What color fixtures? Show the vanity

Are you doing concrete floors with a drain and glass or are you buying one of those shower basins that are usually white?

No vanity, yet. Will decide on vanity & fixture color once the shower is installed. The priority right now is picking the right tile to match/compliment the concrete. No pre-fab basins of any kind. Ideally, we would like to pour a concrete floor in the shower is well. But the tile guy says it will be slippery & he's never done it. He's also not recommending that we go with large format tile on the shower floor due to slope. Also, disappointing. Essentially, they always push for mosaic tile on the shower floor. Not very modern IMO.

Here's are some more options.

A

Sounds like you need a decent contractor. One who understands a linear drain and shower pitch.

You may not want a huge tile, but you certainly don't need a mosaic!

A polished concrete floor is nothing but a hard and porous sponge, it is grout with a different name.......not sure I'd want that on a bathroom floor......get my drift? : )

Use a large format on the bath floor, porcelain, and matte.

A well executed shower is $$$ - this is not someplace I would get too creative since if something goes wrong it can be pretty major (leakage, slipperiness, clash of materials etc..) If it were me, I would go to my local tile store and explain the look you are going for (pics are helpful) and then have them help you choose appropriate tiles that enable you to accomplish that

None of those go with the dreary industrialism of concrete. This is a disaster in the making if the waterproofing is not handled correctly. Concrete is quite porous. The bath area had to be recessed during the build, for any type of curbless shower, as waterproofing must exist between the shower and the concrete of the floors. You have to pour the bath slope entirely separately, after waterproofing and a capillary barrier is installed. The capillary action of water can have it wick a very very long way through a porous product like concrete. You can rot out half your house.

@Zumi: The bath area IS recessed.

@la_la Girl: Why the assumption that were getting "creative" or that we haven't gone to a tile store & done exactly that? This is what the tile store provided us with & I'm just seeking additional advice. Isn't that what this platform is for? And yes, we are going with a well executed shower. Just trying to pick some tile first :)

Just to clarify - the tile store gave you these big 24 x 24 and 24 x 28 tiles to use on the floor of your shower?

What is the DCOF rating on them?

Do you have any inspiration pics to share with us of shower tile and shower floors you like?

A poster on another thread turned me on to Fibo wall systems that I am in love w received the samples and they have warmth and a ton of different finishes -- if you are considering an alternative to tile and YUCKY grout maybe it would be a fit https://fibosystemusa.com/ I would try to stay away from the matchy matchy you posted btw maybe go w a limestone wash look w the concrete floor?

@ Kendrah: Thank you, those look like interesting options. Unfortunately, we're in SoCal & Nemo is North East. We really didn't want to go with small format tile as we really hate grout lines. But to avoid any slips, it may have to be the way to go. I just don't understand, how I keep seeing so many pictures of people installing super polished large format tile on floors & shower floors, yet that just isn't safe. I haven't mentioned a linear drain but as much as we'd love to go with one that presents another challenge...an unsightly wedge along the side of the shower pan. Which kind of defeats the point of a curbless shower.

I suggest you find a good kitchen and bath designer. It is pretty evident that you do not have any knowledgeable professionals involved here. That is not your fiinished floor surfacd if the preslope hasn’t been done yet. And if the preslope hasn’t been done, then a linear drain is VERY doable here. Large format tile is also doable, as long as it is rough enough, with traction suitable to a wet and sloped area You won't like cleaning a tile like that, but it is better than ending up in the emergency room from falling.

@ JAN MOYER: Thank you, Jan. We interviewed at least 25 contractors. These are the most competent so far but they've ALL mentioned these challenges... "Go with a linear drain on a curbless shower & you will have an unsightly wedge along the side of the shower pan. Go with a large format tile with a center drain & you have to cut it for the slope. So what's the point? And it will look awful". They're all pushing for small format tile on the floor & I'm just not into that look.

I hear you about the concrete being a porous surface & I guess sealing it won't help either. I'm not pushing for it but I do like the look.

I prefer a natural stone & a few of the samples I posted are. One is "sandblasted", so great for traction but probably too porous. Not a big fan of the way porcelain looks when going for a natural stone or concrete look but seems like the most practical choice.

