Bathroom Trends to Avoid: What Will Date Your Renovation
Some bathroom trends age beautifully. Others will make your renovation look dated within a few years. Here's what to avoid and what to choose instead for lasting style.
Every year brings new bathroom trends, but not all of them stand the test of time. If you're investing in a bathroom renovation, you want a result that looks just as good in five or ten years as it does on completion day. Here are the trends we'd recommend avoiding — and the timeless alternatives that will keep your bathroom looking current for years to come.
Trends to Approach with Caution
1. Feature Wallpaper in Wet Areas
Patterned wallpaper in bathrooms has gained popularity on social media, but in practice it's problematic. Even "moisture-resistant" wallpaper degrades over time in a humid bathroom environment, leading to peeling edges and mould growth behind the paper. The patterns also date quickly as trends change.
Instead: If you want pattern and texture, choose a textured porcelain tile or a coloured metro tile that provides visual interest without the maintenance risks.
2. Very Trendy Tile Colours
Pink tiles, sage green, and terracotta are having a moment — but strong colour trends are the fastest to date. A bathroom tiled in 2023's trending sage green may feel distinctly "of its time" by 2028.
Instead: Use timeless neutral tiles (white, grey, warm beige, marble-effect) as your base, and introduce colour through easily changeable accessories — towels, plants, artwork, soap dispensers.
3. Fully Frameless Glass-to-Glass Shower Enclosures
They look stunning in showroom settings, but fully frameless enclosures (especially glass-to-glass hinged doors) are prone to alignment issues, seal failures, and water escape over time. The hardware is also expensive to replace if it fails.
Instead: A quality semi-frameless enclosure or a Crittall-style framed screen provides the same visual impact with better long-term reliability and a fraction of the maintenance.
4. Freestanding Bathtubs in Small Bathrooms
A freestanding bath looks spectacular in a large bathroom — but forcing one into a small space creates cleaning nightmares (the gap between bath and wall), restricts movement, and dominates the room in an unflattering way.
Instead: In compact spaces, a built-in bath with seamless tiled surround looks cleaner and uses space more efficiently. Save the freestanding bath for when you have the room to let it breathe.
5. Excessive Smart Home Technology
Voice-controlled showers, app-connected toilets, and digital shower panels sound impressive but add complexity, cost, and points of failure. Technology in bathrooms should enhance daily use, not complicate it.
Instead: Focus on proven tech: a programmable underfloor heating thermostat, an LED mirror with demister, and a humidity-sensing extractor fan. These genuinely improve daily life without needing software updates.
What Always Looks Good
- Neutral, quality tiles in white, grey, marble-effect, or natural stone
- Large format tiles with minimal grout lines
- Consistent hardware finish (all matt black, all chrome, or all brushed brass)
- Good proportions — fixtures that suit the size of the room
- Clean finishing — neat silicone, straight grout lines, precise tile cuts
The best bathrooms aren't about following trends — they're about quality materials, skilled installation, and timeless design principles. Talk to us about creating a bathroom that will look beautiful for years to come.
2026 Update
Refreshed for 2026. Design trends evolve, but the principles here still hold — choose timeless surfaces and add personality through changeable details. Want this look in your home? Get a free 3D design and quote.
