I don't know how we can possibly advise you on tile selection based on the insulation and studs that will be behind them. Agree about waterproofing, but show us pictures of the rest of the bathroom too!

I can post more pictures of the bathroom later, but really this shower is the starting point. Let's say we're starting with a clean slate. The entire bathroom sucks. Well, maybe not sucks, but it isn't great. The big irony is my husband sells plumbing supplies - and we live with a crappy bathroom. Anyway, about 5-6 weeks ago we discovered the shower valve behind the wall was leaking. So we had no choice but to tear out the wall with the plumbing to get to the valve. Since we hate the tile in there, we just tore it all out. As mentioned, we planned to go with some solid panels, but are having problems finding a contractor that can install them in our area. We're not looking to remodel the entire bathroom right now, it will have to be done in phases (our bank account is still trying to recover from laying a new concrete driveway this summer). So this shower is the jumping off point. Again, we didn't expect to do this right now, but have no choice.

To the right of the shower is a bump out with 3 windows (one on each side of the bump out), where an enormous, never used old whirlpool tub sits, collecting dust. That's surrounded by travertine tile that matched what WAS in the shower. Long term plans are to rip all of that out and put in a free standing tub (which will also do nothing but collect dust, but is needed to future resale value). The double vanity is a medium tone cherry, which I don't like either. But it's quality cabinetry, so I'd like to paint it. It's topped with an awful off white cultured marble double sink with crappy faucets and a lousy light fixtures above a big rectangular mirror. I'd like to replace the counter top, put trim around the mirror, change out the faucets and replace the lighting.

So I don't care about matching anything else in the bathroom because I have nothing in the bathroom I care to match (unless you want to count the Kohler toilet, which will stay). Once our bank account recovers paying for a couple of truck loads of concrete, we can work on the rest. The house is a very traditional colonial style (see profile pic). I'm looking for tile that will be easy to maintain, clean, and timeless. Something that won't look outdated in 10 years. Top of the list is subway tile, or some faux marble tiles.

RE: the waterproofing, we have a well respected GC that will take care of the waterproofing and tile installation. I just need to select the tile that I want to use.

I'm in a similar situation, preferring not to worry about grout - I looked at Choreograph but am not that fond of the color options and styles (and delivery lead times are very long). Same for Silestone. I just heard about FlexStone and am looking into that some more (https://flexstoneproducts.com). For the dimensions you have, you might also be able to go with Maax Utile, which I have in my second bathroom, and is great and easily installed (sizes not compatible with my master otherwise I would go with it again). Just a few suggestions

A small tile mosaic on the floor; this allows for better "grip" and safety. Use a larger tile on the walls for easier cleaning. Don't choose white tile (unless you enjoy cleaning) and go with a mid-tone grout.

You say you already have brown tile in another area of the bathroom ... I'd choose something to match (or coordinate with) this brown tile. It might be years 'til you complete the dream of ditching this area and installing a free-standing tub, and the mismatch would drive me nuts in the meantime.

We put a Lowes builder-basic 2" brown mosaic tile on floor /12x18" tan tile on the walls of our hall bath, and -- while it isn't cutting-edge style -- it is SO EASY to keep clean.

You didn't mention a niche for storage. Do consider that along with your other functional decisions. And don't skimp on size. Personal opinion: I'd put it on the side so it's not so front-and-center-noticeable.

I'm going to add more photos in this post - for some reason it won't let me add them to the original (when I go to click "edit" it tells me the page is not available....who knows). Anyway, it'll give you a better idea of the bathroom - it's L shaped - the vanity is on your right as you walk in the door, the master closet is on the left. Round the corner, and there is the shower. I'm really not crazy at all about the tile used around the tub - hence the reason we pulled it out of the shower (it was all 4"x4" tiles in the shower). I really rather not go back with something brown tone, but well, maybe I have to do so. As for the storage niche, yep, the contractor has already priced that out as well as a corner seat (although I'm not 100% sure I'll keep the seat due to space...I've survived 5 years without one in this bathroom, although it is nice for leg shaving). We'll also have a frameless shower door.

Floor tile

Tub surround tile

We have a similar sized shower and also had a leak, and we're know in the thick of a total remodel. I went with 4 1/4 x 12 3/4 subway tiles for the tub and knee walls and 3" hex for the shower floor. We have a weird setup that made large format tiles not a good fit for our situation, so we're using epoxy grout to help offset the additional grout lines. Picking tiles is so stressful! I have a friend that just remodeled her bathroom and found large format travertine looking porcelain tiles from Floor and Decor. It turned out really pretty. That might be something to look in to. Good luck!

Someone above mentioned Maax Utile. Great product which we've had now for a couple of years and I think it is fantastic. We've had no issues at all with it - it looks great and is easy to clean and installation was without issues at all. It cleans up beautifully with very minimal effort.

We have the sliding barn door style. Hardware is heavy and feels hearty and luxurious - nothing cheap feeling about the Utile system and they have a lot of patterns available. When we ordered ours it was so new there were only 2 available but I see now they offer at least 10 or 12 options.

And I will add that it is installed at our cottage which is unheated in winter. No cracking or shifting of any kind, still looks like new after 2 full years.

We mixed up the wood look tiles with stone look tiles from Floor and Decor.

You have to be very careful when mixing tile like that. You cannot see it at all, but that wood has a green cast to it. When you hold up other wood look tiles to it, it is definitely greenish. It was the only tile in the store that looked good with the greenish, stone look, tile.

If I were you, I would go with a white tile that matches the white trim/windows/shutters/tub molding. That way it coordinates with what you have now and will be a clean slate for you to design around when you get to gut the rest (which looks perfectly fine by the way). My personal preference would be to use a lager format tile, but subway would be fine too.

