Stylish ideas and solutions for your shower’s tiling

Choosing the right tiles and coverings for your shower can completely change the room’s mood, combining style and function in the ideal solution.

Nowadays, thanks to innovative materials and state-of-the-art design, you can choose from a vast range of options, from the classical marble effect to tiles with a three-dimensional texture, and this article will explore the ideas with the most potential for creating a modern, refined interior.

Whether you’re in search of a classical, contemporary or natural style, on the Marazzi website you’ll find solutions that combine beauty with practicality, to make your bathroom a place where style and comfort meet.

Materials and effects for covering the wall of your shower: your guide to choosing tiles

Porcelain stoneware is one of the most popular shower covering materials, since it’s so durable and versatile.

Manufactured by a high-temperature firing process, this material is extremely waterproof, making it ideal for damp places like bathrooms and shower enclosures.

The wide range of finishes embraces both tactile surfaces and smooth textures, with effects that accurately imitate natural materials like wood and marble, allowing you to create tailor-made solutions for every interior design style, from the most modern to the most traditional.

However, this material isn’t only attractive and elegant: as well as its good looks, we must underline that it’s exceptionally convenient, as it’s very hygienic, requires very little maintenance and provides outstanding resistance to stains and scratches, keeping its beauty intact over time.

Thanks to leading-edge technologies, stone-effect or marble-effect porcelain stoneware tiles accurately reproduce the varying shades of the natural materials they imitate, offering you tiles with a luxurious, refined appearance.

Marazzi has a number of different collections that accurately replicate the look of stones like travertine or Carrara marble, while the stone effect is perfect for a natural, rustic look and will give your shower wall an authentic air.

Covering your shower with concrete-effect stoneware tiles is a more contemporary, minimalist stylistic choice, evoking the plain, austere character of a loft apartment. This solution can be combined attractively with various features and colours, from the coldest, most metallic shades to warmer or neutral hues. The final effect will always be of a clean, immaculate interior.

Choosing the colour of your shower tiles

After exploring the various materials and finishes available for shower coverings, it’s also important to consider the colour and style, both key factors for creating the mood you’re aiming for. Choosing the colours of your bathroom is a really important step in the design process: the right colour combinations and alternation of patterns can highlight the shower and make it a central feature of the bathroom, able to define the mood and character of the entire design scheme.

So now let’s take a look at some ideas about how to choose shower tiling colours and styles that reflect your personality and needs.

If you want to create a relaxing, tasteful interior, neutral shades like white, beige and grey are ideal choices. These delicate colours help to construct a calm, uncluttered mood and they’re also highly recommended for tiling a small bathroom, as they emphasise the space available and make the room look larger.

Tiles that replicate the natural, varied shades of stone and sand are perfect for a minimalist design scheme. Their neutral colours team up well with wooden features, plants and subdued lighting, helping to create a bathroom with a relaxing, sophisticated look.

However, the space assigned to the shower can also provide an opportunity for experimenting with colour. Using bright shades for a shower alcove or just one of its walls will create an interesting, striking effect: to maintain the right balance you have only to choose colours that go well together and reference other features within the room. For example, sage green or sea blue tiles can add a fresh sensation to the bathroom, while a bright red or dark grey contributes an extra touch of energy.

For more fascinating ideas and inputs, read our article on how to choose the right colour for your bathroom tiles.

Finally, the wood effect is also becoming more and more popular for tiling showers, since this material unites the warm look of wood with the benefits and practicality of porcelain stoneware.

With this finish, you won’t have to worry about damp or maintenance. Marazzi wood-effect stoneware tiles, available in a variety of warm and cool shades, are perfect for creating an inviting, comfortable bathroom. This design is suitable for both rustic and modern styles, and provides versatility and durability.

Shower covering solutions in relation to bathroom style

To create an interior where everything harmonises, it’s also important to bear in mind how the tiles of the shower combine with the wall coverings of the rest of the bathroom. The style chosen for this room during the design phase will affect the choice of shower wall coverings, depending on whether they have to fit into a classical, rustic or more modern interior.

