23+ Beautiful White Bathroom Decor Ideas (Classic, Monotone)

Last Updated on November 26, 2021 by Kimberly Crawford

White bathrooms with tone-on-tone design are a classic look that never goes out of style. Creating a white bathroom means coordinating bathroom fixtures and tile.

Whether designing a guest bathroom, designing for resale, or simply designing a bathroom for personal use, there are times when an all-white bathroom design can be appealing.

This crisp, clean look is versatile enough to accommodate any style of bathroom design or home design, and allows the homeowner to bring in pops of color through wall art and bathroom towels that can be changed over time. To create the perfect white bathroom design, it’s important to co-ordinate the shades of white in the room perfectly, so as to avoid bathroom fixtures or tile that look dingy or out of place.

In this article

Shades of White

While white may seem like the one color that goes with everything, there are actually multiple shades of white used by manufacturers of bathroom products. A toilet created by one china manufacturer may not necessarily match in color to a sink manufactured by another. Therefore, when creating a white bathroom, it’s important to match or co-ordinate the shades of white used in the bathroom. Some tips for doing so include:

Purchasing all bathroom fixtures and china from the same manufacturer
Purchasing the bathroom fixtures first and matching the color white of the tile to the color white of the china
Utilizing machine made tiles which have less variation in color and tone than handmade tiles
Using the thinnest possible bullnose or tile edging to avoid a change in shade on the trim

Choosing the Bathroom Tile

One of the more difficult aspects of creating an all-white bathroom is choosing the bathroom floor tile. True white floor tiles in larger sizes can be difficult to find; a white porcelain or ceramic floor tile may be gray or cream in tone, or may show the clay body through the white glaze. Mid-sized floor tiles and mosaic floor tiles are more frequently truer white in color.

To help enhance the bathroom design, using the mosaic tiles on the floor, rather than the mid-sized tiles can help create a cleaner look. White floor tiles should be grouted with a gray grout to help impede staining and discoloration; a mid-sized floor tile grouted in gray grout is going to create a grid on the bathroom floor which will make the room appear smaller.

Instead, try using a mosaic tile in a pattern on the floor, such as hexagon tile or white-on-white basketweave, as the grout will become part of the pattern, becoming less noticeable while still hiding dirt and discoloration. Mosaic tiles with gray grout are also more forgiving when stray hairs, dirt or dust fall on them, helping the bathroom to keep its clean look.

Traditional styled bathrooms can pair mosaic tiles with a pattern with subway tile on the walls of the bathroom, to complete the look. Modern bathrooms can make use of square 1 inch mosaics on the floor, with a large format ceramic tile in sizes up to 12 x 24 inches on the walls for a contemporary look.

Add Tone-on-Tone Detail

To finalize the design and help bring it to life, add in some decorative tiles or accents in the same shade of white. These can be ceramic accents, marble borders crafted out of Thassos quartzite or even glass tiles in a snow white color. Adding some tone-on-tone accents to the white bathroom will help keep the design from appearing stark, while giving it some additional depth and interest.

Use accents as cut-in tiles in the shower walls, or as a border at wainscot height throughout the bathroom. Mirrors and medicine cabinets can also be framed with these decoratives to help tie the design together.

An all-white bathroom can give a tranquil, bright and clean appearance to any bathroom design. Take care when choosing the shades of white, and be sure to match each color sample side-by-side in the room where they will be installed to be sure the light affects them the same way.