Most of us don’t have much incentive to think about bathroom vanity backsplashes. A wall’s a wall, right? Who notices what’s in our peripheral vision as we wash our hands and brush our teeth, and why is it worth extra elbow grease or funds? But consider how artful treatments, like this one, turn a pause in front of the mirror into a major design moment.

In this gallery, we include 20 different vanity backsplash designs to get you thinking about how this often overlooked space can be turned into an area of interest in your bathroom.

Textural, emerald-glazed Zellige square tiles lend texture and dimension to the lower portion of this tropical room’s walls. That installation climbs just high enough to frame the blush concrete vessel sinks and luxe, wall-mounted rose gold hardware, and it contrasts beautifully with the vanity’s warm stain.

The shapely marble corbels built into this distressed, vintage-inspired vanity put more understated fixtures to shame. Why shouldn’t an attached backsplash make a style statement of its own?

Quarters are close in this powder room but bumping out the lower portion of the rear wall just a few inches creates a storage space that’s a one-two punch of form and function. We love how this subway tile wall and wood-topped ledge gives the space behind this floating vanity character.