Move Over, Color Drenching: Tile Drenching Is Taking Over Bathrooms and Kitchens

A well-styled room is a lot like an expertly delivered punchline: It doesn’t need an explanation. When you’re looking to cultivate a space that feels warm and inviting, you want that reaction to be immediate — like laughter at the end of a good joke. That’s why color drenching has been so in demand these last few years. If you cover a room from floor to ceiling in a singular shade — and one that often tends to be bold — you’re bound to get rave reviews. 

But there’s another similarity between design and comedy: Riffing on what works well tends to have the same degree of success. Because color drenching has been a steady win in design, and wood drenching started popping up as a popular iteration last year, it’s only natural that the technique has moved on to … bathrooms. 

Tile drenching, as it turns out, is the new color drenching, at least according to a handful of designers who took Apartment Therapy’s The State of Home Design survey for 2026. And you can find out all about it here. 

Need a working definition of tile drenching? Designer Madison Massaro of Madison Lea Interiors has you covered. When asked about bathroom trends in an open-ended question on the 2026 State of Home Design survey, she brought up this bold approach. “Tile drenching — using the same [shade] tile on the floors and the walls — if done correctly can create an eclectic immersive experience,” she says of this emerging trend.

As is the case for color drenching, tile drenching usually works best in a small space to capitalize on an enveloping feel. Tile drenching’s success can also be attributed to its use of a material that provides texture and glimmers of natural light in a one-two punch, so there’s no need to overthink the details.

You could try this approach in a number of locations in a home, but it seems to make the most sense in a bathroom or utility space, as these can be humid areas that benefit from tile’s water resistance as a building material.

If you’re interested in giving it a try, remember to pick one tile to cover the walls, another for the floors, and then a unifying paint on the ceiling (or you can bring the tiles up onto the ceiling for a tile drenched wet room look). You can provide some variation on the walls by alternating the direction of the tiles at a certain point, as one example of creativity, but the overall goal should stay the same: One shade of tile for the most striking results. 

If you’re able to use the same exact tile, all the more dramatic! “I’m all about tile-on-tile everything,” says designer Laura Chappetto of Element Design Network. “I love the look of fully tiled bathrooms where the walls, floors, and even the vanity backsplash are wrapped in the same material. It feels bold, clean, and super-high-end when done properly. Bonus points for using a rich, luxurious color like oxblood or marigold.”

Tile drenching gets even more dimension from its surrounding fixtures and accessories. So complement your color choice with hardware, vanities, and finishing touches that will let this installation take center stage. After all, tile drenching is a look that seems primed for a round of applause.