Escaping From Ceramics: Ideas for Bathroom Coverings

If, on the one hand, bathrooms have a certain rigidity when we think about the layout and their spatial arrangement, it is in the floor and wall coverings that this logic is inverted. With the wide variety of models and patterns available on the market, ceramic tiles and porcelain tiles are often used to give quality and identity to space. At the same time, the ease of access to ceramic and porcelain tiles, as well as their ease of installation, end up conditioning our choices, making it difficult to think of other finishing possibilities for these areas.

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Although ceramic and porcelain tiles fit perfectly into the technical requirements of bathrooms, it is possible to think of other finishes that can bring different qualities to these areas. Materials such as brick, earth and wood can bring different textures and colors that make the space more cozy, while hydraulic tiles and painted masses bring color and diversity. Other materials, even more unpredictable, such as the mirror, become an almost playful element.

Here are some projects that use other materials such as bathroom coating, betting on the combination of colors, textures and even temperatures to give quality to the space:

Grout with Pigment

One possibility of coating bathrooms is the grouting with some kind of pigmentation. This ranges from the application of grout, plaster and painting with appropriate paint, to a cement that can be pigmented to gain color, or maintain the color of the cement.

Under the Willow Tree House / Objekt Architecten

Hydraulic Tile

Following an application logic similar to that of ceramic and porcelain tiles, as it is installed in pieces with mortar, hydraulic tile is a ceramic-based material that can bring colors and patterns to the environment.

Apartamento Pinheiros / Ana Sawaia Arquitetura

Granilite and Burnt Cement

Granilite and burnt cement have the same application logic, as they are a single mass that is applied and then finished with varnish or resin.

Reforma e ampliação Segurola / OrdoñezWenzke

Casa Cachóns – Passivhaus / ARROKABE Arquitectos

Natural Materials: Wood, Brick and Earth

Natural materials are little considered as a finish in wet areas, mainly due to the difficulty of maintenance. However, this does not mean that it is not possible to treat them and integrate them into the environment.

Apartamento Paleta / com/c arquitetura

Cuernavaca Guest Bathrooms / Mario Herrera Holgado

Sanitary Complex Faculty of Architecture, Design and Art of the National University of Asunción / Alberto Martinez + Guido Villalba + Yago García + tda

Natural Stone

Stone is a smoother natural material, more common to be used in wet areas in general, but it has lost its protagonism from ceramics and porcelain tiles that imitate its patterns with a more simplified maintenance. Still, it is possible to apply natural stones in several different ways in wet areas.

Casa Reticular / Taller Estilo Arquitectura

Other Materials

It is also possible to look for other qualities for the environment and look for attractive finishes that transform the space, such as mirror walls, or composites of resin and natural stone, among others.

Ode to Nature House / Milwicz Architekci

Canal House Amsterdam / i29