Bathroom Tile Patterns: Stacked, Offset, Herringbone and More

The same tile can look plain, classic or striking depending on how it is laid. Pattern also changes the work: how many cuts there are, how much tile is wasted, and whether the tile's own shape allows it at all. This page compares the common bathroom patterns and explains how a good layout is planned around a niche, a valve and a drain.

The common patterns compared

Mosaics on mesh sheets come with the pattern built in, which makes complex looks like basketweave, penny rounds or small hex practical on a shower floor.

The offset rule for long tile

Half-offset brick is the pattern most people picture, and it is the one most often misused with long tile. Long tiles are rarely perfectly flat; most have a slight bow. In a half offset, the high middle of one tile lines up with the low ends of the tiles beside it, which makes the edges step.

The tile industry's workmanship standard, ANSI A108.02, addresses this in section 4.3.8.2. For running bond and other offset patterns where the side being offset is greater than 15 inches, the offset should be a maximum of 33 percent unless the tile maker specifies otherwise. If more than 33 percent is specified, the specifier and owner must approve a mock-up and the lippage. Some older guidance used 18 inches; the current wording uses 15.

So with a 12 by 24 or 8 by 48 tile, plan on a one-third offset or a straight stack unless the maker's instructions say a half offset is fine. Flatness and lippage are covered in more depth on large-format and slab tile.

Planning the layout around the bathroom

Pattern is only half the plan. The other half is where the pattern starts and how it meets everything else in the room. A good layout is drawn before tile is ordered.

Start from what people see

Center the layout on the most visible wall or the view from the door, not the corner where the installer happens to start. A row of full tiles at the shower entry or across the vanity wall looks deliberate. The cut rows go where they are least visible, often behind the door or under the vanity toe kick.

Avoid slivers

A thin strip of tile at a wall or ceiling looks like a mistake and is fragile. Shifting the starting line by half a tile usually leaves balanced cuts at both ends. This matters most in narrow bathrooms and with large tile.

Size the niche to the tile

Ideally, the niche's top, bottom and sides fall on grout lines, so the niche looks built into the pattern rather than cut out of it. That means the niche framing is set after the tile is chosen. See shower niches and benches.

Plan the valve, showerhead and grab bars

Valve trims and showerhead arms look right centered on a tile or a joint, not near an edge. Grab bar blocking should be in the wall before tile, and the bar placement should land on solid tile, not a grout line; see grab bars and safety hardware.

Mind the shower floor slope

Center-drain shower floors slope in four directions, which suits small mosaics and hex. Herringbone or large tile on a sloped floor usually works only with a linear drain and a single slope plane.

Decide the transitions

Where floor tile meets the shower, where wall tile stops short of the ceiling, and how edges are finished (bullnose, metal profile or a full-height wall) all affect the look. Choose the trim with the tile.

Waste, in words

How much extra tile to order depends on the pattern more than anything else. Straight stack and vertical stack waste the least. Offset layouts waste a little more at the ends of rows. Herringbone, chevron and diagonal layouts waste the most, because every edge piece is an angled cut and offcuts are often too small to reuse. Small bathrooms waste a larger share whatever the pattern, since much of the area is cuts. Ask the installer to calculate the overage from the actual layout, and keep a spare box.

Mixing patterns and sizes

Bathrooms often use two or three patterns: a large tile on the floor, a different format on the shower walls, and a mosaic on the shower floor. That is fine when one element leads and the others support it. A few guidelines designers use (rules of thumb, not standards):

• Let one pattern be the feature. A herringbone floor reads better with quiet stacked walls.
• Keep the color family close when patterns change, or change the color and keep the pattern simple.
• Use the shower floor mosaic as a quieter echo of the main tile, not a new idea.
• Repeat a grout color across surfaces so the room holds together; see tile and grout color pairings.

Who should choose which

• Stacked or vertical stack: modern rooms, large or rectified tile, small rooms that need calm.
• Half offset: classic subway tile and short formats.
• One-third offset: long tile where you want a staggered look.
• Herringbone or chevron: a single feature surface, such as the floor or one shower wall, when the budget allows for extra labor and waste.
• Hex and basketweave mosaics: shower floors and older-style bathrooms.

Complex patterns cost more to install. In JDI's published planning ranges, a custom tile pattern or inlay is an add-on of $3,000-$9,000, and it is shown with the other add-ons on our bathroom remodel cost guide. Our 3D design layout shows the pattern on your actual walls before anything is ordered, and it is part of every bathroom remodel we design in Vancouver.