20 Stylish Ways to Use Subway Tile in Bathrooms

Why should kitchen backsplashes have all the fun? These graphic and practical treatments are the ideal combination of style and functionality in washrooms and bath suites, too.

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August 04, 2022

By: Lauren Oster

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A Classic That’s Going Places

First used in the New York City subway system in 1904, these 3x6-inch bricks became a residential hit for the same reason they made sense in transit tunnels. Sleek, versatile and easy to clean, they’re a one-two punch of form and function. More than a century later, designers are once again deploying them to great effect. Take a spin with us through stylish bathrooms featuring iconic installations.

From: Jackson Design and Remodeling

Reference the Greats

Houston designer Mary Patton went old school with her style nod for this evocative space and its subway-tile installation: It was inspired by NYC’s legendary Gramercy Park Hotel. “Lots of dark and moody features in the brass fixtures and paint color, but it still feels young and sophisticated,” she explains.

Or, Turn Tradition on Its Head

This industrial-chic California bath features framed technical drawings, a pair of vintage vanity lights, a no-nonsense wall-mounted sink and right-angled subway tile that turns the shower into a sneaky showstopper. Puzzling out this arrangement probably called for a few technical drawings of its own, but, oh, isn’t the effect worth the elbow grease?

From: Seven Gables Real Estate

Try Black Tile + Wild Wallpaper

This deliciously bonkers floral print and crisp black-tile-and-white-grout combo turns a teeny-tiny powder room into a jewel box. To pull off a pairing like this one, look for a pattern with a background that matches the tile of your choice and foreground images that approximate its scale.

From: Caitlin Murray

Or, Let the Eye Rest

In this eclectic powder room, monochromatic subway tile and grout offer a stylistic pause between the cacophony of critters on the upper portions of the walls and the bold geometry underfoot. Herein lies the key to well-executed maximalism: More is more, to be sure, but one should hit the space bar a few times between exclamation points.

Channel Continental Style

Texas-based designer Joseph A. Tsedaka of NÖMI carried this century-old home’s Parisian character into the guest bathroom. “We stuck to a black-and-white color scheme and wanted to bring different textures, such as the hexagon floors and the all-white subway tiling of the showers and walls,” he explains. We’re especially taken with the black pencil tile Tsedaka chose to create crisp contrast between the lower and upper halves of the room. Impossibly chic, no?

See More Photos: 50 Black and White Bathrooms We Love

Augment Architecture

Bright blue subway tile in this spectacular bath’s shower is a serious power move. It both emphasizes the ceiling’s dramatic angles with crisp contrast and concentrates color at one end of the room, allowing the rest of the space to feel airy and light. The two tones come together in the graphic pattern that dazzles underfoot.

From: Lauren Rubin Architecture

Dial Up the Drama

"I love going bold in a small space! These dark subway tiles provide a spin on a classic look with an added dose of drama, especially when paired against the gold mirror detailing and faucets," explains Connecticut-based designer Kellie Burke.

Mix Your Marbles

This minimalistic contemporary bath suite demonstrates how variations on a single theme — here, the pale Carrara marble subway tile on the walls in the ample shower — can serve as subtle embellishment for a large space. A miniaturized version of those subway tiles carries up and across the shower’s gently barrel-vaulted ceiling, and a basket-weave tile in similar marble offers subtle contrast underfoot. A smaller marble penny tile then carries across the floor in the rest of the room.

From: Jordan Iverson

Try a Mineral Supplement

With extra-bold veining and a warm, almost honeyed tone, Italian Calacatta marble is Carrara marble’s rich dowager aunt — and she is fabulous. This traditional bathroom features buttery Calacatta subway tiles topped with Calacatta pencil tile, then accessorized with glossy gold-tipped nickel sink hardware and sconces. When you’re this opulent, you don’t have to do much to show off.

