If you want your bathroom to be timeless, then follow the style and age of the house. Anything that doesn't reflect the era and feel of the house will wind up looking dated when the style is done with.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=1920+mediterranian+bathroom&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Thanks for such a quick response. Maybe timeless isn't the appropriate word. I'd like to keep elements from the traditional 1920s bathroom, but make it feel a bit more modernized. That's how I selected square, star and cross, and hexagon shapes. I've been back and forth on terracotta for flooring since it can look dated, but is a very iconic Mediterranean tile. I also want the space to be practical for comfort + cleaning. Our brick floors in the kitchen I would probably do-over if I could just due to maintenance and comfort.

I think the warmth of a terra-cotta color tile would really play well into a Spanish theme. Don't worry too much about it looking dated. I think that happens only if you lean too heavily into a color palette, which is something that was done a couple decades. Instead I would pair it with more neutral colors for the shower and bath walls. Here are some really beautiful more up to date examples. For the shower I would recommend a larger format tile on the walls as opposed to the zellige you posted in order to minimize water-exposed grout lines.

oops, just realized my second photo is brick or at least looks like brick. My eyesight is not very good at night. but at least it gives you a sense of how the color can work regardless of the material you use.

When we redid our master bath, I wanted timeless and first chose marble floor tile, similar to your choices. I then worried about maintenance, specifically damage certain cleaners might cause. We went with 2" hex porcelain: small enough to not be slippery, but fewer grout lines than 1" hex. The huge tiles are all the rage now, but certainly not classic.

The 4" wall tiles you're consideribg are a great choice, and very appropriate. People have moved away from them, but they'll probably come back!

I know you want to create a modernized version of an appropriate bathroom rather than a reproduction of a 1920s period bath, but what is timeless or classic in one house is not necessarily going to be timeless in another house.

I haven't looked at your finishes specifically, but the most timeless or classic finishes are going to be the ones that fit in the house in the first place. So terracotta might be a dated or out of favor finish in many areas but it would never look particularly out of place in your house. You could do whatever contemporary version of a bath you wanted, as long as the Materials are appropriate to the house.

In contrast, my 1965 modern-brutalist leaning house had a newer classic white subway tile with Kohler Memoirs fixtures. (kind of Art Deco-ish). As classic as it is with no context, it looked really stupid in my house. It's gone, because it was very poorly done.

A "timeless" bath in any house is going to be one that at looks at least close to the one it was built with. In a house like mine, that would be colored tile, and probably colored fixtures. Actually the one bathroom originally had white tile with gold speckles, we found bits and pieces of it down in the floor. Extremely "dated" but if it were still there it would look appropriate.

I would not use saltillo tile on the floors if you are aging in place. We removed thousands of sq.ft of saltillo tile in our Spanish style CA house ... it wasn't old, as the house was built in 2000, but very uncomfortable to live with and the dark colors sucked the life out of the spaces. I went with what I called a modern-Spanish look and kept things simple, but added some Moorish elements to tie into the Spanish style of the house.

https://www.mlwsurfaces.com/products#collection=valencia 

https://www.mlwsurfaces.com/products#collection=terracotta

This was a Showcase House renovation of a 1920's Spanish house in LA. You don't have to use Saltillo on the floors to work with that period.

Pasadena Showcase House of Design · More Info

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For more ideas look at real Estate listing for these types of houses in LA.

Here are some others remodels on Houzz:

Silver Lake Spanish Transitional Remodel · More Info

Spanish Remodel · More Info

Master Suite Addition to 1920's Spanish Home in Sherman Oaks · More Info

Personally I find those a mixed bag, those could be in any Pinterest-y house anywhere except the first one has an obviously nice old window. They will look as 2020s as can be in five years.

I know you're in Florida, but these guys do lots of Spanish-Revival renovations/restorations in Los Angeles, and their work definitely showcases that these bathrooms aren't afraid of bold color tile choices (which makes them SO beautiful and coveted in the current market here). I definitely wouldn't limit myself to white tiles in various shapes - perhaps do some research on tiles/patterns that were prominent in that period (there was definitely a lot of color! and trim work/detail). I wouldn't use traditional marble in a Spanish-Med home; I'd stick with colorful ceramic or terracotta. But YMMV.

Find something that's both in keeping with the Spanish Revival architecture, but with cleaner lines. Something like this could work:

San Juan Spanish Revival · More Info

I wouldn't do the palm leaf wallpaper. That takes it into a Palm Beach/Bahamas direction that I don't think works well with the house design.

This is a gorgeous bathroom in the La Porta house in Long Beach, Ca. I’m posting to show a smaller format terra cotta with other wonderful colors.

Terra cotta is so versatile. I’m in Texas and see it used with a wide variety of design styles.

