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When undertaking a home renovation, you tend to wear a lot of hats. You’re often a behind-the-scenes project manager and financial planner. You’re usually an artist and a mathematician. But there’s one role that tends to underscore them all, and it’s this: fortune teller.
Sure, you might not be looking into a crystal ball during this process, but if you’re updating a big-budget space like a bathroom, then you’re most likely hoping that your design choices will stand the test of time. And while swinging a sledgehammer may be tough, predicting the future is also a challenge.
That’s why the 2024 U.S. Houzz Bathroom Trends report found this not-so-surprising statistic: When faced with choosing a tile pattern for a shower, 34% of responders picked a classic horizontal brick over the more adventurous options of vertical or horizontal stacks (21% and 13%, respectively). Even smaller numbers went for styles like herringbone, mosaic, and checkerboard. As for the most popular tile material, 44% rallied around ceramic, naturally.
While it’s understandable that outside forces like resale value and evolving trends may impact how daring you’d like to be in a renovation, don’t let chatter outside your front door impact what’s behind it. If you’re planning on living in your home for some time and you want it to reflect your tastes, then that’s what matters! And like any art class you took as a kid, creativity tends to be much more fun when you take it into your own hands. So if you need a push, here are a trio of alternative yet still classic recommendations.
Basket Weave
Azar Fattahi, who runs the interior design firm LALA Reimagined with Lia McNairy, chose Burnt Sugar zellige shower tile in a basket weave pattern for her Beverly Hills home.
Plaid
Maggie Clancy acted as her own interior designer for the vacation property she shares with her family in Santa Ynez, California, and she personally laid out the plaid pattern of the floor tile in their guest bathroom.
Stripes
Never fear, stripes will always be in style. If you position them in alternating vertical and horizontal patterns akin to this bathroom, then the finished look will lean more sophisticated than coastal.