In recent years, the bathroom, as part of the conception of the modern home, has undergone a major positive evolution. From a simple utility space, it has become a proper room for taking care of your body and mind.

Major changes have therefore also affected the bathroom’s architecture and interior design. Materials for floor and wall coverings, as well as sanitary ware and furnishing elements, now meet such high aesthetic and technological quality requirements that they are comparable to what planners and designers previously conceived for other spaces in the home.

It is not uncommon for modular, sectional and customisable bathroom furniture ranges to be extended to the bedroom and even to the living room and kitchen, creating spatial continuity between all the rooms in the home through an interplay of finishes, proportions and interpretations of the requirements for each specific functional need.

The bathroom, in line with this innovative and constantly evolving trend, has therefore lost its original connotation as a purely functional space, demanding meticulous design of all its elements. The choice of bathroom tiles, for example, is no longer exclusively linked to the need for ease of cleaning and maintenance, but is the result of a careful evaluation of a series of ideas and inspirations that are not necessarily linked to the bathroom as an autonomous space with its own fixed individuality.

Together, let’s take a look at how even the choice of the tile installation pattern in the bathroom, as well as the design of the other parts and elements, can define an innovative project that contributes to the evolution of the concept of the room quintessentially devoted to well-being and relaxation.

Tile sizes for the modern bathroom from small to medium, large and even very large

The choice of tiles for the modern bathroom can draw on an almost infinite range of sizes, colors, effects, textures and surface finishes. To narrow the field and define a design that is coherent and balanced in relation to the general context and the other spaces in the home, it is necessary, as a first step, to build on a well-structured moodboard, gradually converting inspirations into real, concrete proposals that do not however lose their poetic character and the communicative power of the initial idea.

Respecting the consistency with the moodboard and the palette of colors and materials, which is the result of a further in-depth study of the design, work on the choice of bathroom tiles continues with a second step concerning the evaluation of the size and surface texture.

A small-size wall tile, featuring a slightly rippled texture on its glossy surface that creates an interplay with alternating light and shadow throughout the day, produces a completely different aesthetic and emotional result compared to an element which, while using the same color or tactile effect, has a large or even very large size and a matt, softly uniform surface.

Choosing which aesthetic effect perfectly fits the design of our new bathroom is therefore the consequence of a series of careful assessments that bring together style and functionality, aesthetics and technology.

Bathroom tile installation patterns: inspirations and examples to copy

Once the perfect covering slabs have been chosen, the work must still be completed. Identifying the installation pattern for bathroom tiles can lead to completely different aesthetic effects and inextricably link the image of the space to an immediately recognisable inspiration or trend.
 

As a concrete example, imagine that we are holding a shiny, white, small rectangular ceramic tile. The same tile can be installed as a wall covering:

• Following a simple horizontal layout with the joints perfectly aligned vertically: the effect will be tidy, reassuring and, although modern, respectful of a certain somewhat retro mood
• Still horizontal, but vertically staggering the joints to achieve a ‘brick tile’ effect: the overtly vintage character of the composition will transport us to the subways of New York and Paris
• Creating a neat, elegant vertical design thanks to the perfectly aligned tiles: a modern mood, especially perfect for lending brightness and visual breadth to small bathrooms that are not particularly high
• Experimenting with a carefully considered creative installation inspired by personal references, including references from outside the field of design and architecture: in this case, the result will be unique, perfectly tailored to the specific nature of the new bathroom and our personality

The pool of inspiration from which to draw ideas for bathroom tiling patterns ranges from the web to social networks and trade magazines.