In my last post Tile Tools I explained how I was going crosseyed and consuming an insanely unhealthy amount of adult beverages while combing through 17 years worth of comments on the site in order to find the most commonly asked questions, and the most common mistakes people make when doing their own tile.
I’m still doing that (combing through them, my liver put a stop to the other thing…)

I have a LOT of stuff here.

One of the most common issues I find is trying to explain to people how their layout will look. It’s sometimes difficult to describe a visual layout to those who aren’t very visually imaginative. There’s nothing wrong with that, a lot of people simply can’t picture what a finished tile installation will look like.

I stand in other people’s showers all day, I don’t have a problem envisioning that.

However(!), if you have better hobbies than mine, I’ve created something below to help you see what your shower tile installation will look like once completed.
It also works for regular, rectangular floors – like your hall bathroom.

When the planner below first loads, the default is a 3 wall shower, like around a bathtub or in the space for a tub. The sizes are a 5 foot back wall with 2 1/2 foot walls on both sides, and an 8 foot ceiling.
If you have a tub simply adjust the height measurement to 7’6 (90″) or whatever your wall size is.
Just go in and input the size of your tile, choose one of three basic designs (straight or running bond (brick) at 50% offset, or 33%) and the tool will shift to your chosen layout as you input the numbers.
If you are doing a basic floor just click the dropdown box with 3-wall shower, choose single wall/floor option and input the size of your floor.
If you would like to flip the tile from horizontal to vertical, simply input your tile sizes in reverse.
For instance, rather than 12″ long and 24″ wide, just make them 24″ long and 12″ wide. That will flip your design 90 degrees.

It’s nothing fancy (I’m a tile guy, ‘fer cryin’ out loud!), but it should allow you to get a better idea of what your finished installation can look like before you go and spend your hard-earned beer money on something you aren’t going to be happy with.
This works for any size square or rectangular tile, and any size floor or wall. It also enforces correct practices such as full tiles on the outside edge of the shower and long-short matches in the shower corners.
Play around with it – it’s fun! And hopefully helpful.
As always, if you have any questions at all just drop a comment below. I’ll answer it.