Tiny homes have a style that’s all their own, and the growing popularity of tiny houses with people who feel they help to make life simpler. With tiny kitchens and bathrooms, you might wonder what tile choices work best in a much smaller space.
You can do so much with smaller spaces while making the most of each room. The right choices of colors, textures, and shapes of your tiles can have a big impact on the aesthetic and even make smaller spaces appear much larger.
Tiles come in multiple options, including ceramic, porcelain, glass, and even budget-friendly peel-and-stick options. But which are the best choices for tiny kitchens and bathrooms?
Here are some of the best ways to use tiles that define your kitchens and bathrooms in a tiny house that make the most out of your space.
When designing or decorating a tiny home, tile choices can have a significant impact on how spacious, functional, and aesthetically pleasing your rooms feel. The right tile selection not only enhances the style of your space but also helps to make the most of the available square footage. Here are some tips to guide you through selecting tiles that will maximize space and complement your tiny home’s design.
The first step in choosing tiles is aligning them with your personal style. Do you prefer clean, minimalist designs? If so, consider rectangular or square tiles for your bathroom or kitchen floors. These shapes work well in smaller spaces by creating an orderly, balanced look. They are timeless and can offer a simple, elegant foundation for your design.
For those who want more creative and eye-catching designs, consider more unique patterns such as herringbone, hexagonal, mosaic, or diamond-shaped tiles. These intricate designs add flair to floors or backsplashes, helping you make a bold statement even in compact spaces, such as in a tiny kitchen or a bathroom. Using pattern-based tiles also creates visual interest, which can become a standout feature of the space.
Grout color can make a big difference in how your tiles appear. For smaller spaces, matching your grout color to the tile color helps create a seamless, continuous look that visually expands the room. Light-colored tiles paired with similarly light grout can make the surface appear larger and cleaner.
On the other hand, contrasting grout can add a touch of definition between tiles, which can work well in spaces where you want to emphasize the design or pattern. However, in tiny homes, contrast should be used sparingly to avoid making the space feel too busy or fragmented.
You may also want to consider the maintenance required for your tiles. The best terracotta tiles may only need a simple wipe-down, but others could require more extensive upkeep. Terracotta tiles are strong, durable, and naturally resistant to mold and mildew, so they are an excellent choice for your kitchen and bathroom, where there is likely to be more of the likelihood for mold and bacteria to grow due to the moisture.
One of the most effective ways to make a tiny space feel larger is to use larger tiles. Big tile pieces result in fewer grout lines, creating a cleaner, more seamless look that tricks the eye into seeing the space as larger than it actually is. Fewer lines reduce visual clutter, allowing the walls or floors to appear more expansive and less broken up.
In small areas like kitchens and bathrooms, large tiles can help create the illusion of openness, making these rooms feel less cramped. Whether you’re using large tiles on the floor or as wall coverings, they can significantly enhance the perception of space.
Color plays a crucial role in how we perceive space, and in tiny homes, lighter-colored tiles are your best friend. Light shades such as white, cream, soft gray, or pale pastels help make spaces feel more open, airy, and welcoming. Lighter hues reflect light more effectively, helping to brighten the room and give it a more spacious feel.
Incorporating glossy finishes or glazed tiles can further enhance this effect by bouncing natural or artificial light around the space, making the room feel larger and more vibrant. Glossy tiles are especially helpful in bathrooms, where reflective surfaces amplify the sense of openness.
While bold, patterned tiles can make a fun statement, in a tiny home, it’s important to use them sparingly. Too many intricate patterns can overwhelm the space and make it feel cluttered. If you’re looking for a cleaner, less busy design, plain tiles are often a safer choice. They offer a sleek, timeless look that keeps the focus on the overall space rather than overwhelming the eye with too many competing designs.
By choosing tiles in neutral tones and matching colors, you create a more cohesive and harmonious look that allows the space to breathe. Opt for a consistent color palette across floors and walls to avoid visual fragmentation, which can make small spaces feel even smaller.
One of the best ways to visually expand a space is to use the same tiles in different areas of your tiny home, creating continuity between rooms. Using the same tile shape and color across your kitchen floor and bathroom wall, for example, helps tie the spaces together and avoids the feeling of being boxed in by different designs.
Tiles in similar tones or shades throughout the home can also create a seamless flow, making the entire home feel larger. For instance, you could opt for a soft beige or light gray tile for both the bathroom floor and kitchen backsplash, making the design feel unified and coherent.
.jpeg)
The main kitchen areas to focus on in your tiny home are the walls, backsplash, and floors. Subway tile is a trendy choice for many kitchen walls or backsplash and is also very well-suited for tiny homes since it has linear shapes while keeping an open concept.
If you want to be more creative in your tiny kitchen, keep the floor simple and plain in color tile, but make your backsplash with a little more color and texture. Look for soft, light colors with a simple but eye-catching design, like the Chateau Blue Ceramic Tile you see here below:
Bold, patterned floor tiles can be best used in your kitchen to draw the eye and bring out your creative style. Make sure that if you go with a more patterned or bold floor tile choice to keep your cabinets, counters, and backsplash more neutral.
One last method you can use is a more traditional look with stone tiles. They are a great investment for small kitchens and help the rooms flow to bring about an increased feeling of space throughout the home.
The bathroom can have tiles on the floor, walls, and shower or bathtub areas. Mosaic tiles can look incredible in a smaller space to create a fabulous focal point. You can look into metal tiles and iridescent colors to create a more edgy, modern vibe.
Textured tiles can help spice up the palette in a shower and create a different pattern if you use shapes to keep a visually engaging aesthetic. Consider this example with an inverted v-shape:
The shower stall in your tiny home can be patterned with pale or plain-colored tiles to keep it from feeling closed and narrow. But you can have some fun and get creative with shower stalls and walls by inserting a pop of color with a glossy, gem-like look and give it a pizazz!
There are numerous ways to use tile in your tiny kitchen and bathroom. The possibilities of using tile in different ways are endless, but it can be helpful to talk to a professional designer or work with tiny house plans, specializing in tiny homes to get the right look and feel for your spaces. The right choice of tiles helps provide your tiny home with a look of more openness and can work to create a nice flow between rooms.
The biggest complaint that tiny home owners and guests have is the feeling of being cramped since the square footage in these homes is so small. Do yourself a favor and invest in a design that includes some fun patterned and simple tile in your kitchen and bathroom to give your home the look you want while feeling less cramped.
Get free resources, plan updates, tips & tricks, and special offers by joining the Tiny House Plan Newsletter.
.svg){kind=small}
Find answers — straight from the author — to the most common questions for this article.
Read our full FAQs