Here are a few inspo photos of the aesthetic I like. The husband is leaning toward a white shower, I'm leaning toward a moody gray or even black. We're trying to meet somewhere in the middle. I understand his concern about it sucking the light out of the room but we did just install 9ft high by 5ft wide sliding glass doors in there.

I'll only refer to the tile color and not DCOF rating or the potential safety issues of a wet polished concrete floor. I think your gray tile choices are too close to the floor at least on my monitor and may look like a "near miss" in color. I'd opt for something with contrast like the substantially lighter tile color you've posted. Personally I don't think gray=timeless (white is likely the only true timeless bath color). Many Houzz discussions have been noting that "gray is done" for a while now, but gray will suit the austere, minimalist/industrial design choice you mention.

I suggest you pick everything out 1st make all the decisions together as they all aesthetically effect each other. I made the mistake doing it piece by piece and highly regretted it later. Create a vision of what you want but in detail...will there be trim what color will that be? What color and style is the door knob or the bathroom toilet handle....what toliet? If your going to ultra modern sleek maybe consider the kind that you flush on the wall same for the faucet fixtures (coming from the wall looks more modern)...that has to be set up before during construction before tile goes in

@tlynn1960: Yes, that's exactly the issue with the grays...a "near miss". But I thought I was imagining things & wanted more eyes on it. A contrasting color does seem more safe unless I find the perfect gray. But even my lighter options seem a bit off, tonality wise. I'm an avid consumer of real estate & design. I've noticed that when it comes to modern/architectural real estate listings that have gray or concrete bathrooms, kitchens, floors, etc & have not been recently renovated... my reaction is always, "I wouldn't touch a thing". Everything else looks dated within 10 years. Yes, I think Carrera marble is timeless too & I have that as a potential choice. But I'm kind of getting tired of it. That look is everywhere now!

I'm not a traditional white picket fence person. I'm a modern, minimalist with a touch of eccentric kind of person when it comes to design. I obsess over concrete, steel & glass structures.

Can you do the concrete on the walls like a skim coat? So that its an exact match to your floors?

Personally all the tile options you presented seem a bit off against the concrete especially after looking at your inspo pics

There's lots of products now a days that can be applied to walls and flooring like concretta I think its called or taleket ( what is used in morocco) like roman clay

Of what you posted, I like B and E the best. Go for the contrast - trying to blend doesn't seem to really work.

You can do the large tile on the floor of the shower - it depends on design and layout.

If you are using a centered square drain, then you will need diagonal cuts in the tile for pitch.

You can use a linear drain with the tile in option so it isn't as noticeable. The floor needs to pitch to it.

Or I have heard of linear wall drain. I have absolutely no experience with this , so do your homework.

Good luck!

@Debbi Washburn: Thank you! Yes, the large format tile will require envelope cuts. But that kind of defeats the point of large format if we have to cut it & add more grout lines :) and I'm not a fan of the look. Also, our shower is not a perfect square or rectangle but more trapezium shaped (see attached). Sorry for the wonky line. I'm on my phone & wanted to show where the glass panel will go (red line). So the envelope cuts may look very odd, too. However, if the tile is dark & the grout is dark, it may blend in.

Love a linear drain but we will then have a wedge along one side of the shower pan because it's curbless. Again, kind of defeats the point of going curbless. Not a sleek look. Or are we over thinking this?

Dilemmas! Dilemmas!

Didn‘t mean to sound rude - sorry for that! i misunderstood - I thought the shower floor was concrete and that seemed stressy to me

@jo mu: And I've had the opposite experience :) Some projects take so long, things go out of style (or better products come on the market) by the time they're completed. There was actually an article in New York Magazine about how so many buildings, especially high rise condos in Manhattan, look dated by the time they hit the market because everything is pre-selected years in advance. I've had similar experiences. So I prefer to create a neutral canvas & the rest is easy to fill in. And that's actually our goal anyway. Something that can be easily refreshed/updated with a simple swap of the hardware & look good with any color without having to do a full remodel. However, I cannot change (nor do I want to) my polished concrete floor that is all over the first floor of my house, including the bathroom in question.