White subway tile is a classic and while not very imaginative it works well with lots of things. That's why I chose it for my bathroom. You could go for larger tiles to reduce grout lines and maybe look at some subtle marble effect porcelin if you like that look.Whatever format you use I would stick to ceramic tile and avoid all natural stone. On thresholds cultured marble works well and comes in long lengths so you can minimize joints on the horizontal surface. For the floor stick to something like a small square or hex, 2"x2" works well.

But before you think about all that talk to your contractor about backer board, floor pre-slops and waterproofing and what system or combination of waterproofing products they will use. That's far more important than tile. I would also look at how the pan is constructed....does the liner go far enough up the wall and you should replace the insulation and maybe tile up to the ceiling.

Here is my shower........from the studs out it's Durock board with all joints and screws covered with tape and thinset. Then 3 coats of Hydroban on walls, floor and over the curb. 6" ceramic subway tile on the walls. The floor has a copper pan (I'm in MA) with a preslope, mud bed sloped to a center drain and the Hydroban and then a 2" white hex tile. The curb is a single piece of cultured marble. Worry about the construction first there's plenty of time for tile.

I met this morning with a designer at the local tile store our contractor uses. I found some extra floor tiles and brought some other loose tiles too coordinate with what is already surrounding the tub. I'm not super crazy about those tiles, but as a PP mentioned, it could be a long while before I pull that tile out. What she recommended would be updated over what we have, but still coordinating with our current tile. So we're thinking about putting in 8"x12" tiles of this below. This is "Mystone" in the shade sand from Sintesi. For a decorative border, we'll use some small .5"x1" mosaic tiles in travertine colors. On the floor we'd use the same main tile, just in smaller squares (~2"x2") to put a 2 row border around the edge then put larger hexagon tiles in the middle.

Main tile:

Here's the same tile on the manufacturer website of what it looks like in use.

I really like the clean subway tile look, but right now it just doesn't coordinate with the rest of the bath.

Make sure you worry just as much about what goes under those lovely tiles.

Thanks Jeff - I can't quite recite what all he says he uses. But when I explained I really was hesitant to put tile in there, he said the floor was probably not done properly and waterproofed adequately. He evidently does alot of work repairing incorrectly installed shower floors. Long story short, he said when our shower was installed (approximately 13+ yrs ago) they probably didn't do it entirely properly, plus used more porous tiles, so it was holding the moisture. Since our shower was remodeled, local building codes have changed. He drew a sketch and explained how/what you'd use to build the floor to ensure proper waterproofing/drainage. We even discussed using a shower pan instead of tiling, but the consensus is in our real estate market and at the price point of our home, buyers are expecting tiled shower floors and not shower pans. He should be out in the next few days to collect our deposit and to measure the space himself. At that point I'll get specifics on the waterproofing.

A good quality manufactured shower base/receptor can be very nice. Kohler make some nice ones from acrylic and some from cast iron, I think the reason people don't usually like them is that they've stood on ones that flex....cast iron won't do that. Then there is stuff like Corian that is sold through dealers. They make the floor installation a lot easier, but you obviously have to like the way they look. But it is far more sensible to use a continuous waterproof tray made in a factory that you just put down rather than assembling layers of plastic, mortar, waterproof membranes and finally tile and grout that is not waterproof. I very nearly used a Kohler base, but they didn't make a large enough one in cast iron and so I would have had to get a custom solid surface one and it was just easier and faster to put down a mud floor and waterproof it and tile.

I think your contractor should remove the existing floor as who knows what's going on with the liner or maybe install something like the Kerdi system that you tehn tile over. They have a system that makes a lot of the tricky aspects of shower construction quite simple.

Home Depot now has shower walls like Kohler "Choreography". IIRC HD has plumbers/installers that can do a shower.

Also, I sat down with a Kohler sales rep last week, and the shower bases she had at her disposal are not Kohler shower bases (although her commission was added on). She was getting them from a distributor called Swanton (very basic). So you might try Swanton directly!

Many companies have bases...no problem.

I am using Lustrolite panels on the shower I'm building. It's a lot cheaper than tile. They come cut to order and you use some kind of basic glue-stuff (silicon?) to slap them on your plywood walls. The "install kit" comes with about 5 items, which include a pair of latex gloves and a sponge.

Lustrolite panels come in bright colors, like yellow, red, blue.... all glossy.

I think the tile you found is pretty and a good choice if you are happy keeping your bathroom on the warm side. If you want to leave your options open, go with white.

I chose solid surface (white) by Formica for the walls and a cultured marble base. The company my contractors use couldn't find anyone to custom fabricate a base out of Corian and Formica doesn't offer one. Solid surface is on the expensive side but I don't have to worry about the sub-contractor waterproofing correctly. No grout to clean. My old tile shower was unusable due to a disintegrating shower pan from a waterproofing error.

Formica Solid Surface Try calling for providers. The zip code locator isn't working for me. There are other options like LG, Samsung, Wilsonart, Avonite, etc.

Pic of the recently installed tub surround. I don't have a finished one of my shower.

The Formica site is still non functional. I can only imagine what the product is like in the long run. Yikes. I hope it works out for you. I worry that they list their sheet good as "water resistant..."

The material is great, as long as the installers don't forget to take off the protective plastic when fabricating. Dummies. After the house was painted, I removed the plastic over the bath/shower and there was a sticky film all over the walls! They got it cleaned off with liquid Barkeeper's Friend, on the second try. The material is similar to Corian and perfectly fine in the presence of water as it doesn't absorb it. The weak spots, as in any surround using a sheet of materal, is at the caulked joints. As long as it's applied correctly, and is maintained, I'm good.