I'm not going to vote. From what I can see in your pictures and the link I think it's a combination of a tile that doesn't have a perfectly straight edge and some sloppy work. The dark grout emphasizes it more than the lighter grout shown in the floor decor pictures. It wouldn't have been my choice.

The edges of those tiles are wavy. You used black grout which emphasizes the waviness. Go to the link you posted and zoom in. The tiles have wavy edges.

How about all the above. Wrong tile. Wrong grout. Bad tile job.

Wrong tile to use with a dark grout

It's the tile and the dark grout is highlighting the waviness BIG time. Even their online samples, with a light gray grout, show the wobbly nature of the tile just not as stark.

Sorry this has happened. Ask if a grout sealer/paint can remedy. Mapei UltraCare Grout Refresh has a lot of colors to choose from. I just don't know how your dark stain will react to it.

I think it could be cleaned up a little--there are some spots where it looks fuzzy. But it's the tile.

And it looks like a better install than the retailer's image--at least yours looks like the walls are all plumb.

Who picked the sideways herringbone design?

You should not have chosen black (or dark gray) grout with wavy-edged tile.

Who does herringbone in a shower?

@Mark Bischak, Architect, @strategery,

People lead busy lives. Why shouldn't their shower be just as busy as they are?

I am sorry that the installer didn't stop you from the bag grout choice or at least warn you.

Homeowners are NOT experts - they often pick things is isolation from one another and don't necessarily understand how everything all works together. Either a design professional should have said NO! or, your tile person should have called out the mismatch in using the dark grout and the wavy tile. :-( Ultimately, they are giving you the end product - and they are the ones that will deal with the dissatisfaction - and they should offer expertise BEFORE the point of no return.

But ultimately - poor selections led to a poor result.

It looks like he did a pretty good job, overall; all the tiles on the perimeter of that back wall seem to be full-width (i.e., no slivers).

Not sure if he is just bad and doesnt have the skill to do the job or the tile fault.

Well, given that tile is an inanimate object with no ability to reason, how about we just say that this is your fault for choosing it, especially with dark grout? I don't mean that harshly because I've had PLENTY of hair-brained ideas in my life that led to poor choices and in the end, *I* had to own up to it. The tile job isn't actually that bad.

And FWIW, I've never seen a tile job using white tiles and dark grout on a shower that I've really liked. It's too jarring, imho, and there is just WAY too much that could go wrong in the job leading to a do-over (which costs time and money).

At the risk of generating gigs of electronic "hate" mail from houzzers, this outcome helps to illustrate the value of working with professionals. The do-over might have been avoided if:

1. The tile salesperson knew their stuff and helped you to make an informed choice. That's not a realistic expectation from discounters like Floor & Decor.

2. The tile installer questioned your choices early on and took the initiative to make a mock up to show you why both the tile and grout as a combination was risky. That's not a realistic expectation if the installer is in a rush to collect your check and get on to the next low- bid job he's committed to install.

3. The interior designer who wasn't hired had shared their expertise and helped you make a more appropriate selection.

If the same tile were used and the same grout and the job were done by the same tiler, then surely it would make no difference whether it is herringbone or parallel. The edges would still be wavy and the dark grout would still show it up.

unfortunately its listed as "Chiseled or Tumbled" edge, which means its unfortunate, but the dark color you chose is the problem :(

The technical aspects of this installation look great to me -- the top, bottom, and sides all look perfect without tiny slivers of cut tiles, or full tiles on one side and slivers on the other -- so I think this guy definitely knew what he was doing!

I can totally see the argument that the professional should at least warn the homeowner regarding design choices, but I think (unless the pro is specifically a *design* pro) that they'd spend way too much time trying to save people from themselves, only to be told by clients, "But this is what I want!" They're kinda darned if they do, darned if they don't. :-/

The trades are trained in the technical aspects of their fields, not necessarily the aesthetic/artistic ones, and many of these guys treat customers as competent in what they want for their own homes (even if, deep down inside, they may sense trouble). "Design push back" isn't really their jobs or areas of expertise, is my impression.

The tile is uneven. The dark grout accentuates it. Bad grout choice.

Investigate options for changing grout color.

Good luck!

As many have said, it looks like a combination of somewhat sloppy work and terrible grout combo... On the other hand, we had a guy do a very sloppy job once and much of the tile could be saved (by his son, as it happened, who redid the tile.)

Our new backsplash tiles looks very similar but done with the best matching grout we could find. I like the look of the waviness and uneven edges being it’s just a simple off white to avoid businesses with the granite. I hope you can find something to improve yours.

I actually think your tiler did a good job. The dark grout is the problem because it highlights every imperfection. I also think it looks fine. You can’t even tell the grout lines are uneven in the far off pics. The concentration is on the pattern which they did a good job of.

He is partially right and he did a sloppy job. The tile is uneven on the sides, even the width left and right are uneven on the tile. The bottom part of tile is straight, lip is uneven. The inner and outer corners of your shower are done poorly. Redo for that reason.

It was the tile selector, with the dark grout, in the bathroom . . . five years ago.

Will agree that the tile might have looked better with a lighter colored or white grout.

Well at least we know which architects not to hire if one thinks the colour of the grout was the issue.

The grout color is a issue not the issue. The outside corners are made with a metal tile edging that is common in many ceramic tile installations. Considering the undulating surface of the tile creating uneven edges and the dark grout emphasizing the tiles edges, the tiler did not do a sloppy job.

Story:

I hired a tiler to install the tile in the master bedroom shower in the addition I designed to my home. After the project was done I could sit there and notice all the imperfections in the tiler's work. When I remodeled another bathroom in my home I decided to do the tile work myself. Now that the remodeling is done I realize how perfect the other tiler's work is and I should have hired him to do the tile work in the remodeling.

I have the same tiles on my floor, be it pinkish as they are floor tiles. They are not easy to install. Since they are so uneven you have to eyeball all of them. It looks great. Since contractors do such a poor job I decided to do it myself as well. If you take your time and care, it is surprising how much better it looks. Standard is so low in Northern America. Skills are no longer leading if available already. The fact that your job was even worse than his doesn’t make his work good. They are just now two bad jobs. That was my point all along. Barely anyone cares anymore. Go to Europe and you’ll see what I mean. People still take pride in what they are doing and have a craft. Could be the same here, if craft and pride would be leading, not turnover. That is why I commented on this post. People should not accept a sloppy job, cause most are done sloppy. There are still craftsmen, they are expensive and not short of a job, but they are out there.

Since those tiles are NOT floor rated, you obviously do not know industry standards, or what you are doing.

"They are just now two bad jobs."

No, they are both good jobs, all the imperfections minute and would not be noticeable to most people. And we both put wall tiles on the wall and floor tiles on the floor.