Tiles are the most permanent design decision in any bathroom renovation. Unlike paint or accessories, they are not changed on a whim — the tile choice you make during a renovation is likely to be the tile choice you live with for the next fifteen to twenty years. That makes understanding where tile design is heading in 2026 genuinely useful, rather than just a style exercise. Choosing a tile that is contemporary now and will still feel considered in a decade is a very different brief to simply picking whatever is trending at the moment of purchase.
At Design Time we work with Ca’Pietra — a family-owned British tile brand with over 35 years of design heritage, widely regarded as one of the most design-literate tile companies in the UK. Their collections range from natural limestone and marble to decorative porcelain, encaustic, mosaic and their renowned handcrafted Zellige. As Ca’Pietra’s head of creative Grazziella Wilson has noted, their 2026 trend report is not a set of rigid rules — it is an invitation to explore, a treasure trove of ideas to shape and make your own, for tiles that don’t just capture the moment but endure.
This guide covers the tile trends that are genuinely influencing the bathrooms we are designing in Nottingham right now — what they are, why they work, and which Ca’Pietra collections and styles are available through our West Bridgford showroom.
Large Format Tiles — The New Default
Large-format tiles have been gaining ground for several years, but 2026 is the point at which they stop feeling like a statement and start feeling like the default. Sizes of 600x1200mm are now commonplace in UK bathroom showrooms, and slabs reaching 1200x2400mm are increasingly accessible for domestic projects rather than being reserved for commercial fit-outs.
The practical logic behind large format tiles is compelling. Fewer grout lines mean fewer opportunities for mould and discolouration — a genuine maintenance advantage in a bathroom environment where grout lines are a persistent cleaning challenge. Visually, large format tiles make a bathroom feel larger by reducing the visual complexity of the surface. A small bathroom tiled in 600x1200mm porcelain reads as more spacious than the same room tiled in 200x400mm metro tiles, because the eye processes fewer interruptions and the floor or wall reads as a continuous surface.
Ca’Pietra’s porcelain collections include large format options that replicate the character of natural marble, limestone and stone in formats suited to this trend — without the maintenance requirements and variability of genuine natural stone. Their low-maintenance porcelain ranges echo the character of nature’s most characterful stones while remaining compatible with underfloor heating and easier to care for in daily bathroom use.
For Nottingham’s Victorian housing stock in particular, large format stone-effect tiles on the floor of a period bathroom — replacing what is often tired linoleum or an ill-advised modern floor tile — have a transformative effect. The scale of a 600x600mm or 600x1200mm limestone-effect porcelain on the floor of a high-ceilinged Victorian bathroom is exactly right for the proportions of the room.
Zellige — Handcrafted Imperfection at Its Most Beautiful
If one tile style defines the aesthetic conversation in 2026, it is Zellige. Bathroom inspiration going into 2026 has one thing in common — handcrafted, imperfect tiles. Subway tiles, although practical, are no longer top of the trends list. Instead, handmade tiles with natural texture and uneven finishes are what designers and homeowners are choosing.
Zellige tiles are hand-pressed from natural clay and individually glazed, meaning no two tiles are identical. The surface has a deliberately uneven, faceted quality that catches light differently throughout the day — creating a bathroom surface that feels alive and animate in a way that mechanically produced tiles simply cannot replicate. The imperfection is the point. In a world of increasingly precise digital manufacturing, a surface made entirely by human hands carries a warmth and authenticity that resonates strongly with how people want their homes to feel.
Ca’Pietra has been working with Zellige for years, with roots that are proudly British despite the Moroccan origin of the tile style itself. Their Zellige collections bring together the finest handcrafted Moroccan tiles with their own curatorial eye for colour, scale and application. The Ca’Pietra Zellige range is available through Design Time’s Nottingham showroom, and seeing these tiles in person — rather than on a screen — is always a revelation. The way the glaze catches light in the showroom environment gives a much better sense of what they will do in a bathroom lit by natural light from a sash window or warm bathroom lighting.
