathroom

The appeal of stone embellishes the bathroom area, evoking the age-old allure of an authentic material that has played a leading role in “interior design” since the dawn of time.

Once again, this tribute takes the form of porcelain stoneware, the most effective solution for anyone looking for a resistant, stylish, low-maintenance bathroom.

Stoneware surfaces are able to offer a faithful reproduction of the colours and veining effects typical of the natural stone, bringing an appealing, vibrant look to bathrooms with a confident, deliberately material edge.

The cool, natural tones of the stone-effect porcelain stoneware surfaces make them ideal for both floors and walls, as well as to form attractive combinations with decorated cementine tiles, such as in the bathrooms of the suites in Hotel Indigo Filipa in Krakow, where the StoneOne tiles take on a fresh expressive allure thanks to the original Mix Decoro cementine tiles from the Terra collection.

The expressive potential of ceramic tiles is also perfectly evident in the white-body tile collection designed exclusively for walls. For example, the Mementa and Soul Bay collections bring a whole new edge to the stone wall covering concept, with strikingly material textures and three-dimensional patterns with oriental-like details and aquatic shades that allow for the creation of new, contemporary bathrooms with an authentic or biophilic design.

5. Colourful walls for a small yet appealing bathroom

The versatility of porcelain stoneware and white-body ceramic tiles lies in the incredible variety of sizes, finishes and colours available.

Which colour is best suited to the walls of a small bathroom?

For the floors and walls of a small environment, light colours are ideal to make it seem brighter and more spacious.

Ceramic tiles in soft or bright colours reflect the light and bring a more vibrant touch to the setting, making even the smallest of bathrooms seem less claustrophobic, and choosing flamboyant details or striking graphics can help add character to smaller spaces, turning little bathrooms into striking designer settings, so that size becomes a minor issue!

Neutral colours and expressive shades: how to make the right choices

Once you’ve decided to go for light-coloured tiles for your bathroom furnishings, the next step is to choose from two of the major wall tile categories: neutral or more vibrant colours. The style of the tiles will inevitably have an impact on the selection of the bathroom furnishing units and on the final atmosphere created: the choice of a particular shade over another must be consistent with a precise furnishing concept, so it must be carefully chosen and functional.

The Ossidi and Victoria collections by Marca Corona are a valid example of how a tile can transform a small bathroom in two completely different ways. The glossy tiles from the Ossidi collection are the perfect complement to the intense retro colours, rich graphics and original sizes, giving the bathroom a beautiful vintage, almost artisan flavour.

The appealing ceramic tiles of the Victoria collection, meanwhile, create more sophisticated atmospheres in the bathroom, bringing an “allegra con brio” symphony touch shaped by the three-dimensional sensation and a bon ton palette of irresistible colours. Pastel tones and intense colour accents make for a delightfully modern bathroom.

The perfect bathroom tile is one that awakens emotions

Identifying the perfect tile collection for your bathroom is an important challenge that requires particular care and attention to guarantee major, lasting satisfaction. The choice of surfaces and wall coverings able to stand up to wear and tear, chemicals and all the stresses typical of the bathroom area, must necessarily take into consideration porcelain stoneware and white-body ceramic tiles, two of the options that offer the highest performance available on the market today.

Resistant, non-absorbent, easy to clean and maintain, versatile to install and with all the quality you’d expect from Italian-crafted products, Marca Corona ceramic tiles are the perfect material to support any bathroom renovation project.

The next step inevitably regards style: the ideal bathroom tile must be suited to our tastes, stimulate our creativity and above all awaken emotions. The sizes and designs conceived for the bathroom have been devised to bring as personal a touch as possible to our residential and commercial spaces, turning them into inviting settings with a uniquely personal touch.

We know that both private customers and project designers always pay particular attention to the bathroom, and that the choice of ceramic tiles is considered one of the most important aspects of a furnishing project.

This is why Marca Corona has developed a wide range of bathroom tiles to satisfy all kinds of style and technical requirements: come and explore them now!