15 Shower Floor Ideas to Freshen Up Any Bath Design Style

While there’s no scientific explanation for the common claim that many people get their best ideas in the shower, we’re prepared and would be delighted to break down the best ideas for the shower. When it comes to what’s beneath your feet, design, durability, ease of maintenance and cost-effectiveness all factor into what deserves pride of place — and if you’re able to install a floor that inspires brilliance (or an a cappella version of “Bohemian Rhapsody”) as you lather up, even better. Read on to follow in the pros’ shower-floor design footsteps.

The creamy, solid subway tiles surrounding this transitional shower stall and its threshold, then wrapping around to meet wood paneling on the bathroom’s opposite wall call for a not-so-basic (and unifying) pattern underfoot. That’s where this opulent tumbled-marble combination — known as an octagon-and-dot pattern — adds both geometric interest and rich organic detail (in the larger, octagonal tiles’ natural veining). Flooring this handsome looks just as good throughout the bathroom as it does in the shower stall, and the darker tone of the Rosso Levanto red marble pairs well with darker grout that doesn’t need to be blasted clean on a regular basis.

The minimalistic design in this Spanish Colonial home’s bathroom sidesteps most decor and accessories and makes its most meaningful statements with architecture (that lovely arched door and the interior window to its right) and the space’s surfaces (the large-scale limestone tiles on the shower walls, the pale, neutral paint surrounding them and, of course, the small terra cotta tiles arranged in a square-and-picket design on the floor. With slight natural variations, an on-trend matte finish and character that suits both interiors with historic roots and more contemporary or eclectic spaces, terra cotta is a cost-effective and versatile option.

If you’ve fallen in love with a pattern intended for most of the bathroom (as in this sunny, contemporary space, where ‘70s-inspired, ogee-patterned cement tiles are unquestionably the style stars), simply choose one of those hues and carry it into the shower. The warm gray seen here is a perfect supporting character; the hand-glazed square tiles in that tone on the shower floor also set the stage for one more pop of pattern in the niche on the wall.

This sophisticated shower in a modern farmhouse makes a major statement with stamped porcelain tile that would read as lovely-but-relatively-unremarkable if it simply covered the floor in a smaller space. Installed in a massive walk-in shower and carried up the wall, on the other hand, it’s a major monochromatic moment — and a clever way to put a fresh spin on a traditional pattern. The larger, solid white tiles on the hardware wall and the white paint on the ceiling, in turn, give the eye a chance to rest.

Every bit as versatile and timeless as a little black dress, the black matte concrete in this dramatic, color-blocked shower pairs beautifully with the three-dimensional white tile on its walls. The white tiles’ facets provide textural interest that the smooth flooring lacks; that smooth flooring, in turn, is a breeze to clean. Bonus: Unpolished, tinted concrete isn’t slippery when wet.

This semi-Southwestern, side-by-side shower-and-soaking-tub design subverts expectations with unusual (and extremely satisfying) combinations of color and texture. In the spa-like tub area, bare, pale walls meet large, rustic terra cotta tiles. In the energetic shower stall, on the other hand, lively and intricate wall tiles meet diminutive marble tiles arranged in a basketweave pattern on the floor. Because the majority of the room is pattern-free — and because the two patterns in the shower differ in scale — their combined effect is harmonious rather than jarring.

As this moody, monochromatic-yet-dynamic black shower demonstrates, creating visual interest can be as simple as playing with scale. Here, walls with larger, matte black ceramic hexes and low-contrast grout create a tone-on-tone pattern that repeats in one-inch hexes with the same grout on the floor. The double-headed shower’s gleaming brass hardware introduces horizontal symmetry (and quiet luxury) that carries through the glass shower doors’ hinges and handles.

Want to give the impression that your shower has just a bit more elbow room? Vertical or “soldier-stacked” subway tiles are installed on backsplashes and walls to make a space feel taller and draw the eye upward; horizontally-stacked tiles like the ones on this shower floor, in turn, make a space feel wider. The half-offset pattern here (that is, a staggering of the stacks that prevents them from forming a regular grid) adds just a hint of extra interest and complements the fan-shaped pattern on the walls’ Art Deco-inspired tiles.

This monochromatic industrial loft bathroom features two significant grids (in the steel frames surrounding its glass partition and the dark-grouted white square tiles on the shower walls). Renovators inset a narrow-planked cedar platform that covers the drain in the shower floor, promotes drainage and airflow and adds a bit of much-needed organic warmth; why should outdoor showers have all the fun? (A custom-cut add like this that sits on an existing floor, in turn, is a relatively-inexpensive way to transform it without committing to renovation.)

Give a transitional bath eclectic cottage character by arranging shower-floor hex tiles in two-color, seven-piece blooms, as in this sweet space. Repeat those tones with another pattern (the window treatment’s botanical fabric picks up the same palette) and sidestep match-matchiness with a third pattern on an accent wall (the kaleidoscopic, blue-and-yellow-patterned wallpaper behind the vanity).

The all-enveloping, sapphire-toned tiles in this handsome bath differ ever so slightly: Underfoot, subway tiles run parallel to the shower door in a traditional, half-offset pattern. The same pattern and color recur on the walls in square rather than rectangular tiles, and that subtle difference makes the space feel more sophisticated.

Two-tone, navy-and-steel-blue pebble-effect tiles offer a foot massage in this coastal guest bath, where larger cement tiles carry up the wall to a stripe of mini-bar tiles in matching steel blue. If you fancy a textural floor treatment like this one, choose a darker grout that won’t discolor with regular use; while irregular pebbles like these are easy on the eyes, they can be very tricky to scrub clean.

If quiet luxury is your aim (and you don’t fancy slipping and sliding on a single slab of stone, which is understandable), consider the cumulative effect of this honeycomb-mosaic-marble-drenched walk-in shower. A matching corner bench and floating shelf in the shampoo niche extend the effect, and polished brass fixtures make the space feel even richer.

The large, half-offset rectangular stone tiles in this bath suite’s vanity area transition to a more diminutive (and slip-resistant) version of the same look in the shower stall. That opulent stone flooring — and the paler marble on the shower’s walls — give the suite a look that’s rustic and rich all at once.