Bathroom tiles are easy to keep clean and sanitized, and a bathroom is after all a place that should be hygienic. Gloss tiles have a sparkling, fresh appearance and a simple wipe down keeps them looking their best. Tiling a bathroom all around will give a waterproof, hygienic environment, especially if the tile grouting is done with antibacterial grout. This is certainly not the case if walls are papered, or painted.
Tiling the floor as well will give you a wet room which can stand up to showers, baths, spillages and keep them contained. Many modern houses are now being built with wet rooms containing shower, seat and bath.
When choosing colours it is wise to remember that having tiles all the same colour will give an illusion of far more space in a small bathroom. Light coloured tiles will make a small bathroom look much bigger by reflecting the light around the room, but dark ones tend to make the space look smaller.
Other factors to consider are that tiled bathroom floors can be quite cold beneath the feet, even when they are laid on a wooden floor. Installing under-floor heating in the bathroom will resolve this problem, and using warm colours like terracotta for the floor tiling will also give the feeling of a warm floor. Adding bath mats is a simple resolution to this but it defeats the object of having a waterproof bathroom and is not always a practical idea. The safety aspect of mats on wet tiled floors needs to be addressed too.