If colours could be soul mates, then black and white would make the perfect pair. Team them in a bathroom and they'll create a striking scheme with lasting impact.
Black absorbs and white reflects – uniting the two is one of the most effective ways to create a bathroom that punches above its weight. In pattern terms, the options are virtually endless and can be as simple as black and white tiles laid in a chequered formation. For a masculine, tailored space, look to smart stripes or houndstooth repeat patterns – Decorum Est has some exquisite monochrome mosaics in semi-precious stone. Monochrome needn’t be moody. Balancing the black-to-white ratios in favour of the latter will create a far lighter, brighter space. A more organic, softer approach can be achieved using irregular, curved patterns such as monochrome patchworks and floral designs.
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Dark Side
Enter the dark side, where black gloss and leather are set against verdigris brassware.
Get the look: The brassware was from Lassco. The bath is Waterworks. The paint is Down Pipe by Farrow & Ball.
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Crittall Doors
The Crittall-inspired interiors trend has finally hit the bathroom, and we can't think of a lovelier way to frame a space.
Get the look: This is the Metal Craft Frame shower screen in Matte Black, from £2,000, at Majestic Showers. Pembroke marble floor tiles from the Silk Road Collection by Sara Baldwin for New Ravenna Mosaics start at £1,096 per sq m, at Paris Ceramics.
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Black Basin
The basin set in a stone slab cut by a local grave stone maker.
Get the look: The brassware was from Lassco. The paint is Down Pipe by Farrow & Ball. The basin is from Waterworks.
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Minimal
Sleek, smooth tiling and curved modern basins combined with the simplified, minimal lines of the matte black wall lights, mirror and taps creates a simple and textural space.
Get the look: The Milan basin mixers are by Tre Mercati at QS Supplies. The basins are from Lusso Stone. The mirror is from Next Home. The wall lights are from Holly’s House. The Italgraniti wall tiles are from Tower Ceramics.
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Black Beauty
This bathroom has no natural light apart from a frosted glass window onto the landing. It can be a mistake to think you need to paint a dark room in white, it often works well to just embrace the darkness! Dark can be bright and warm.
Get the look: Floor tiles, Odyssey. Wall tiles, European Heritage. Metal shelving, Maisons du Monde. Walls painted in Railings, Farrow & Ball.
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Metro Tiles
Floor-to-ceiling metro tiles and a Victorian-style floor put a period spin on this modern wet room.
Get the look: The metro tiles are by Walls and Floors. The floor tiles were bought from Tons of Tiles. This is a Burlington pedestal basin.
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Moody And Masculine
The concrete wall and floor panels are bespoke and designed to create a gritty backdrop to the sculpturally shaped white basins.
Get the look: The Il Bagno Alessi One basins by Stefano Giovannoni for Laufen and the Dornbracht MEM wall-mounted mixers are from Ripples. The Hector Mini Globe pendants are from Hector Finch. The bespoke concrete wall and floor panels are from Ivanka.
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Screen Time
Trends in shower screens have moved on from the pared-back, can-barely-see-it’s-there look. Outlining is one way to breathe new life into bathroom minimalism and with their elegant clean profiles, Alternative Bathrooms’ Metal Craft screens feel both modern and timeless.
Get the look: The Metal Craft Screen is by Alternative Bathrooms.
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Herringbone
The flat matt metro tiles together with the dark grouting and black taps give this bathroom an industrial edge. To smarten it up a bit, extra-large tiles have been used in a herringbone pattern.
Get the look: The tiles are from Tons of Tiles. The taps are from homary.com. The bath mat is from Urban Outfitters.
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Wonderfully Wallpapered
Taking a more traditional approach, this monochrome bathroom features wallpaper and painted black panelling. The antique glass tiles that surround the bath really help pull this room together.
Get the look: This is Lotus wallpaper by Farrow & Ball. Try Farrow & Ball’s Pitch Black estate eggshell for a matching paint shade. For modern versions of these antique tiles, visit TST Mosaic Tiles.
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Touch Of Brass
Replacing a wall with a glass screen will help create a sense of space. Bathroom brassware help lift this industrial-style bathroom and give it a touch of modern elegance.
Get the look: The wall-mounted mixer tap is by Studio Ore at Bert & May. The concrete basin is also a Bert & May design.
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Plain And Simple
Plain white walls and a black floor keeps this bathroom fresh and simple.
Get the look: The bath and shower are by Sbordoni. For a similar floor paint try Pitch Black modern eggshell by Farrow & Ball.
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Panel Show
Beautiful tiles and vanity units tend to turn our heads, but it’s not often a shower door has the same effect.
Get the look: New to West One Bathrooms, the Gridscape enclosure series (from £865) allows you to mix ’n’ match clear and coloured glass panels to your heart’s content, opening up new realms of bathroom-style possibility. Team with white tiles for that crisp NY loft feel.
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Step Up
Monochrome tile risers draw the eye into this small, pure white bathroom, adding a sense of space.
Get the look: The floor tiles are Kerion’s Décor Branche Mer from its Neocim Collection. In the UK, try Abbey Decor porcelain tiles, £32.64 per sq m, at Porcelain Superstore.
