Thank goodness domestic bathrooms are breaking free from the evil influence of the designer spa hotel. For a decade, we have been hypnotised into wanting honed limestone floors, ladder towel racks, aromatherapy candles and inconveniently positioned orchids. Well, the spell is broken. We’ll be having no more Balinese buddhas, thank you very much. I know this because I’ve seen the latest launches from the tile companies.

During the era of the spa bathroom, the tasteful, neutral, natural-stone surface ruled. This year, there’s been a regime change: the new tile collections pop with colour and pulsate with quirky patterns, from snakeskin to cowhide. There are eye-catching finishes, including metallics and tapestry-textured ceramics. Mosaics are everywhere, from tiny porcelain pinpoints to curvy glass tessellations, deployed not just as sparkly wallpaper, but configured to form feature panels or even roomwrapping panoramas.

Let’s start with colour. A treat in store next month is the launch of Original Style’s Pop Art range — glossy ceramics in 10 hues, from bubble-gum pink to apple green (15.2cm square, from £1.08 per tile or £46.48 per sq metre, depending on colour). As well as plain tiles, the Devon-based firm’s new line includes patterns such as the snakeskintextured Reptile (15.2cm x 7.5cm, from 87p per tile or £74.95 per sq metre, depending on colour; 01392 473000, originalstyle.com).

Villeroy & Boch’s 2009 range of tiles features Moonlight, a romantic affair in scarlet ceramic, with a shiny-bright, faintly marbled finish (30cm x 90cm, £21.68 each; 020 8871 4028, www.villeroy-boch.co.uk). Boldest and best of all, however, is Dune, by Bibliotheque. This gloriously glossy Italian feature tile is a concave rectangle in fire-engine red (15cm x 56cm, £37.17 each; 020 8365 2084, bibliotheque.co.uk).

There’s a fair bit of sparkle in the tile trade at the moment. De Ferranti launched Envelope, a twinkly gold quilt of a tile, in September. It’s made by fusing real gold and platinum between layers of transparent coloured glass (30cm square, £2,024 per sq metre; 020 7384 4424, deferranti.com). For a more modest take on the metallic look, the Spanish firm Apavisa has developed the Patina range, a porcelain tile that looks like picturesquely aged copper: British Bathroom Centre stocks the 45cm x 90cm version, from £142 per sq metre (020 8453 7000). This season, British Ceramic Tile unveiled Chambray Brocade, which has the raised texture of tapestry and a bold damask print, with metallic silver or gold detailing (24.8cm x 39.8cm; from £20 per sq metre; 0845 872 9878, www.britishceramictile.com).

Then there are the mosaics. More mosaics than you can shake a grout float at, in fact. Among my favourites is I Frammenti, a matt-finish micromosaic tile by the architect Claudio Silvestrin. The design is billed as “the world’s smallest mosaic”, and despite the tiny size of the porcelain cubes (just 5mm square), they have a huge swagger. They are available in 30cm-square sheets, from £418 per sq metre (020 7354 7000, surfacetiles.com).

If your taste is for glitter, then glass mosaics are for you. Fired Earth has some beautiful iridescent examples (£35.54 per 30cm-square sheet, or £394.44 per sq metre; 0845 366 0400, firedearth.com).

For the latest twist on the mosaic tile, try Zenith. This British firm’s extraordinary Watercube was one of the most arresting wallcoverings launched at 100% Design this year. Translucent and shimmery, it resembles tessellated soap bubbles. How do they make all those curves fit together seamlessly? Witchcraft, probably. It’s available in 30cm x 29.5cm sheets, from £300 per sq metre (0121 706 6456, zenithtiles.com).

For wraparound colour and pattern in glass mosaic, interior designers swear by Bisazza. The Italian firm’s catalogue of superstylish patterns — from elaborate paisleys to branching trees and classical sculptures — has been created by design stars such as Ettore Sottsass, Patricia Urquiola and Tord Boontje.

The process is just like choosing wallpaper, except that the patterns are adapted for the dimensions of your room, can be coloured to your taste, and are delivered as 32cm-square sheets. Prices start at about £100 per sq metre, but can run to more than £2,000 per sq metre for patterns with 24-carat gold (020 7584 8837, bisazza.com).

If you fancy a steamy jungle scene in the bathroom, or a feature wall based on a favourite photo of your cat, the firm to call is RIM, at the Design Centre at Chelsea Harbour. Alla Romanenko takes materials as diverse as posters and children’s drawings, and re-creates them as murals in 1cm-square ceramic or 1.5cm-square glass mosaic (from £200 per sq metre; 020 7376 5820, rim.ru).

Thinking big on a budget? You’ll be glad to hear that Surface View has moved into bathrooms this year. The company, which specialises in bold digital images, has started printing ceramic bathroom tiles, and anticipates that famous paintings on a bathing theme will be especially popular. It has just completed a three-wall version of Georges Seurat’s Baigneurs à Asnières that comes in several sizes, from 10cm square to 30cm square (from £350 per sq metre; 0118 922 1327, surfaceview.co.uk). It’s a winning combination of colour, impact and wit — and not a chubby Indonesian figurine in sight.

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