20 Shower Tile Ideas That Make a Splash

If you only have the time or resources for one major bathroom project, start with the shower. The many different colors, shapes, and textures of shower tile can completely transform how you see your bathroom.
Bright orange patterned bathroom
Photo: istockphoto.com

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Whether you want to add color, texture, or functionality to the bathroom, there’s likely a shower tile design out there for you. Not only is tile a timeless design choice, but its durability can add value to a bathroom for years to come. These trendy shower tile ideas are perfect for bathrooms of all sizes, and they might inspire your next renovation.

1. Woodsy Charm

Bright bathroom with various wood-textured tile
Photo: The Home Depot

While real wood paneling weakens in the face of water, there are more durable shower tile ideas that still evoke wood’s natural beauty. This waterproof porcelain tile looks just like wood and can withstand a high-moisture environment without swelling or warping. Also pictured, the 6-by-24-inch dapple gray shower tiles from Marazzi can double as bathroom floor and wall tiles for head-to-toe, back-to-nature beauty.

2. Marvelous Marble

Large rectangle tiles on bathroom wall
Photo: Wayfair

With their soft sheen and variegated hues, marble shower tiles mimic the look of ripples of water flowing across your shower even when the faucet is off. Here, 4-by-12-inch Arabescato Carrara honed marble tiles are paired with gold grout to achieve a luxurious look.

RELATED: How Much Does a Shower Remodel Cost?

3. Woven Comfort

Bathroom marble tiles
Photo: Wayfair

Add a special touch to the wide walls of a walk-in shower, or the bathroom walls surrounding a standalone tub, with the addition of shower tiles bearing a woven pattern. Resembling the warp and weft of threads, these basketweave Calacatta marble tiles from MSI make the bathroom seem more intimate and inviting.

4. Artsy Azul

Bathroom with blue patterned tiles
Photo: Wayfair

Shower tiles with a dynamic graphic overlay serve as a wake-up call to groggy morning shower-goers, but white surrounding walls can easily wash them out. The designers of this bathroom avoided that common design faux pas by using navy walls to draw all of the focus to the shower walls, which are covered by Merola Tile’s Faenza azul ceramic tiles decorated with unique snowflake patterns.

5. Minimalist Monochrome

Minimalist bathroom featuring large subway tile with a strip of black-and-white piano tile in the shower
Photo: Wayfair

Don’t have the time or budget to retile your entire shower? Consider retrofitting one region of the shower with a single band of bold tile. Here, Giorbello’s tri-colored mosaic tiles made of glass and natural stone run the width of each wall of the enclosure to add a sliver of color and texture to the room.

RELATED: 10 Shower Niche Ideas for Built-In Bathroom Storage

6. Large Marble Tiles

White calacatta marble shower
Photo: Amy Bartlam / Bedrosians

In addition to going curtainless with glass walls, marble tiles can fill the open space in large bathrooms with the interest provided by their veining. Featuring large, cool veins that slope into one another, these large marble tiles create beautiful reflections in polished metals and glass.

7. Green, Gold, and Glorious

Vintage green tiled bathroom
Photo: Fireclay Tile

For a shower tile idea that speaks to a love for color, extravagance, and vintage flair all at once, go for the gold—and green—with bold solid-color tiles and a steadfast commitment to gold fixtures and accents. Infuse some extra regality into the bathroom and shower floor with smaller green and yellow mosaic patterns, which can help to give a standard bathroom a walk-in shower feel.

8. Up the Wall

Doorless shower with white subway and blue encaustic shower tile
Photo: Rustico Tile

You don’t need paint to create a bathroom accent wall. In this bathroom designed by Drummonds UK, encaustic-style cement tiles from Rustico Tile and Stone are used to visually separate the central shower wall from two subway tile walls. The tilework continues on the main bathroom floor to lend a sense of drama and spaciousness to the doorless shower.

9. Mixed Marbles

Luxury bathroom with a garden tub, glass shower, and gray-and-white marble shower tile
Photo: artsaics.com

Why keep your new tile work hidden behind closed shower doors? The glass shower walls in this contemporary bathroom by Artsaics Studios expose the two-toned, gray-and-white marble tiles inside to play up the lighter gray marble countertop and bathtub surround and the multicolored marble floor. Visitors are in for a mesmerizing mash-up of colors and textures upon walking into the space.

RELATED: 30 Master Bathroom Ideas You’ll Want to Copy

10. Accentuated Elegance

Small bathroom with a green tile accent wall and a small LED chandelier hanging over a drop-in bathtub
Photo: C Nigro Photography; Design: Studio Nigro

No shower in your bathroom? Bring the beauty and durability of shower tile to your bathroom by applying it to a statement wall behind a tub. In this contemporary bathroom designed by Studio Nigro, a slate-colored tiled wall serves as the backdrop to a marble tub and ceramic tile floor to create a more defined and refined space to soak your cares away.

