How to Choose the Right Shower Tile

Arguably one of the most important decisions you’ll face when renovating your bathroom is selecting the right tiles for your shower. There is much to consider, from the cost of the tile installation in Brampton or across the GTA to choosing which tile most suits your design preference. 

With a wide variety of tiles on the market, which ones are best for your shower stall or bathtub surround? Let’s dive into it.

How to Find the Best Tile for Your Shower Renovation

Don’t despair: finding the right tile for your bathroom shower is easier than you might think, thanks to the following questions. Asking these will serve as your checklist to help you narrow down which tiles are right for your space. 

What’s Your Design Scheme?

The first step to any renovation is defining the design. Some popular bathroom shower styles are minimalist, modern, coastal, Mediterranean, and rustic. Once you know how you want your space to look, then it becomes much easier to select the right tile. 

• Pro Tip: If you’re unsure of which bathroom style you’d like, search each of the abovementioned designs (e.g., modern) on Google or Pinterest and take notice of the style that catches your eye.

What’s Your Budget?

The next step in identifying which shower tile to buy is setting a realistic budget, with a small “just in case” fund. While you’re setting your budget, these are some questions you may want to ask yourself:

• How much of your budget is set aside for buying tiles, grout, and other installation materials?
• Will you have tile installers lay the tile?
• If so, how much are you allotting of your budget to the labour potion of tile installation?
• How much wiggle room does your budget have? Can you set aside a contigency fund and, if so, how much?

How Big Is Your Bathroom?

Believe it or not, the size of your bathroom and shower can speak to the tile size you need. For smaller spaces, less is more. In this case, oversized or large format tiles are excellent choices as the fewer grout lines, the bigger your space feels. As for large bathrooms, you can get away with small or a mix of various tile sizes in your shower, as this will help create a separate focal point. For other bathrooms, just bear in mind that the smaller the tile, the more grout lines you’ll have to keep clean!

• Pro Tip: For homeowners that aren’t using large format tiles, get creative with your tiled shower. You can create visual interest simply by playing with tile shapes, like circles or hexagons. 

What About Texture?

At the risk of stating the obvious, showers are slippery. But you can offset potential falls by using textured tiles underfoot. You can even add textured tiles to the wall as another way to create visual interest. However, keep in mind that textured tiles require more cleaning than the average flat-surfaced tile. 

What’s Your Colour Scheme?

The other thing you need to consider is the colour scheme of your bathroom. You want your shower stall to be harmonious with the rest of the space. So, if your bathroom features neutrals, then you’ll want to blend the shower in with the space by using more neutrals for a minimalist design or make a statement by adding some coloured or patterned tiles.

• Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid of using coloured or patterned tiles. You don’t have to tile the entire space one uniform colour; rather use colours or patterns to break up the uniformity!

Which Tile Materials Should You Consider?

The final consideration is selecting the right tile materials for your shower or bath. After all, the right tile material can last for years to come. For shower or tub surround walls, you have more freedom of choice, from natural stone to ceramic, porcelain, and more. However, for shower floors the emphasis is on having non-slip tiles, so you’ll still choose from ceramic or porcelain, but you’ll be limited to textured tiles.

• Pro Tip: If your flooring contractors are doing the tile installation in Brampton or the GTA then why not add a shower niche (recessed space for shower toiletries) or a knee wall (half wall for shower storage)? Both are great options for adding more storage space to a shower and are easy to have done during the tiling process.

Picking the Right Shower Tile

Before you drive to the store and pick out tiles for your new shower stall, you may want to consider these questions first to prevent you from impulse buying the wrong tiles. As with any renovation project, it pays to have a gameplan so that you don’t blow the budget or end up with tiles that won’t work with the space.

If you’re still unsure as to which tiles to buy for your shower stall then give the Brothers Flooring a call today for a free consultation. We’d be happy to lend an ear and help come up with the best tile solution for your shower renovation.