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The right tiles provide protection and decoration and also decide the room’s style.
Damp, thermal shock and daily wear and tear are all factors to be reckoned with in the bathroom, where tiles fulfil a fundamental protective function. However, their aesthetic values are no less important: a well-designed surface can transform a compact room into an attractive, welcoming space.
So let’s take a look at how to choose the perfect bathroom tiles, bearing in mind all the factors that may affect the end result.
Criteria for choosing the tiles to use in your bathroom
A good bathroom design always starts from a clear vision of the room and how it will be used: a comfortable, functional, attractive place for its users.
Since every detail of this design affects the end result, the role of the tiles will be crucial. From choice of materials to colour-matching, from the most suitable size to the geometrical forms to be covered, Marazzi caters for all these needs with stylish, innovative ceramic tile collections.
The most suitable materials for the design of your bathroom
When it comes to bathroom coverings and tiles, porcelain stoneware is the ideal choice for anyone looking for good looks combined with technical performance. In fact, this material provides excellent resistance to damp, impacts and stains while also being easy to clean and maintain, as well as impressively durable over time.
The Marazzi collections deploy these characteristics to unique effect. The Scenario collection, for example, celebrates craftsmanship with glossy surfaces and vibrant colours that give dynamism to walls. Vero, on the other hand, interprets the beauty of natural wood with the strength and convenience of stoneware: a warm, welcoming, tough solution for every type of bathroom design.
Which tile shapes and sizes should you choose?
The tiles’ shape and size have a considerable effect on the perception of the space in the room. Large slabs, like those of the Grande collection, are often thought suitable for big interiors, but actually they’re an excellent solution for small bathrooms too, since their continuous surface, with very few visible joints, helps to create a more uncluttered, spacious visual impression.
In tight spaces, the installation pattern plays a strategic role: arranging tiles horizontally makes walls look wider, while placing them vertically emphasises the room’s height and elegance. The secret lies in knowing how to calibrate the proportions by carefully coordinating the tiles’ size and shape with the real volume of the room, to obtain a balanced, elegant overall effect.
Colours and finishes
The choice of colours for the bathroom directly influences the perception of space in the room and the visual and tactile impression it creates. The tiles’ colour has therefore to be considered very carefully, paying attention to both the natural daylight available and the shade of the artificial lighting used.
Light, neutral shades like those of Lume and Bliss provide a radiant background, ideal for airy, relaxing interiors. Flora, on the other hand, is a contemporary interpretation of a vintage concept, with a delicate, sophisticated look. Last but not least, the choice of finish also has an expressive function: matt surfaces have a soft appearance and create an inviting, silky, comfortable effect.
Combining floor and wall tiles in the bathroom
An attractive bathroom must be carefully designed, with coordinated floor and wall tiles that establish an exquisite dialogue. The aim is to create a tasteful interior that conveys a sense of order, wellbeing and visual continuity.
Therefore, Marazzi offers coordinated collections to simplify design choices and offer solutions in which colours, textures and sizes combine naturally.
Matching colours and textures
When choosing the combination of a room’s horizontal and vertical surfaces, the first step is to decide on a consistent colour scheme. The use of shades that harmonise with one-another can provide the basis for a sophisticated but not necessarily uniform look: often, well-chosen contrasts of matt and glossy finishes, or smooth and structured surfaces, can generate fascinating visual depth.
One emblematic example is the Momenti collection, with a rich variety of colours, textures and decors ideal for anyone aiming to create bold but perfectly balanced combinations. Opting for a floor in subdued shades together with decorative wall tiles in the same colour range gives the interior personality without overloading it.
Mixing materials for a dynamic effect
Apart from ensuring that the bathroom is consistent in style, materials or forms can be added or subtracted to make it more striking and individual. The combined use of multiple material effects is an excellent way of constructing dynamic, multisensory interiors, in which every surface has a story to tell.
For example, a stone-effect stoneware floor can be selected to create a natural, tactile background, decorated with mosaic inserts around the washbasin or shower.
On walls, three-dimensional surfaces can help to generate depth and rhythm. The Lume collection is perfect for this purpose: its shiny, uneven finishes evoke the beauty of hand-crafted ceramics and are ideal for transforming a plain wall into a focal point of the design scheme.
Bathroom tile styles and trends
Current trends in bathroom design focus on simplicity, textured materials and tiles of oversize dimensions. The minimal style, for example, deploys large slabs in neutral colours, which help to create a uniform, relaxing interior with visual continuity. On the other hand, lovers of the urban effect can choose an industrial aesthetic, with surfaces inspired by concrete that interpret this trend perfectly, with immaculate elegance.
Warmer, more natural moods are also popular: in this case, the wood-effect tiles of the Vivo collection are a solution that combines an authentic wood look with the convenience of porcelain stoneware. For more sophisticated interiors, though, a luxury style is called for, and can be provided by the dramatic impact of glossy marbles reinterpreted by Grande Marble Look, which bestows depth and light on interiors with its beautiful veining and shiny finishes.
The most fashionable trends also include intense colours, tactile textures and maxi sizes, all of which create bathrooms with a strong expressive personality, where design meets practicality in a distinctive, contemporary way.
Mistakes to be avoided when choosing tiles
Even a bathroom carefully designed in every detail may be less attractive or convenient if the tiles haven’t been chosen with the necessary care.
One common pitfall relates to the proportions: choosing tiles that are too large or small in relation to the room’s actual dimensions may create a jarring visual effect, accentuating imbalances instead of mitigating them. The right size is a matter not just of style but also of achieving an equilibrium between solids and voids, surfaces and forms.
Last but not least, failing to ensure design consistency with the rest of the home or with the intended character of the bathroom itself may create unsightly clashes. The tiles must dialogue with the interior, helping to construct a space that’s attractive to look at and pleasant to use, in line with your taste and the style of the project as a whole.
When choosing your bathroom tiles, bear in mind that your aim is to create an interior tailor-made for you, where style and function unite in harmony. With Marazzi’s porcelain stoneware and ceramic solutions, it’s easy to create unique, elegant, durable bathrooms.
Explore all Marazzi’s bathroom collections and be inspired by design that combines beauty, technology and sustainability.