@Jilly - that's what I'm talking about! Although (and it could just be the lighting of the photo) but being knee deep in tile research at the moment, I'd wager that those hexagons are actually terracotta colored ceramic! They're a little too perfectly shaped and shiny. But the whole look definitely works! What an insane bathroom. Can you imagine waking up to that every day?

JP L, isn’t it an amazing bathroom? I‘d definitely enjoy waking up to it every day. :)

My link has a slideshow of the house, it’s just stunning. Built in 1930.

My guess is that it’s real terra cotta, but I don’t know that for sure. You may very well be right.

(ETA: Enjoyed looking through your link!)

You don't want to create an abstract Pintrest kind of look but rather one that fits in with what makes your house Spanish Med. and West Palm.

Find West Palm wallpaper you love (what colors are you thinking?), neutral tile that nods to Spanish Med, and then look at what other Spanish Med cues are already in your home that you can echo in the bathroom through your lighting fixtures, mirrors, hardware, etc.

What nods to Spanish Med are in the interior and exterior of your place? Arches, iron, terracotta? Do you have any original fixtures, staircases, doors, medicine cabinets? Post pics of these so we can see.

Spanish Med homes can look different in California vs. Florida, especially because of the Palm Beach flair that you are looking for. These pics are from current West Palm Beach FL Spanish Med homes. They are huge, expensive baths from Bunny Williams' home and the like. You might not like these actual bathrooms but are they at all along the lines of what you are thinking?

Palm Beach wallpaper, light and floor reference Spanish Med style without copying them exactly.

The bedroom had blue and white Palm Beach type fabric. They brought the color into the bathroom. The mirror and sconces reference Spanish Med.

Other part of this bathroom has floors that reference Spansih Med but are more contemporary.

Spanish and Deco features with West Pam Wallpaper

I need to see some pics of the interior of your home to see exactly what you consider timeless and Spanish style . IMO 2 spaces in any home that need to have upto date innards are bathrooms and kitchens before any style is decided .Please post some pics here of at least your kitchen and LR

I applaud you for wanting to design a new bathroom that acknowledges your house’s architecture. My former in-laws had a 1920’s Tudor and the powder room had THE most stunning old tile that definitely leaned Mediterranean. My MIL would never, ever pull those tiles out, even when a few got cracked. They spoke to the house’s history.

Taking one element to the max is enough. Do fabulous colored floors, but keep everything else simple. Or do amazing wall tiles and keep the floor “quiet”. That formula draws people’s attention to the Mediterranean element.

I love the cross tiles and would choose that in a heartbeat. But here are more gorgeous tiles that can be “the star” of your new bathroom. The resources are in the photos for fun browsing.

Here are bathroom inspirations for you.

Thanks so much everyone for the inspiration options. I put together a board to gather my different ideas on what we currently have in our home and what I'm hoping to achieve. I agree that the LA Mediterranean is very different compared to the Palm Beach Mediterranean. I'd like to lean more towards Palm Beach since regionally if feels appropriate.

Here is where I have landed on top selections for now.. until samples come in and I can look at more in showrooms. Please let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions.

Primary bathroom with zellige shower walls and marble floors

plan to include arch over the walk in shower if space permits

Or with terracotta (slightly worried that terracotta will make the small bathroom feel smaller just due to being darker. Thoughts on this?

For the guest bathroom, I want to keep the same vibe, but play with different shapes, so whatever I decide for the primary, I will coordinate in the guest.

Zellige tile in green (tidepool)

will include an arch around the bathtub surround like the tidepool example on the left

Or with terracotta floors

I plan to add wallpaper to the primry bathroom, but that will come after landing on tile if it isn't too busy. Here's some inspo that nods to the palm beach style.

A little bit about our home:

We remodeled the kitchen in early 2021. There really wasn't any character left that was demoed (linoleum floors, hardwoods that were in the dining room were rotted and couldn't be restored, there was no existing tile). Likely someone remodeled in the 50s/60s and removed anything that would have been original to the house.

The aspects of the home that are original include: archways, pecky cypress on the kitchen ceiling, fireplace mantle, beams, and front door, original hardwood floors upstairs. Downstairs hardwood floors had to be replaced due to a sewer leak that is still in pogress. We are restoring them as close to the origianl that we can.

As far as inspo pics - here are a few styles that resonate with me. A slight mediterranean nod with archways and textured tile, but a bit more modernized.

Thanks again to you all for the feedback and inspo!

Have you made any progress? Would love to see pics.

I love the last photo with green tile and wallpaper!

Tile is being laid this week and next week, but tile selections have been made. I'll share photos once it has been completed, but sharing where I landed for now.

Primary bathroom:

I chose a 4x4 natural white zellige by Riad tile for shower walls and am having it laid in a 50/50 pattern. The floors are a white honed marble in 2inch hexagon. Our old bathroom tile that was original was a small white hex so this felt like something timeless to carry on. I'm using Carrara marble for thresholds. I plan to use a sage green botanical wall paper of some sort. Included inspo photo.

