I'm sorry but nothing about what you're doing reminds me of 1940's bathrooms. It all reminds me of HGTV remodels.

In the 1940s, bathrooms were paler colors or mostly white with or without a color and floor-to-ceiling tiles. By the 40's square tile was more in style and it was usually 4" square usually with a black or colorful bullnose border or even no border. After the war, tile started to get more colorful again.

Of course in more upscale homes they used marble still.

Your vanity is beautiful and will work.

To me the problem with what you want to do is not the marble which I love but the size of the tiles. They didn't have 4" x 8" tiles back then and they certainly didn't have huge floor tiles. And even worse is they didn't have daisy patterns which will date the look before you finish the floor even.

Have you looked at https://subwaytile.com ?

Thanks for your response and feedback! I was looking through some books on Greene and Greene homes and they had subway tiles and ceramic hex floors. To me the hex floor felt busy. I thought 12x12 tile floors would be in keeping with the scale of tile floors. ( vs. 12x24, etc). We do have square tiles in the guest bath. I guess I was trying to do a bit of a riff on the traditional look. Maybe it's not working. Thanks for the dope-slap on the daisy tile. (shoot, now I want to delete the comments on the daisy tiles but it's too late!)

Do you think any of this could work? The 12x12 floor? I thought the 4x8 subway was at least in keeping in the proportion of the older ones. (vs. some of the longer ones that are available today). Is it possible to add a marble accent that would be in keeping w/ the style? I have been looking at ones with black and I get it, but I also want my bath to feel more luxurious for me. Thanks for your thoughts and help on this.

cpartist thanks for your additional comments and for posting your photos. It gave me a lot to think about. The guy at the tile store sent me home with white subways in different sizes, like 3x6, 4x8, 3x9 (?). So I've played around and I see what you mean about keeping the 3x6 size. I think you're right. He also gave me a sample of this trim

(this is "ecletic white". Not married to this but it's the only marble sample I have). Each row is about 1" tall and my sample is two rows, so 2" high. It was interesting to see how different it looked with the different sizes of tile. IMO, the 2" version of this trim looked best with the 3x6 tile.

I love your floor with that tile "rug" and had been considering that last week. However, I want my bathroom to feel serene and bright (and vintage-y). I am thinking a "rug" on the floor will feel more energizing and less peaceful. So I'm thinking maybe sticking with the 12x12 squares on the room floor (about 4 x 7.5 feet) and do something more special with the shower floor (3x6) and use the same trim around the shower. (?) But I want the room to feel tied together.

I like the black accents in your basketweave floor. Maybe a "rug" of the basketweave (or similar) on the shower floor and have the border be the room's floor tile (cut into small pieces?). It this enough to tile them together???? Not sure if I need to put that accent tile back into the room floor somehow. (maybe just a thin border of a rug or trim around the edge of the room??? I haven't though this through).

If you (or anyone else) have other ideas, I'd love to hear them. Thanks for your help!!!!

Post your floor plan of the bathroom and I can offer a few suggestions. That's how I figured mine out.

Do realize that if you stick to a mosaic that is all pretty much the same color, it will read as serene. You don't need an onyx border like I did or the black border like in the photos I linked to.

PS: I may be slow this week as we're cleaning out our NY apartment and moving down to FL full time as of next week

Thanks. I included the floorplan in the original post. The sketch is a little busy, so tomorrow I can post a version that’s cleaner. Earlier today I sketched it on graph paper and was drawing in borders etc. Thanks for the tip that a mosaic could read as serene. Good luck w/ your move.

Duh to me. I see the sketch now. Just need dimensions.

Will the shower have a pony wall next to the toilet?

Thank you with the move. We actually are moved into our Fl home but we're giving up our NY apartment, so are cleaning out and moving so much stuff.

I don’t plan to do a pony wall. Overall dimensions of the room are 6 x 10.5. Shower 3x6, 2.5 feet for the toilet (min) and then 4.5 vanity. (Not sure how much the of the 10.5 includes interior dimensions (inside the walls) or not, hence the reason 3+2.5+4.5 = 10, not 10.5. I’ll doublecheck w/ my architect.

If my math is right, (and the vanity is approx 2x4.5) that means the floor space in the room is approx 4x7.5. The floor of the shower is 3x6. The shower is 3x6 so any accent strip could go just around that or else....continue to the wainscot. Thanks for your help

I have a friend who just cleaned out her parents’ apt in Queens. It sounds like a lot of work (+they hired someone to run the estate sale). Good luck with all that!