Shower Wall Tile Ideas: 12 Shapes, Glazes and Textures

The tile for a shower wall is any tile whose product page lists shower walls as a use; in this guide that means glazed ceramic, porcelain, glass, natural marble and glazed terracotta. The twelve shower wall tile ideas below are grouped by shape, handmade look, porcelain, glass and accent, and every card is listed for shower walls on its product page. Two shower plans at the end put a wall, a floor and an accent together.

The full range is in our shower wall tiles collection. Big porcelain and stone panels have their own guide, large format shower tile, and brick-shaped tile is in subway tile shower ideas.

The twelve wall tiles at a glance

Tile	Material, finish	Size, thickness	Per box	Listed for
1. Bianca	Ceramic, glossy	4x8 in	See listing	Shower walls
2. Midnight picket	Ceramic, glossy	3x6 in, 3/8 in	5.3 sq ft	Shower walls
3. Silver Sky hexagon	Marble, honed	2 in on a 10 3/8x12 in sheet, 3/8 in	5.2 sq ft	Shower walls and floors
4. Verdant hexagon	Ceramic, crackled	5 in, 3/8 in	8.3 sq ft	Shower walls
5. Blanche square	Ceramic, glossy zellige look	4x4 in, 3/8 in	6.7 sq ft	Shower walls
6. Grove fluted	Glazed terracotta, leather	2 1/4x7 9/16 in, 9/16 in	4.3 sq ft	Shower walls
7. Fusion Grigio	Porcelain, polished zellige look	2 1/2x10 in, 3/8 in	8.1 sq ft	Shower walls
8. Journey Cozy Beige	Porcelain, matte stone look	12x24 in, 9 mm	13.6 sq ft	Shower walls
9. Le Sable plank	Porcelain, matte wood look	8x48 in, 5/16 in	10.3 sq ft	Shower walls
10. Aegean subway	Glass, matte	2x6 in	See product page	Shower walls, backsplashes
11. Blue Macauba	Glass, glossy	1x1 in on 12x18 in sheet, 13/64 in	21.8 sq ft	Shower walls and floors
12. Sailor Delft	Ceramic, glazed pattern	6x6 in, 3/8 in	6.8 sq ft	Shower walls

Shower wall materials compared

Material	Look	In this guide
Glazed ceramic	Bright glazes, shaped pieces, crackle and pattern	Bianca, Midnight, Living Green, Blanche, Sailor
Porcelain	Printed stone, wood and zellige faces, large sizes	Fusion Grigio, Journey, Le Sable
Glass	Light passes into the tile, glossy or matte	Aegean, Blue Macauba
Natural marble	Real veining, different on every piece	Silver Sky
Glazed terracotta	Handmade surface, deeper body	Grove

Shaped tiles

1. White glossy 4x8

Bianca is a 4x8 inch glossy white ceramic. The rectangle is twice as long as it is wide, so it can run in a brick offset, a straight stack, or vertically to draw the eye up the wall, and the glaze reflects the light fixture across the shower.

2. Black picket

Midnight is a 3x6 inch picket, a long tile with pointed ends, in glossy black ceramic with a beveled edge. Where four pickets meet, the points form a small diamond, so the wall has a repeating diamond pattern between the long pieces. Black glaze reflects light from every piece, which gives a black wall depth. A box of 50 holds about 5.3 square feet.

3. Gray marble hexagon

Silver Sky is a natural marble in light gray, darker gray and taupe, cut into 2 inch hexagons on a 10 3/8 by 12 inch sheet and honed to a soft matte. The stone has banded veining, so no two pieces match exactly. It is listed for shower walls and shower floors, 6 sheets to a box. More natural marble is in our marble shower ideas.

4. Green polished ceramic

Living Green is a 3x12 polished ceramic in a green glaze that shifts slightly in tone from piece to piece. The long format runs in horizontal rows or stacked vertically, and the polished glaze catches light across the wall. More green is in our green shower tile guide.

Handmade looks

Zellige is a Moroccan glazed clay tile, made by hand, with an uneven surface and edges. The tiles below take that look and the look of handmade terracotta in a more even body.

5. White zellige look square

Blanche is a 4x4 inch white ceramic square with a wavy, glossy glaze, so light breaks up across the wall the way it does on handmade tile. In a straight grid it is simple from across the room and textured up close. A box of 60 holds about 6.7 square feet.

6. Fluted green terracotta

Grove is glazed terracotta with raised flutes along its length, in a deep green leather-finish glaze. The ridges run the length of each piece. At 9/16 inch it is thicker than a flat tile, which gives the flutes their depth. More ridged shapes are in our fluted tile collection.

Porcelain tile for shower walls

Porcelain prints a face on a dense body, so it can look like zellige, stone or wood. The three below are porcelain listed for shower walls; our porcelain shower tile guide has twelve more.

