Ideas for a Modern and Elegant Marble-Look Bathroom
Ceramic preserves the elegance and sophistication of natural marble, while offering all the benefits of porcelain stoneware: durability, water resistance, longevity, and ease-of-cleaning. Thanks to modern printing technologies, it is possible to accurately recreate the veining and nuances of any type of marble, from the bright white of Carrara to the deep black of Marquina.
Varieties and Colours for a Marble-Look Stoneware Bathroom
Let’s take a look at the most beautiful varieties of marble that the porcelain stoneware cladding and flooring market offers to those designing a marble-look bathroom. A good place to start sorting through the many options is colour. If you are envisioning a white marble-look bathroom for your home, you have a plethora of choices. In fact, all ceramic tile manufacturers offer, in addition to more vibrant and colourful textures, one or more types of white or very light-coloured marble-look options.
The following are the natural varieties of marble available in the ceramic market:
- Carrara: a timeless classic with delicate, sinuous veining and a characteristic white background, perfect for elegant and sophisticated environments.
- Calacatta: a marble known for its striking grey-gold veining on a white background, perfect for adding a touch of luxury.
- Statuary: very similar to the previous two varieties, but with sharper and more neutral veining, the dynamic quality of which makes this a very modern and eye-catching marble.
- Marquina: the most striking and sophisticated alternative to white marble, this intense black variety is criss-crossed by white veining and is perfect for those who want a bold marble-look bathroom.
- Travertine: the irregular, porous surface of this marble, widely used in classical and Renaissance architecture, is challenging to replicate in porcelain stoneware, however new decorative technologies are making significant strides. The two cutting directions create widely different textures, each characterised by the warmth of the distinctive hues, which make a space feel comfortable and inviting.
- Onyx: available in a wide range of colours, this marble has an almost magical allure thanks to its broad veining and the special sheen it acquires when polished.
Can Marble-Look Be Use for a Small Bathroom?
As we have seen, there is an abundance of white marble-look stoneware, the perfect non-colour for making a smaller space feel brighter. Furthermore, white conveys a sense of cleanliness, perhaps because it starkly reveals dirt, forcing us to keep things clean.
However, in the case of a truly small bathroom, it is important to pay attention to the texture as well, for example when it comes to the size and pattern of the veining. So what about black marble-look bathroom tiles? Or vibrantly coloured marble-look stoneware? Are these suitable for a small bathroom?
The answer depends on various factors:
- The type of marble-look: Light-coloured varieties and fine veining give a sense of light and make the space feel bigger; darker varieties with bold veining can feel a bit overwhelming.
- The amount of natural light: If there is a lot of natural light, you can dare to use a darker shade; if there is not, it is better to opt for lighter tones.
- The style of the bathroom: Contemporary interior design has widely demonstrated the versatility of marble-look products, which can adapt to both classical and contemporary styles. Regardless, when it comes to a small marble-look bathroom, be careful not to overdo it: make sure to balance the elements and always try to make them work together. This sometimes means taking risks with starkly contrasting materials to add visual interest to the space and make it feel more dynamic.
Marble and Wood: an Increasingly Popular Combination
A pairing that interior designers are enthusiastically exploring is that of marble-look and wood-look stoneware, perfect for those seeking a modern and sophisticated style, yet with a touch of warmth, in the home’s most intimate space. The appeal of this combination, viewed as eccentric up until a few years ago, lies in the original blend of elegance and comfort, sophistication and naturalness, seemingly contradictory materials and textures: the warmth of wood and the coolness of marble, the welcoming colours of the former and the luxurious grandeur of the latter.
How do you create a marble and wood-look bathroom that fully captures the spirit of these two materials? One option is to use wood-look porcelain stoneware on the floor, creating a warm and inviting base. Meanwhile, the marble-look porcelain stoneware should be used for cladding the shower or the wall behind the bathtub, in elegant contrast to the floor. Thanks to ultra-thin porcelain stoneware you can even add a wood-look vanity top or sink to match the flooring. Finally, you could choose to pair similar colours of marble and wood, to create a more harmonious atmosphere, or go with a stronger contrast, for a more dynamic look.
Marble-Look Bathroom Cladding
Now let’s take a look at some tips for using marble-look porcelain stoneware as a wall covering. This finishing material is essential in a bathroom, where the presence of running water and lots of steam require it at least for the shower and the wall behind the sink. A type of installation that minimizes the presence of tiles and is particularly popular at the moment is low cladding, which we previously talked about in this article and consists in covering only the first 120 cm of the wall.
When discussing marble-look bathroom tiles, another important aspect to consider is thickness. Due to its chemical-physical composition, natural marble cannot be cut into overly thin slabs as this would compromise its strength. A natural marble cladding, therefore, would be unattractively thick, especially if used for low cladding. Porcelain stoneware, however, makes it possible to minimise the thickness of this element, especially if one opts for laminated stoneware, which comes in over-sized slabs that are just a few millimetres thick (generally between 3 mm and 6 mm). Obviously, this does not compromise the durability of the material. On the contrary, from this point of view, its technical performance far surpasses that of natural materials as it is waterproof, fire-proof, and resistant to acids, scratches, and most commercial cleaners.
Ideas for a Marble-Look Bathroom by Lea Ceramiche
Lea Ceramiche’s collection of marble-look surfaces is aptly named Noblesse. This collection features twelve opulent ceramic marbles, selected from among the finest in the world, celebrating their timeless beauty through vibrant and innovative hues and recalibrated classic nuances. A rich palette of colours and textures designed for prestigious residential contexts, in which elegance and wellness come together to redefine the concept of luxury. Noblesse masterfully combines aesthetic appeal and outstanding performance, versatility and antibacterial properties. The pinnacle of marble-look ceramic design, tailored to contemporary architecture, with numerous formats and finishes, the decorative modules Chain and Butterfly, and two available thicknesses: 9 mm for standard porcelain stoneware and 6 mm for the over-sized Slimtech slabs.
In addition to the classic varieties of marble, Noblesse offers rarer and more unique ceramic marbles, characterised by their particularly striking textures and unusual and intriguing colour schemes. While the three variations of Calacatta and the two of Statuario cater to those who prefer bright, classic atmospheres, more eccentric and almost enigmatic looks, like Viola, Arabesque, Blue River, and Verde Alpi, are perfect ingredients for interiors that seek to carefully balance elegance and personality, energy and allure.
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