Zellige works particularly well as a shower wall tile, as a feature wall behind a freestanding bath, or lining a shower niche. Used across an entire bathroom it can feel overwhelming — the visual interest of the surface is best appreciated when it has a quieter background to read against. A single Zellige feature wall with large format porcelain on the remaining walls and floor is a combination that appears frequently in the bathrooms we design at Design Time, and it consistently produces results that feel both current and considered.
Bold Colour — Moving Beyond White and Grey
Deep blues, emerald greens, charcoal, oxblood and rich navy are all making their presence felt in bathroom tile collections in 2026. These are not accent colours confined to a single niche or a strip of border tile — they are full-bathroom colour commitments.
The shift toward bold colour in bathrooms reflects a broader change in how people think about the space. A decade ago the bathroom was a utility room that happened to have decorative potential. In 2026 it is increasingly treated as a room that deserves the same design ambition as a living room or kitchen — a space where you spend real time and where the environment genuinely affects how you feel. Dark, enveloping colour choices create exactly the cocoon-like atmosphere that supports this shift.
Sage green continues to be one of the most popular bathroom tile colours moving into 2026. However, the trend has evolved from bold statement greens to softer, muted botanical tones that feel calm and understated — creating a sense of tranquillity and wellbeing, ideal for a bathroom that is meant to feel restful rather than clinical. It pairs beautifully with warm neutrals, brushed brass fittings, natural wood finishes and stone textures.
Ca’Pietra’s approach to colour — described by their head of creative as being about the Nature’s Way trend, which reflects our collective desire to reconnect with the natural world, with soft sage or muted olive-green tones that soothe and relax — is expressed through their botanical-inspired tile collections. Muted greens, terracotta tones, soft warm neutrals and earthy palettes are all represented across their ranges, giving homeowners the tools to bring genuine colour into a bathroom without the risk of a choice that dates quickly.
For Nottingham homeowners, the combination of a bold coloured tile wall — sage, deep teal or soft terracotta — with natural stone-effect flooring and brushed brass brassware from the Bagnodesign ranges we stock at Design Time is one of the most frequently requested bathroom specifications in 2026. It works across Victorian period properties and modern new-build homes alike, which speaks to its versatility.
Textured and Sculptural Tiles — Depth Without Pattern
Tactile surfaces are big for 2026. They create depth even in quiet, neutral schemes — use on a single wall to avoid visual overload, and angle lighting across the texture for a high-end shadow effect. Pair with matte paint or stone looks to keep it grounded.
Ribbed tiles, fluted tiles and three-dimensional relief surfaces are the tile equivalent of textured fabric — they add visual interest and tactile richness to a bathroom without introducing pattern or colour. In a scheme where the colour palette is deliberately restrained, a textured tile surface prevents the room from feeling flat or clinical. The interaction between the tile surface and the light source — whether natural light from a window or directional artificial light — changes throughout the day in a way that a flat tile surface cannot.
Ca’Pietra identifies Expressive Formats as a defining design trend and major talking point for 2026 — in a world flooded with visual noise, this approach uses format and texture as the primary design statement rather than colour or pattern. Their collections include sculptural and relief surface tiles that respond directly to this trend, available in the neutral tones that allow the texture itself to do the work.
Ribbed and fluted tiles work particularly well in shower enclosures, where the vertical lines of the tile echo the vertical proportions of the shower space and catch the light differently when wet versus dry. They also work as a feature wall behind a freestanding bath, where the texture creates a backdrop that is interesting without competing with the bath itself as the room’s focal point.
Natural Stone and Stone-Effect Porcelain — Enduring Appeal
Natural stone has never fallen out of fashion for bathrooms, and it has never been more accessible than it is in 2026. The genuine article — limestone, marble, slate, travertine — remains the most characterful and tactile choice. Ca’Pietra’s bathroom tiles collection includes low-maintenance porcelain tiles that echo the character of nature’s most swoon-worthy stones, alongside genuine marble mosaic and natural stone options.
The case for natural stone in a bathroom is both aesthetic and practical when the right stone is chosen correctly. Limestone — particularly a honed rather than polished finish — is warm underfoot, develops a beautiful patina with use, and suits both traditional period properties and contemporary schemes. Marble, when properly sealed and maintained, has a grandeur that no porcelain reproduction quite captures. Both are available in Ca’Pietra’s natural stone collections, which have been curated from the finest quarries across Europe and beyond.