Guest bathroom:

We decided to go a little more bold and my husband really wanted a color tile. I was leaning towards more neutral but fell in love with the samples we received. We chose a green 2x6 thin zellige from Riad tile. We're doing the floor and bathtub wall in a white star and cross. Hoping to do some kind of wallpaper that can work with the green.

Fireplace: Due to water damage in our living room and addressing other areas while everything was open. Our fireplace had to be repoured and we lost our original tile hearth since they were cracked from settling. I'm doing a checkerboard of the green and white tiles from the two bathrooms that kind of ties it in with the rest of our home in a subtle way that hopefully doesn't seem builder grade.

Green tiles are the same color the coloring is just reading different and not true to color with the current poor lighting.

Now I'm trying to pick a green paint color to paint pur our exterior windows. So back to making more tough decisions 😅

Primary bath inspo. I wish our shower was this large, but attempting to replicate it on a smaller scale.

I love your choices…and am following! I can’t wait to see the finished project!

Any updates?

Here's the bathroom today. We have workers here doing mis items, but still needs a few things we are working on:

- glass shower wall/doors

- hardware missing and matching gold in guest bathroom

- ran out of wallpaper (oops) finishing that hopefully tomorrow

- cabinet needs to go in wallpaper bath but deciding on built in or freestanding. The one I wanted to buy went out of stock from pottery barn

- other little random things

I'll try and post a photo when wallpaper and fixtures and in and we don't have a bunch of drop cloths in the way.

Loooove this wallpaper though. Might be my favorite thing about it.

I'll

The wallpaper is GORGEOUS!!!!! Keep the photos coming!

HOT DAMN you made fantastic choices on that wallpapered bathroom. The paper is beautiful, the shower fixtures are so refined, and .you may have even turned me into a zellige tile person with your shower. Even the hex floor feels special. I'd hire you in a second!

It’s looking beautiful, Lyndsey, love your choices. The tile colors in the arched bath are so lovely, and the wallpaper is fabulous.

Is the ceiling in your shower bath pecky cypress?

It is pecky cypress! We have it throughout the house (original) so we have added some extra touches to our hallway/stairwell and inside the bathroom at the top of the stairs.

Beautiful!

Yes, the wallpaper is a showstopper! But I also love the white cross tiles and the green shower ones!

The archway is done so, so well - that is a talented tiler!

Enjoy the beautiful results. Bathrooms are hard and you nailed this one!

LOVE the pecky cypress and how you have used it. Beautiful! Unique. Yet honoring your home’s heritage. Bravo! ❤️

And the dog… these pics keep getting better.

Here are more photos. Still need shower glass, and to wallpaper the small wall and outlets, and tall linen cabinet for the corner.

I just stumbled on this post. Your bathrooms are GORGEOUS!!! Love all your choices!

Beautiful.

I know this post is old, but I stumbled on it while Googling ‘Spanish Revival bath.’ I’m renovating a 1920s home in West Palm Beach (Northwood Hills area) and our bathroom layout and vibe seem really similar. I’d love to compare notes and get your feedback on my tile/fixtures if you’re open to chatting!

@Lyndsey Adamo, can you share the name/brand of the wallpaper?

You’re actually approaching this the right way. In a Spanish Mediterranean home, “timeless” comes down to restraint and material selection, not trying to do too much.

Out of the options you shared, the zellige direction is the strongest fit. It brings subtle variation and texture that naturally works with that style without feeling forced. Stick with a soft white or cream and keep the layout simple. Let the material carry the look.

One thing to watch out for, Carrara basketweave on the floor can start to feel more East Coast traditional than Mediterranean. It’s clean, but not always the best match for the architecture. A softer stone look or something with a bit of warmth usually blends better.

Your star and cross idea can work, but it leans more decorative. That’s where things tend to date faster unless everything else is extremely toned down.

Subway tile is the safest option, but also the easiest to end up looking builder-grade if there’s no texture or variation.

You’re making a smart move using wallpaper for personality. That gives you flexibility without locking the whole space into a specific look long term.

In most bathroom remodels like this, especially in older homes, what really makes it work is how everything ties together. Tile, vanity, lighting, all of it needs to feel like it belongs in the same story.

Projects like this usually come down to the details and how far you’re going with finishes, which can shift cost and timeline more than people expect.

If you want, I’m happy to look at the full setup and help you dial it in so it feels cohesive and not overdone.

Project was finished two years ago.

^^^^

Isn't it amazing that no one reads anymore???

To be fair, I've made the mistake of missing the dates on threads myself. It's easy to miss them if you don't know to look for them, especially as the dates are in comparatively small type, and not as dark. It took me a while to catch on.

Buildwright Construction Inc, if you look for the dates, and make sure the issue hasn't been resolved—especially if it's a really long thread—you can share your expertise with folks who still need it. There are plenty who do!