11. Geometric Grayscale

Black and white tiles
Photo credit: The Tile Shop

You can’t go wrong with the classic, elegant style that black-and-white tile bathrooms provide. From small hexagonal floor tiles to a fully covered hexagon tile shower, the simple color combination will elevate your bathroom and make accent colors pop. Distinct, eye-catching patterns on the walls and floor may even make the space look complete without the need for any extra colors at all.

12. Penny Patterns

Neutral color penny round tiles
Photo: The Home Depot

If subdued complexity is more your style, a penny tile bathroom remodel might be the right project for you. This tilework is neat and tidy without drawing attention to itself, but the small size of each circular tile leaves plenty of room for experimentation with colors and patterns. Penny-round tile in neutral colors like gray, white, and sand also look great in a bathroom with other eye-catching elements, like matte black fixtures and hardware.

RELATED: Buyer’s Guide: The Best Bathroom Faucets

13. Bold Black

Black tiles on wall
Photo credit: Tilebar.com

Installing all-black shower tile is a bold move that works best in larger bathrooms alongside shiny fixtures and glass shower doors. A departure from the traditional bright, white bathroom, this dark tile shower idea is a stylish way to make a bathroom stand out. Black tile looks great in many shapes, too, including subway tile, hexagons, or even more geometric cuts.

14. Gentle Greens

Dark green bathroom with green tiles
Photo: Zia Tile

Dark green tile showers are another way to make a statement in bathrooms without taking a risk on busier design elements. The moody, natural color is stunning when used effectively, transforming a too-bright bathroom into a cozy oasis. Dark green shower tile pairs especially well with copper or gold fixtures, low or natural light, and wood elements. If this darker color makes the bathroom feel too small, consider adding a large vanity mirror to open the space up.

15. Color Explosion

Bright red bathroom tiles
Photo: Fireclay Tile

One of the boldest walk-in shower tile ideas we’ve seen, this bright vibe is ideal for lovers of maximalist spaces and colorful elements. With the endless shower tile designs out there, the shower is the perfect place to get creative with design. This tile shower works so well with its doorless, walk-in construction so the artistic tile work is in full-focus. Not only are the colored tiles daring, but the contrasting shower floor idea and wall patterns are super trendy right now.

RELATED: What is a 3/4 Bath? The Compromise Between Half and Full Baths, Explained

16. Quite Quilted

Neutral colored quilt tiles
Photo: Nemo Tile

If white bathroom ideas are a little too bland for your liking, but you want to maintain the sterile, traditional atmosphere the color creates, laying shower tiles patterned with a subtle checker or crosshatch design in a patchwork manner can lend a bathroom a homey air. This strategy might look a little too loud or eclectic when done with multiple hues, but a monochromatic scheme of alternating light tones will keep a shower’s aesthetic under control. This quilt-inspired shower tile idea complements bronze or nickel fixtures and wooden vanities particularly well.

17. Subway and Stone

Subway and stone bathroom tiles
Photo: The Home Depot

White subway tile is a bathroom wall go-to for its clean visage and DIY accessibility, and you can never go wrong with natural stone features in a bathroom—it only makes sense to combine the two to add some dimension and style to the shower! The clean lines of subway tile walls pair nicely with the earthy texture of natural stone shower flooring. This unlikely duo might be the answer for those who don’t want the hassle of keeping a white shower floor perfectly pristine while still enjoying the classic look of subway tile in their bathroom.

18. Coastal Comfort

blue picket shaped tiles in bathroom
Photo: Fireclay Tile

While the shower isn’t exactly the beach, this light-blue bathroom shower tile will make it feel like the ocean is close. These picket-shaped tiles are elegant and inject plenty of style into a shower, and their wavy pattern and scale-like shape is perfect for a subtle nautical bathroom theme.

RELATED: Painting Your Bathroom This Color Could Increase Your Home’s Selling Price by $5,000

19. Terra Cotta Tile

Bathroom with terra cotta tiles
Photo: Zia Tile

Terra cotta tile is a popular way to add some natural earthenware flair to a shower, and it’s especially stunning when executed as a doorless walk-in shower idea like this one. Conventional wisdom would assume that glossy terra cotta would be better suited to the bathroom, but matte terracotta shower tiles provide better grip for safety and possess more old-world appeal. This understated pop of warm color matched with brass fixtures and clean white walls easily evokes simple luxury.

20. Hexagon Heaven

Pink hexagon tiles in bathroom
Photo: Fireclay Tile

This hexagon tile shower makes a statement and deviates from traditional bathrooms with its creative use of white, black, deep red, and light pink. The individual hexagon shower tiles create larger hexagonal patterns, working to make the shower walls and floor look more like works of art than a bathroom practicality.