Shower tile all the way to the ceiling or not?

16 years ago

My materbath remodel should be starting next week so I still have some decide but have been obessing.

Here is a photo of our current bathroom situation.

Click here to view these pictures larger

I am planning to take out the wall the shower door is on so I can open up the shower and make the room feel bigger. I am planning to have a frameless glass shower door and inline panel. The bathroom (including shower) is 5 x 11 and the shower is 5 x 3.

I will keep a partial section of wall on the left that will be 1-2 feet wide so I can have some vertical storage to hang my robe and there will be a shower bench on the other side and my shower shelves (don't want to see those from outside the shower). The walls will stay the same color and I will have a beautiful espresso colored vanity with a carrara marble top.

The shower wall tile will be white subway tile. Should I go all the way to the ceiling or not? I would appreciate your thoughts.

We also currently have crown molding in the bathroom, so if it stays it will also need to wrap around the partial wall and go around the shower. I've thought about taking it out though to make the room feel a little taller but I am undecided on that too.

Featured Answer

jo-i-am

16 years ago

We just completed one bathroom - tiled from the tub to the ceiling and in our remodel starting next week we will tile the shower up to the ceiling too.

We were told it was a wash cost wise - more field tile but less trim pieces vs less field tile and more trim pieces.

Everyone that looks at the bathroom mentions the tile going to the ceiling - everyone seems to like the look.

I like the look too - don't need to deal with painting above the tile and I think it just looks cleaner.

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Comments (6)

pharaoh
16 years ago
No contest, to the ceiling.
The days of 3/4" tiled showers are over :) Looks like a half finished job plus the trim pieces always looked trite to me...
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heidi877
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for your advice. I'm leaning towards to the ceiling too. Which also means I guess I'll be getting rid of the crown molding in the bathroom.

My other mini-dilemma is my tile guy wants to do carrera marble bullnose for the baseboards to go wth the carrara bathroom floor. I'm leaning towards doing a wooden baseboard, but now that I'm going w/o the crown I don't feel like I need to balance it out.

I'm ready for everything to be done so I can stop obessessing and just enjoy it.
pricklypearcactus
16 years ago
Definitely go all the way to the ceiling. It makes the room look more luxurious and larger (because you aren't chopping up the wall height).

Go with the marble bullnose baseboard. I was initially planning to do wood as well and then changed my mind at the last minute and I am so pleased with the result. The tile baseboard looks more luxurious and highlights the beautiful tile.
nnsuch
16 years ago
Hi, we just finished a master bath remodel similar to the look you are going for, white subway tile and frameless glass enclosure. We did tile all the way to the ceiling and I think it's a cleaner, nicer look than stopping short of the ceiling a foot or two.

The only situation I see where you wouldn't want to tile up to the ceiling is if you have very, very tall ceilings in a small space - would emphasize the height too much and throw everything off balance I think. From your picture, it looks like you have standard 8 foot ceilings, so I would definitely tile all the way up if I were you.

I can try to take a picture of my bathroom so you can see the look, but if you search for "white subway tile bathroom" you can find lots of helpful pictures through google images. Good luck with your bathroom remodel!
jpearson46
4 years ago
Should you go all the way to the ceiling even if your ceiling is sloped?