7. Gray zellige look porcelain

Fusion Grigio is a 2 1/2x10 inch strip in gray porcelain with a polished, rippled face that copies the color shifts of zellige. The long narrow shape suits a stacked vertical layout. A box of 50 holds about 8.1 square feet.

8. Beige stone look porcelain

Journey Cozy Beige is a warm beige stone face on a 12x24 inch porcelain tile, matte, 9 mm thick with rectified edges. A stone look at 12x24 makes a calm field for the side walls, with a shaped or glazed tile on the back wall. Seven pieces to a box hold about 13.6 square feet, and each piece weighs about 7.6 pounds.

9. Wood look plank

Le Sable is an 8x48 inch porcelain plank with the grain of light oak in a matte finish, 5/16 inch thick. Planks laid horizontally across a back wall look like paneling. Our wood look shower tiles collection has more colors, and our guide to wood tile in the shower covers this look in depth.

Glass

10. Pale blue glass subway

Aegean is a pale sky blue glass tile in a 2 by 6 inch subway shape with a matte face. The blue is soft enough to cover every wall of a bathroom, as in the photo, where it runs behind a double vanity and on into the shower. Small subways in a running bond keep the wall busy with fine lines, and the matte glass gives a softer sheen than a glossy glaze. It is listed for shower walls and backsplashes. More glass is in our glass shower tiles.

11. Blue glass mosaic

Blue Macauba is a 1 inch glass mosaic in mixed shades of blue on 12x18 inch sheets. Light passes into glass as well as off its face. It is listed for shower walls and shower floors, 14 sheets to a box. At 1 inch, the blues blend into one color from a distance and separate up close.

Shower accent wall tile

A shower accent wall is one wall, such as the back wall you see from the door, tiled differently from the others. It can be a different shape, color or texture. The fluted Grove, the Blue Macauba glass and the Delft tile below are three ways to make one.

12. Delft accent tile

Sailor is a 6x6 inch glazed ceramic tile with a hand-painted style sailing boat in the Delft tradition, on a white ground. A patterned tile like this suits a small dose: a row along the niche, a panel behind the shower head, or a scatter among plain white squares. A box of 28 holds about 6.8 square feet.

Two shower wall plans

Each plan uses a plain wall tile, a feature, and a mosaic listed for shower floors.

Lookbook

Green fluted shower

Back wall

Side walls

Floor

Green fluted. The fluted green terracotta on the back wall, white zellige-look squares on the side walls, and a white matte 2 inch mosaic on the floor. The flutes appear on the back wall only; the side walls and floor are flat white tile.

Lookbook

Black and white shower

Walls

Niche

Floor

Black and white. White long hexagons on every wall, black pickets lining the niche, and a honed marble floor in white with black bands. The black appears in the niche and in the floor pattern. For more of this palette, see black and white tile ideas.

Where to shop shower wall tile

Start at shower wall tiles or the wider shower tiles collection, then by type in ceramic, glass, wood look and 12x24 shower tiles, or by color in white, gray, black and blue.

For the rest of the shower, see shower floor tile ideas, shower niche ideas and tile ideas for small showers, with whole rooms in walk-in shower tile ideas and bathroom tile ideas.

Shower Wall Tile FAQ

How much tile does a shower wall take?

A 60 inch wall tiled to 96 inches is 40 square feet, and a three-wall alcove of 60, 36 and 36 inches tiled to the same height is 88 square feet. At 13.6 square feet a box, the 40 square foot wall in Journey Cozy Beige comes to three boxes before cuts; divide the wall area by the box coverage on any listing the same way.

Which tiles here are listed for shower floors too?

Silver Sky and Blue Macauba are listed for shower walls and shower floors on their product pages. Bianca and Midnight are listed for shower walls and light residential floors, not shower floors. The other eight are listed for shower walls. Our guide on porcelain floor tile on shower walls covers the wider question.

Is glossy or matte tile better on a shower wall?

It depends on the look you want. Glossy glazes, such as Bianca and Midnight, show the glaze color strongly and reflect the light fixture. Honed and matte faces, such as Silver Sky, Journey and Le Sable, have a low sheen like stone or wood. Aegean shows that glass can be matte too, with a soft sheen instead of a mirror shine.

What is a picket tile?

A picket tile is a long, narrow tile with pointed ends, shaped like the top of a picket fence. Midnight in this guide is a 3x6 inch picket. The shape falls between a subway tile and a hexagon: it has the length of a subway and the angled ends of a hexagon.

What is zellige look tile?

Zellige look tile copies the uneven glaze and edges of handmade Moroccan zellige on a pressed ceramic or porcelain body. Blanche is a ceramic version with a wavy glossy glaze, and Fusion Grigio is a porcelain version with a polished, rippled face. The color shifts between pieces are part of the design.