HHhhhhmmm. You are doing exactly what I did, "looked at hundreds of pictures on-line and in magazines of baths (Houzz)". I also read that over at the Home Decorating forum in Gallery there are bath pix.
Your next step is go shopping. I suggest go to a tile store or a kitchen & bath showroom. When you see the stuff in person I think it really helps. If you tell folks what city you live it they can suggest best stores. This one I found at the end and if I'd gone there first I would have a much more luxe/expensive bath! They are in MD, VA, PA and WV.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thomas Somerville bath showrooms

I came to my decorating decision first by knowing what color I "love". What color makes my heart smile :) The rest of my house is done in rich warm earth tones with some rich jewel tones thrown in but I wanted the master ensuite to be different. I've always been drawn to blues/aquas. Then when we went on a couple Caribbean cruises, I came away with the COLOR scheme...watery/beachy. The name of the color of my glass tiles is "Sea Tones". The porcelain "travertine look" tile is a light sand color. The Giallo Ornamental granite is also sandy with darker browns (think driftwood?). Anyway, that's how I decided :) Good luck!
Monica

Here is a link that might be useful: Master Bath with

I love, love, love your bathroom Monica!!!

I decided on my master bath decor based on the feelings I wanted to evoke. Old world, elegance, drama. My jumping off point was actually the lighting fixtures I found and the fact that I wanted oil rubbed bronze faucets and towel bars etc. So everything was picked around those choices that I was happy with. So for you I'd suggest finding the one item, maybe lighting, maybe tile, maybe vanity, whatever just hits you as being IT and then designing your bath around that. Good luck.

I decided on what features I wanted in the bathroom that would be more difficult to find (tub longer than 5' that would comfortably fit an adult but still be close to 30" wide) and found what products were available. I knew I wanted white tile because I wanted a clean crisp open feeling and I wanted the bathroom to feel larger. I brought home dozens of samples of white tiles in the approximate size I liked, and then picked our favorite that was affordable and felt good underfoot. I then searched and searched until I found a vanity I liked that I felt would go with the tile and that fit into the space available. I went to a local lighting store and browsed dozens of catalogs and then brought pictures home to select from. All of this I of course kept in mind the style of the house and the general styles I like (contemporary, modern, with a small amount of traditionalism, cool colors, crisp clean, etc). I never really tried to use other photos to inspire me or worried about finding a specific "style" or "look" to mimic. Overall I feel like the look came out as I intended (better actually).

I looked at some inspiration pictures, but for me a trip to the biggest tile store I could find, which in our area was The Tile Shop was the best help. Once I found a tile that we both fell in love with, everything else fell into place from there.

I started with the vanity. I knew that I wanted the furniture from the same manufacturer as my kitchen cabinets, so once I had that and the available colors, next was the counter top. I knew I wanted chrome fixtures, partially because chrome is the same for every manufacturer, which gave me flexibility to choose. The hardest part was picking the tile. My favorite tile was just too slippery for safety, so I settled for the next favorite, which worked out great.

By the 1920s and 1930s pastel tiled baths were in vogue. My sister's 1930s dutch colonial had one mint green and black bath with black and white basketweave on the floor, and one yellow and blck bath with hex on the floor. While you may not want to go that "period" you could certainly do something that evoked that era in white tile with a colored liner.

Monica, love your beach colors especially the aqua and blue tile.

I had three bathrooms and a kitchen to do also. Honestly, I didn't realize there was actually a method to my complete madness at the time but in retrospect, I fell in love with one special thing for each room and designed off of it. It was such a relief to set a sort of benchmark that way because I was able to come up with a plan. The kitchen was designed around the fact that I HAD to have white marble on the island. The master bath was all about using the rest of the marble from the kitchen (I used white subway to compliment). The second bath was designed around one fancy glass mosaic I found, I just chose plain field tile for everything else in that room. The third is my daughter's bathroom and again, a fancy glass mosaic as an accent is the star and everything else was chosen to compliment it (although that room is sort of out in left field compared to the rest of the house..)

I will say that I totally, totally sympathize for you because it really is difficult to do so much at once. Another thing that helped was keeping the actual architectural style of the house in mind, sounds like you're on to that though, I LOVE 1920 colonials!

If I had known about this site http://www.designinabag.com/ , the whole process would have been a breeze. Check it out, might give you some ideas!
Best of Luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Design in a bag

I wanted a room that was less like a typical bathroom, and more like a room filled with things that I love.
So I knew I would have a furniture style vanity, a chandelier, and whitewashed tongue-and-groove on the ceiling, I also wanted a funky mirror instead of a medicine cabinet.
I knew I would also break some typical bathroom rules--for example having a glass french door as a pocket door, vaulting the ceiling and cladding it in wood, or not completely maximizing storage in favor of style.
I guess I wanted my bathroom to have the feel of a pretty, eclectic, dressing room that reflected the style of the rest of my house.