From: Marianne Brown

Think Big

Scaling up to blockier units, as Memphis designer Leslie Murphy of Murphy Maude Interiors did in this sleek shower, complements both the suite’s midcentury-inspired interior doors and its contemporary, floating double vanity. "For the primary bathroom of this bachelor, we utilized a wider scale subway to accomplish a more masculine and chunky look," Murphy explains. Those larger tiles also contrast handsomely with the smaller hexagonal tiles she chose for the shower floor. Isn’t geometry grand?

Sneak In Some Stripes

This playful pattern turns a standard space into a seaside secret that reveals itself when the shower curtain is whisked back. A larger-than-life pattern like this one is the perfect pick-me-up for a coastal home’s bathroom.

From: Digs Design Company

Alternate Subway + Pencil Tile

Fancy a subtler stripe? Consider how thin bands of sea green pencil tile texturize the wall of subway tile behind the double vanity in this charming space. The pencil-thin tiles add a graphic detail to delight tooth-brushers of all ages.

From: HGTV Magazine

Color Block for Kids

"This is an example of how to use a classic white subway tile in a child's room (where budget is normally a consideration),” Murphy says. “Pairing it with a dramatic wall color makes a classic white subway more exciting, given the contrast." Beside smoky blue paint and a graphic shower curtain, this white feels crisp and nautical.

See More Photos: 30 Kid-Friendly Bathroom Design Ideas

Or, Keep on Going

The floor-to-ceiling, wraparound gray subway tile in this contemporary bath dissolves the distinction between the vanity and the walk-in shower areas — and makes both look more generous. Smaller marble tiles laid in a herringbone pattern add a bit of texture to the floor, and high-gloss turquoise lacquer on the vanity infuses the room with glamour.

From: Baird & Warner and Luxury Portfolio International®

Play With Positioning

Take a cue from this luxe, minimalist marvel and create subtle variation by pivoting from an offset arrangement to stacked (and soldier course) tiles. Positioning like this is especially lovely when your tiles’ glaze is subtly varied, as with these handmade, gray Heath Ceramics beauties.

Serve Up Café au Lait

If you favor vintage style but aren’t keen on the look of bright white ceramics and grout, channel the look of this charming double vanity’s subway-tile backsplash. Its creamy tone and dark edges partner beautifully with walnut shelving and a pair of rustic, round mirrors.

From: Lemon Grass Interior Architecture

Or, Coast Into Blue

With a shower rod repurposed as a one-of-a-kind lighting installation and a feature wall of royal blue subway tile, this shipshape powder room is delightful in a seaside home — and proof that you can pack a lot of personality into a small, hard-working space.

From: Kristina Crestin

Adopt an Accent

Framed with a broad stripe of gray subway tile in a crisp herringbone pattern, this spa bath’s diminutive, oddly-placed window is a design moment rather than a question mark. Focal points like this are also a clever (and cost-effective) way to deploy just a smidge of tile when you aren’t keen on covering an entire room.

See More Photos: 75 Walk-In Shower Designs for a Luxurious, Spa-Like Bathroom

From: The Ranch Mine

Support a Strong Statement

It’s worth noting that subway tile also provides spectacular backup for bolder materials. “We fell in love with the patterned floor tile as the dominant focal point in [this] space,” Tulsa-based designer Mel Bean explains. “From there, we selected an elongated subway tile with a handcrafted look for added texture and depth without distracting from the pattern of the floors. Another subtle pattern was introduced in the form of a minimally planked stall to provide additional privacy for the water closet. The wall-mounted sink was custom painted to perfectly match the floor tile, and the acrylic mirror adds just the right bit of drama."

Make a Snug Space Feel Roomier

The itty-bitty angles in this kids’ shower stall benefit from a trio of tiles: The faceted installation around the window adds a bit of playful texture, the glass subway tiles surrounding the hardware add contrast to make the space feel slightly bigger and the gray diamonds underfoot provide a non-slip surface. (The very sleekness that makes subway tiles visually appealing and a breeze to clean disqualifies them from most flooring projects.)

From: Kristianne Watts