opinions on tile size for a small bath

[sbj405]

As I posted in another thread, I am about to embark on a bathroom remodel. I have a standard 5'X8' bath (I think closet). i'm curious about tile size (floor and bath). On the walls, I have 4 inch now. I will only be getting tile in the bath area. The contractor is recommending 6 inch tile for the floor and walls. I'm concerned that might look weird in such a small space. Thoughts?

[NMDemDist2]

1. i would think it would be fine

or a 4" on the wall and a larger one on the floor

the fear I'd have is having a large expanse of small tile in such a small space would make the pattern kind of overwhelming, whereas a larger tile would be less so? or not... :shrug:

[Lars39]

2. An 18" tile set on point would make the space look larger.

[NMDemDist2]

3. that's what I was thinking too, a BIG tile! n/t

[Lars39]

4. I saw this done with a small bathroom some engineer friends remodeled.

The floor space was so small, I don't think it took even 4 tiles.
They used a checkerboard on point with black and white marble. Absolutely gorgeous. And absolutely flawless.
They also remodeled their master bath, using 4 inch tiles and decorative tiles.
I've never seen utter perfection like that before or since.

[wildeyed]

11. What a great idea!

I am getting ready to redo my master. The marble tile is pretty affordable, too, at least for a small space.

[Warpy]

5. That's what I'm planning to do in my 1952 closet

I'll be ripping out the bathtub (so small no one over the age of 6 can actually bathe in it but big enough to be a pain to enter and exit to shower) and putting in a large shower. I'll be doing the 12 inch floor tiles on the floor and on the shower walls and painting the walls an analogous color. The loo and sink will be white. I'd like to continue the same tiles on the shower floor, but will probably have to do something different so that I don't slip and fall and land on my can every time I try to take a shower. It's just in the dreaming stage now, but I can't think of any other way to compensate for having such a small footprint. Those spa bathrooms will just have to stay in the glossy magazines, eh?

Any way, most builders suggest that six inch tile, dunno why. I find that even (especially?) in a small space, that larger tile is less busy and makes the area look bigger. It certainly makes it a calmer space.

[AlCzervik]

6. i would run it on the diagonal and no bigger then 12". If you can wait i

can take a pic of my bathroom floor, we did the tile {slate} a few years back and we don't have much floor space either.

[AlCzervik]

7. ok here is a pic of our masterbath floor

[bleedingheart]

9. that sure is purty...

I like the colors!

[AlCzervik]

10. thank you, we love it but it was a HUGE pain in arse to install

slate--she is a brittle, brittle mistress.:D

[bleedingheart]

8. I am remodeling a bathroom right now...as I type this and

I went with 12" tile on the floor and the same tile is going to run up on the walls...all the way to the ceiling!

[murphymom]

12. One thing to consider

Does the tile you like come with all the trim and bullnose edge pieces you will need? When we redid our kitchen last summer we looked at a lot of tile, and I noticed that the larger tiles a lot of times did not come with trim pieces.

[Warpy]

13. That's true, you do have to consider how to edge it, if you're

not setting it on the floors to the walls, and on the walls to the ceiling.

I used floor tiles for my wood stove surround and ended up doing a simple wood frame around the finished project because I couldn't afford the fancy edge tile I wanted. It looks great, but wouldn't be terribly appropriate in a bathroom.