Here is a link that might be useful: girlcat's bathroom

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful advice! Monica and Girlcat, thank you for sharing your bathrooms they are both beautiful.

Girlcat I have loved your bathroom from when you first posted it! I like thinking of the bathroom filled with what makes ME happy (a nice thought since I have the job of mom to four which leaves very little time for me!)

My cabinet maker left me the entire color chart for Farrow & Ball paint with instructions that my vanity could be painted ANY color I wanted. So perhaps I will start with a unique vanity and work my happy colors around that.

I will also start visiting tile stores, have gone to one and it was overwhelming--crowded, rushed and filled with weekend browsers like me! It is probably time to get a babysitter and get out during the week searching for inspiration.

Thank you everyone, and PLEASE keep posting inspirations, even photos.

Why don't we have a FBBlog?? That would be so nice.

Semi:

i knew that i wanted a more traditional styled bathroom. and that was all i was really sure about. i found that i liked many different looks as i looked at pictures (even very modern, tho i knew that wouldn't "go" in my house). it was very overwhelming to go to tile store, because i really like so many tile combos! SO, what i found most helpful was to go to a granite yard first and look at all the different marbles and granites. i picked out a granite that i loved and which was entirely different than i thought i would have chosen and it really helped to narrow down the differnet choices. it still was a LONG process for me to figure out the look i wanted (and still hope, now more than ever since our bathroom is gutted and ready to go, that i made the "right" choices!!!). time will tell!

Gorgeous baths...love the styles and colors.

I am probably the worst one to ask how I decide as all my rooms are theme oriented. But if I didn't go with a theme, I would definitely be mostly influenced by colors. It sounds like you have already been doing a lot of research. Maybe it would help if you started laying out some products that you like to see how they blend. You may want to do something more eclectic and blend the styles you like.

Our master is still coming together, but my choices are based on the clawfoot slipper tub that I wanted. Then the beadboard for the walls in the tub alcove, an old large stained glass window on the west wall which the tub faces, clerestory windows at the top of the north wall, beadboard ceiling with open rafters. Because my DH loved the Italian porcelain unglazed, I chose a color which looks like tumbled marble in 2x2 mosaic squares, under the tub, and then 18" squares in the main part of the bathroom.

I think this will remain true to the small cottage nature of our house. Nothing grand. Just comfortable.

Sorry I'm hijacking your thread but, cordovamom, would you post some pics? That is one direction I am going. So far I've decided black and white. OR browns. I now have fixtures in BOTH ORB and brushed nickel. This is ridicoulous! Why am I having such a hard time? I can't decide on a tile. OR even if I want tile. Maybe vinyl. I do like the ease of Formica and vinyl. There are so many things I like to do other than clean.

pinch -- our master bath is a very modest DIY remodel that is still in the process.....the floor is going in as I type....mouldings aren't up yet, the hole in the wall is for the flatscreen, etc. I've put a few accessories in the room just for pictures, but it's not totally done. I'll post a few pics here so that you can get an idea of direction I'm going, but as I say it's still in progress!!

Hi Cordovamom!
That doesn't LOOK modest! It's beautiful! Well done!

I want the mirrors, towel bars, the paint and the tile. I have the robe hooks and the ORB fixtures. I'll show your vanity to my carpenter and he'll copy it for a small single farm type sink. That's all the same color paint? The wall that shows dark is exactly what brown I'm looking for and its name is? I guess you might as well give me the tile names, too. And where'd ya get the mirrors?

Thanks Rookie!!

Pinch -- the vanity was an existing honey oak vanity that we stripped and stained black. The countertop is uba tuba. The paint color is all the same just photographs differently in different light -- it's Laura Ashley Taupe 6. The bathroom was done on an extreme budget. All tile was from Lowes and was dirt cheap...the brown bricks were the most expensive at $5 per square foot, the rest was under $2 per square foot. The field tiles were Sienna Almond -- in 12" x 12" and 6 x 6. The flooring will also be from Lowes at about $3 per square foot. Towel bars also came from Lowes (are you sensing a theme here) at about $35 each. Mirrors were an incredible Hobby Lobby find -- 50% off, $50 each although I had also picked up some lovely ones from Kirklands that would have looked great in the space but switched to these at the last minute.

Our main goal in redoing the masterbath was to remove the cultured marble shower panels and eliminate the door. We wanted to widen the shower door for wheelchair access. Also, our countertop was cultured marble and had a lot of crazing around the drain. We found a good price on the uba tuba.

Good luck on your bathroom!!

Which color grout did you use with the sienna almond tile?