The Common Bathroom Remodel Mistake That Actually Made This Space Look Amazing

Anyone who has ever taken on a DIY building or home renovation project knows that ordering materials is one of the biggest challenges. In fact, this is hard for everyone, not just homeowners. Even in the construction industry, professional contractors struggle with ordering and planning for building materials, so it's easy to relate when a DIYer doesn't order enough supplies for their project. However, in the case of at least one trending bathroom remodel, a homeowner's creative tile solution to this common mistake actually made the space look amazing. They ran the floor tile up the wall a little, creating a decorative border around the entire room. It ended up being the homeowner's favorite part of the renovation.

In a moment of true serendipity, content creator and interior designer Laura Hall of The Hexagonal House shares how she made the dreaded mistake of not ordering enough tiles for her bathroom walls. In the TikTok video detailing the renovation, she paired glossy pink vertical subway wall tiles with black-and-white Moroccan floor tiles. The design embodies all the bathroom tile trends you don't want to skip right now. However, Hall ran out of wall tile before her project was finished. Instead of panicking, she pivoted, avoiding a frustrating setback with a savvy solution. She used some excess floor tile as a border or accent strip, running it up the wall to meet the wall tile. Essentially, the floor tile became the bathroom's protective baseboard. The result is a stunning contrast that ties the room design together.

Patterned finishes are a tile trend that's been bringing more life and personality to bathrooms in recent years, and interior designer Laura Hall (@thehexagonalhouse) already had a bold, playful tile mix. The change after she realized her mistake was the floor-to-wall tile transition. The most common place for floor-to-wall tile transitions is the junction where the wall and floor traditionally meet. It's a natural place for a transition. While that's how Hall initially planned to lay the bathroom tiles, the unique tile transition she ended up with — where the floor tiles create a border around the bottom of the wall — is now her favorite part of the renovation. If you consider tiling an art, you can accept that mistakes are part of the creative process. This error created an optical illusion that made Hall's bathroom look larger.

You don't have to run out of tiles to arrive at a unique tile design or transition. By mixing and matching tile styles, playing with different transition ideas, and embracing accents and borders, you can create eye-catching designs on purpose. Using various techniques, you can make spaces appear bigger, enhance the flow of movement, and add visual interest. Examples include affixing an extra border of floor tile halfway up the wall, running a wide floor-to-ceiling strip of tile through your shower stall, or covering the floor and walls with the exact same tile. However, one design rule to keep in mind when choosing tile for your shower and bathroom is to limit your tile choices to three.