Where the maintenance commitment of natural stone is a concern — and in a family bathroom used daily, this is a legitimate consideration — Ca’Pietra’s stone-effect porcelain ranges deliver a convincing visual result with considerably lower upkeep. The key is choosing a porcelain that genuinely captures the variation and character of natural stone, rather than a mechanical reproduction that reads as artificial. The difference in quality is immediately apparent when tiles are viewed in person at a showroom — which is one of the reasons we encourage every client at Design Time to visit and see Ca’Pietra tiles in our Nottingham showroom before making a final decision.
Onyx and onyx-effect porcelain tiles are a newer stone trend for 2026, bringing a quietly luxurious edge to interiors with depth and drama. With rich veining and natural translucency, onyx interacts with light to create a soft, almost sculptural glow — and rather than replacing classic marbles, onyx-effect tiles expand the palette, introducing ivory, green and amber tones that are new to the stone conversation.
Encaustic and Geometric Floors — Pattern with Longevity
Geometric and encaustic floor tiles have genuine Victorian provenance — they were the original bathroom and hallway flooring in the period properties that make up a significant part of Nottingham’s housing stock. Their current popularity is not a revival so much as a recognition that something this considered and well-made never really goes out of style.
The classic black and white checkerboard floor, Victorian geometric patterns in terracotta and cream, and encaustic cement tiles in botanical and Moorish-inspired patterns are all well represented in Ca’Pietra’s decorative tile collections. Ca’Pietra is renowned for their passion for colour and pattern, with collections that often take inspiration from antique finds, architecture and global travel, resulting in tiles that feel expressive and considered — blending timeless materials with trend-conscious design.
Checkerboard and small geometric pattern is back for 2026, but toned down from previous interpretations — soft contrast rather than loud contrast. The recommendation is to keep patterns mainly to floors then calm walls above, using warm neutrals instead of stark black and white and choosing one statement element rather than five.
For period property bathrooms in Nottingham in particular, a Ca’Pietra encaustic floor tile in a Victorian geometric pattern — either a faithful reproduction of an original period design or a contemporary reinterpretation in an updated palette — is one of the most effective ways to honour the character of a Victorian home while creating a bathroom that feels genuinely designed rather than preserved.
Mixing Glazed and Matte — Contrast as a Design Tool
Hand-glazed tiles fit in with the wider bathroom tile trend for imperfect surfaces in 2026 — and glazed and matte tiles are increasingly being used together to create contrast, warmth, and a gorgeous artisan look. This is not matte versus gloss as competing choices — it is matte and gloss used simultaneously as a deliberate design strategy.
A practical expression of this in a bathroom might be a matte large-format stone-effect porcelain on the floor paired with a glossy or hand-glazed Zellige on the shower wall. The contrast between the quiet, non-reflective floor surface and the light-catching, slightly irregular wall surface creates a room that is visually sophisticated without being restless. It is also a combination that tolerates varying light conditions well — the matte floor does not show wet footprints, while the glossy wall reflects the available light and makes the space feel brighter.
Seeing Ca’Pietra Tiles at Our Nottingham Showroom
The tile decisions that photographs capture least well are the ones that matter most — the way a surface catches light, the tactile quality of a textured face, the true colour of a Zellige glaze under showroom lighting versus on a screen. Every tile trend discussed in this guide is represented in Ca’Pietra’s current collections, which are available to view and sample at the Design Time showroom in West Bridgford.
If you are planning a bathroom renovation and want to understand how these trends translate into real product choices for your specific space — your ceiling height, your natural light, your existing architectural features — our designers are available for a free consultation at the showroom. We will show you the relevant Ca’Pietra tile samples alongside the sanitaryware and furniture from Roper Rhodes, Villeroy & Boch and Laufen that we would specify alongside them, so you can see how the complete bathroom scheme comes together rather than making tile decisions in isolation.
Visit us at 1A Mabel Grove, West Bridgford, Nottingham, NG2 5GT, or call us on 0115 981 8981 to book a free design consultation. We are open six days a week and walk-ins are always welcome.