A modern bathroom has simple, clear lines, smooth surfaces and a minimalist approach. The ideal options for your shower’s coverings in this case are glossy mosaics or large-size tiles. Neutral colours like white, grey and black are perfect for a modern design scheme, but you can also add a touch of personality with tiles in metallic shades.

For a classical bathroom it’s best to use materials that reference the traditional style, such as marble or mosaic tiles, which provide a little extra sophistication. The elegance evoked by these coverings also combines very effectively with a more original choice in taps, which might be gilded or in brass, for example.

A warm, welcoming mood is central to a rustic style, in which the shower coverings may replicate the uneven surface and shade variation of natural stone, for a more authentic, relaxing look. The colours best attuned to the rustic style are those inspired by nature, including brown, beige, sage green and stone grey.

Stylish ideas for tiling your shower

So we’ve examined the most popular materials and effects you can choose from for your shower’s coverings, with reference in particular to the colours and style of the bathroom itself.

However, the final result also depends on the tiles’ size and texture: the right combination of these factors can create truly unique design solutions which get the most from every corner of your home and express your personality to the full.

With this in mind, large-size tiles are definitely an excellent solution for the shower, since they provide a clean, tidy aesthetic. Because they are larger, these tiles’ have far fewer joints between them, so they form a continuous surface that conveys a sense of space. This approach is ideal if you want to decorate your shower with a uniform, seamless covering.

Available in a variety of finishes, such as the marble, concrete or stone effects, Marazzi large-size tiles enable you to personalise your shower to suit your own style without sacrificing elegance and refinement.

Mosaic tiles for showers: a decorative choice

With mosaic tiles you can achieve more decorative, original effects to give a special character to any room.

Unlike large sizes, mosaic tiles are small, making them highly versatile and ideal for creating design schemes of unrivalled character and uniqueness.

So let’s take a look at some options available for covering the shower area in your bathroom.

You can play around with light and shadows on the wall of your shower for a striking aesthetic effect. The Mystone Berici collection, for example, offers mosaics made up of parallel lines, for a sophisticated contemporary effect. Available in a variety of shades of grey, beige and white, they’ll give your shower an elegant, modern look.

A mosaic consisting of irregularly shaped chips can transform your shower into a decorative feature with a hand-crafted air. The Crogiolo Zellige collection, inspired by Moroccan glazed terracotta tiles, uses asymmetrical chips with uneven edges for a unique patterned effect.

If you prefer a simple style, a monochrome mosaic is a perfect choice for creating a minimalist interior. The Momenti collection offers a wide range of colours, from neutral shades like Bianco to brighter hues like Blu, Salvia and Terracotta. This type of mosaic provides a tasteful, uniform covering for your shower while still adding a touch of colour and personality to the design scheme.

What’s the right tiling for the wall of your shower?

As we’ve already mentioned, you don’t have to choose the same covering for the bathroom and the shower, and you don’t necessarily have to cover the shower tray and walls with the same material.

In fact, the shower wall covering can be chosen to create an original zone with high visual impact that enhances the design values of the whole bathroom.

Ceramics are a very tough option, available in a wide variety of finishes. They provide stone, concrete, wood and marble effects, all perfect for giving personality to the shower wall. If your preferred style is modern and simple, large-size tiles reduce the number of joints and give a sense of continuity. They’re ideal for walk-in showers, where the aim is to achieve a minimal, streamlined look.

Mosaics of the kinds already described are great for creating interplays of colour and texture, with the choice of classic, irregular and three-dimensional sizes.

One trend with a great deal of potential is that of combining multiple materials or finishes, such as using marble-effect tiles on one wall and a mosaic in the shower alcove, for example, to generate contrast and add dynamism to the interior design.

Choosing the right shower covering is fundamental for creating a stylish yet convenient bathroom, a place that offers you relaxation and wellbeing. From large-size tiles for a modern, minimalist look to three-dimensional mosaics that contribute depth and personality, there are a vast range of options available and they all adapt easily to all styles and individual preferences.

The Marazzi collections offer a variety of materials, finishes and designs that meet the needs of anyone in search of quality, durability and innovation. With a choice between porcelain stoneware walls tiles and stone, marble or wood-effect mosaics, you can give your shower personality and make it the focal point of your bathroom.

Check out the Marazzi solutions and discover all our shower tiles and coverings.