Tile sizes and colors...help!

11 years ago

My husband and I are about to tear our hair out. We've been down to studs in our master bath for much longer than I'd like to admit. The hold up is the tile. Each time we think we've figured it out, we second guess ourselves, scrap it and end up back at square one. (Never again will we demo before having everything ready to go!) We're finally close to placing an order, but would love some help with sizes and colors.

So far we've got 2 definites - dark grey 12 x 24 main floor tile and white 4 x 4 shower wall/tub surround/backsplash tile (with white vanity and carrara marble top). That leaves the shower accent and floor tile. This is where we keep getting lost.

We like the Sonoma Vihara 1/2 x 1 glass tile in the Lotus color for the shower accent, which will be a strip around the stand up shower and niche. As for the shower floor, our main floor tile doesn't come in 2 x 2's and I don't really care for a dark shower floor anyway. We thought we'd go with carrara marble instead to keep it light and tie in the counter. The design shops keep telling us to go with 2 x 2, but when we lay everything out, the accent tile seems off scale, since it's so much smaller compared to all the other tile in the room. HOWEVER, when we say, okay, let's do a 1 x 1 on the floor instead, the balance is much better, but then the colors seem to clash. The smaller carrara has more grey, so it ends up looking like a bit of a mismatch against the blues in the accent tile.

I know this is probably getting confusing. I've attached a pic to try and give a better visual. They're stock pics, so the colors aren't exact, but hopefully it's a close enough idea.

So my questions are these - If we stick with the 1/2 x 1 Vihara Lotus shower accent, do we go with a 1 x 1 or 2 x 2 carrara shower floor? Or, are they just too much of a clash together and should we swap one out for something else entirely? Any suggestions or ideas for a better choice either way? Any help, advice or input would be greatly appreciated!

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Comments (9)

just_terrilynn
11 years ago
Have you thought about
skipping the accent tile in the shower and using it as a vanity backsplash
instead? The whole shower would be pretty in the white using one of the two
other favorites for the shower floor.
Alicia Petrucci
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
That was actually my original plan, but I ended up finding a great deal on a vanity/top combo and made a rash decision. The counter is beautiful, but the marble has much darker veins than what I envisioned. I feel like the accent directly against it would be too busy. This is my biggest regret so far. I wish I would have went with a lighter marble or white stone as opposed to jumping on that deal. It's thrown everything off from the start and caused all our tile woes. I'm trying to convince my husband to sell the counter as we speak. :) The vanity is on the same wall as the shower. So as of now, the plan is to continue the white 4 x 4's from the shower all the way over to behind the vanity and use those as our backsplash.
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just_terrilynn
11 years ago
Can you share a picture of your countertop?
Alicia Petrucci
Original Author
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Sure :)

Here's what it looks like at our home in our own lighting. I will say, it appears a tad lighter in real life.

Here's the stock image of the combo. (I'm changing out the knobs and using a chrome faucet.)
Alicia Petrucci
Original Author
11 years ago
And quick disclaimer about the 4 x 4's...we love white subway, but our existing tub surround already had the squares. We figured we'd run with them to keep costs down.
just_terrilynn
11 years ago
Maybe you could add a row of the white tiles first to break it up and just do a skinny border of accent on top ? Maybe just a little understated Bling not a thick as I have it?
Alicia Petrucci
Original Author
11 years ago
justterilynn, thanks so much for all your help. As you can see from the pic below, the vanity and shower share the same wall. My husband is hesitant about using the accent as a backsplash because he thinks it will look awkward stopping it at the end of the vanity on the right. We thought about carrying it all the way over and doing the accent strip lower in the shower (below the shower on/off handle as opposed to above) to avoid the weird transition. After much debate, I think we're leaning towards just using the 4x4's as the backsplash to keep it cleaner looking.

I'm reading some scary things about the Sonoma glass tile staining in the shower, so now I'm thinking we should just go with a carrara mini brick accent and 1x1 or hex shower floor and be done with it. My poor husband. He has had it with me and changing my mind so many times. One thing is for sure, he is adamant about not selling the vanity top!

(This is more of the actual color of the vanity top in our house. I didn't realize that last pic was so dark.)
just_terrilynn
11 years ago
Alid, your bathroom is going to be lovely! If at the end you still feel you wish you had the accent tile you could always frame some and hang it on the wall as art.
Alicia Petrucci
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you so much, justterrilynn!