We used White Thassos marble to line our niches (and for the niche shelves in our two main bathrooms). Our field tile was used fo the back walls of the niches, the marble pieces were used for the tops, bottoms, and side walls.

Guest bathroom:

Hall bathroom:

MB:

What about some framing pieces like this:

[Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by San Francisco Architects & Building Designers Andre Rothblatt Architecture

If you can't find trim pieces to match the tile, maybe you have an accent tile you can coordinate with, like marble. I have seen niches tiled back and sides with the same tile as the field tile to everything tiled with a contrasting accent - just personal preference IMHO.

Look at the Schluter edging profiles. HD carries some Schluter.

Here is a link that might be useful: Schluter

Cat_mom - those are beautiful!!! Are there any issues with using marble in the shower niches? I always thought marble stains when exposed to water? That's what we were told when we wanted to have marble countertops... Or is special kind of marble? Where would I buy it?

Jreuter - that edging looks very nice, but I cannot make out what was used on the edges, is it bullnose? Plus, we already tiled all the way to the niche so I am not sure we can go with edges like that now...

Geoffrey_B - thank you! We considered using Schluter, but I was just wondering what other people have generally done to see if ghere any other options...

No issues at all. The White Thassos seems to be pretty tough stuff! We got it from a place on Long Island; K&K marble. Our tile guy told us the thickness, and tile size(s) to get, how many and which pieces needed to be polished on both sides (for the shelves), etc., and then the tile guy cut some of it up further (we used marble to trim out the MB tub surround because the bullnose tile size/orientation didn't work with our tile layout). Ours is WT Select I believe (much "cleaner" and whiter than the WT that was used in the Porcelanosa mosaic we used as our accent tile).

I sealed the marble (and all the grout) with STT's SB sealer, now called Deluxe? We keep stuff in the niches, including bar soap (on nubby soap holders), and a metal can of shave gel, and they still look great after 3-4 years. I clean the tub surrounds, incl the marble with 7th generation disinfecting bathroom cleaner.

So our tile installer installed marble tiles for our niches and I'm not loving it. I knew the color of marble would not match the white subway tile but I am just not loving the niches, is it the tile or the install? What do you see wrong with it? How can we fix it? We already tore it out once (we used the beveled subway tile first time and it was cut in too many pieces since there is bullnose for this tile, and it just didn't look right either). Please help :)

P.S. is there any way I can upload the photos directly from my computer?

Hi Bongo,
You can post pictures from your computer. When you post, look above the Message box. There is a "Browse..." button. Click on that and find the picture. When you preview your message you should be able to see it before you submit.

A picture would be helpful.
Thanks

Here are the photos of our niches, what do you think? If I take these out to re-do, will it damage the waterproof backing?

Here is another photo - does it look ok to you or was it done incorrectly?

Last photo -

Maybe I'm missing something, but I think those look great. Hope mine look as good when we're done. But you're the ones that have to live with them. Just my opinion.

Lisa

Lisa, you don't think the grout lines are too thick and uneven? I also thought that maybe matching the grout to the tile would make it less obvious and visible? And more blending in? I'm only talking about the niches.

Thank you.

I don't think they look bad either. I just had a niche done with plain Daltile subways (same as field tile) and the edges are quarter round. Mine is about 95% perfect and that's good enough for me. Think about it. There will be soap and shampoo, razors and God knows what else in those niches. You'll be trying to keep the soap out of your eyes and see what you're doing. The variance in grout lines will be something you stop noticing.

I looked again. Still think they look fine. But everyone has their own vision.

Lisa

I like them. Though I do agree with you, that if you were Samantha and could twitch your nose to do a redo, I'd match the grout colour to the tiles. But, I would definitely not do it over now!

Linelle is right, and as others have pointed out, once the niches are jam-packed you won't give it another thought! You have no idea how much work and how much I fussed over the mosaic limestone back to my niche. Can barely even see it. In fact my sister just saw it for the first time, and as she has JUST finished re-tiling her BR by herself, she was totally closely inspecting ours. I don't think she even noticed the limestone in the niche.

Flynnnj - your niche looks great, do you know where your contractor got those end pieces, or what brand they are?

Thank you!

The base shelf is just more subway tile; the 2 center shelves are the crema marfil (?) marble that matched the top of the sink vanity and the outer borders were something off the shelf at HD - nothing fancy, no special order - just something that you needed to find and then be creative. Hope this info helps.