The toilet is wall mounted & so are the faucets. Those finishes can be selected or changed at any time. Shower tile however, not as easy.

What do you mean with "wedge??"

The water goes away from the entry. a curbless in the best scenario, lowers the shower floor so you don't flood the bathroom floor.

I like B it is not trying to match the concrete and has a lovely look especailly in a large slab. Jusrt please make sure your tile guy has experinece with this size of tile I have had bad luck once and never again. You do realize that curbless will have water on the floor out side of the shower always and why not go linea drain and keep the cuts to the tile to a min.

Your inspiration pictures mostly feature materials that are darker than your sample tiles - I think you could achieve a great result with a smaller format basalt tile with color matched grout. This would make the grout ines less of a contrast to reduce the visual clutter that you dislike while preventing you from biting it mid-shower on a slippery floor.

I LOVE gray, so every one of your combinations looks great to me!!!

I have a curbless shower with linear drain, and I think it works just fine and looks great. It is kind of weird to pick it up to clean underneath (cleaning lady largely does that and it isn't that frequent) and is fine in my opinion. Much better idea.

I used "No Skidding" (see attached link) on my bathroom porcelain floor, and it works very well. I didn't buy the No Skidding for this bathroom. I had a glossy porcelain outdoor patio that was really slippery, and I bought the No Skidding for that and just used some of the extra in the bathroom for good measure--it helped, but wasn't required.

I was like you and would rather die than use 1" x 1" squares on my shower floor. I've mellowed a bit after my bathroom remodel and have a better appreciation for the value of having smaller tile in the shower. Between the narrow width of my shower and No-Skidding, I am ok with my 15" x 15" tile. But I probably should have gone smaller.

I've attached some scary pictures of someone who installed 36" x 6" tile in a curb-less shower with an "L" opening and a center drain.

https://noskidding.com/collections/anti-slip-floor-treatments

The wedgie comment just kills me. You have some real dumbasses on that team. Including whomever designed that stupid wedge shaped shower that is not at all functional. This is all simple math and geometry.

Get a better design team.

And a better build team.

Have you checked out Porcelenosa for tiles? I loved their aesthetic which meets your husbands style and yours. And they have large format tiles meant for bathrooms. I imagine you and your husband will find tile you love.
Also definitely go with linear drain. It’s very common and no idea what wedgie is except when your panties ride up the behind 😂

Do you have access to the other side of the wall for your shower fixtures? If not whatever you decide now you'll be stuck with and it'll be pretty limiting when it comes to selection

I guess I would pick b but I think there's a better tile option out there that will give you more the look you're trying to achieve b is the nicest one imo but still pretty busy and maybe it's my phone but there seems to be some clashing with undertones

@jo mu: Yes, we have access to the other side of the wall. And we're using high end universal valves, with a lifetime warranty, from a company that's been around for over 100 years. The actual fixtures are interchangeable. They come in different finishes, styles, colors & fit the same valves.

@Zumi: Wedgie? I've carefully re-read all my posts/comments & nowhere did I say "wedgie". A wedge, yes. Simple math & geometry, indeed. When, per code, you need a 2% slope (that's .25" per foot of shower pan) & have about 5ft to go from highest point to the linear drain, that equates to 1.25" at the lowest point (the drain). When the shower is not enclosed by walls or a curb on all sides, & the surrounding floor is level, where does that 1.25" go? Below the level floor. Hence, creating a visible wedge from 0"-1.25" on both sides of the pan. If you don't know what a wedge is or what it looks like, please look it up. The shower, however, is not wedge shaped. That is called a trapezoid. First grade geometry, really.

You sound very angry at people you've never even met or know anything about. Do you call everyone a "real dumbass" that doesn't do things your way? And it's not just this team. EVERY SINGLE tile contractor has said this. It's common sense, really. Unless you don't slope your showers, per code.

And I do sincerely apologize that not all of us are as lucky as you to have all 5 of their showers perfectly square or rectangular. Some of us work with what we have (in the house that was build by an award winning architect 30+ years ago) & settle for only 4 perfectly 90° showers in our house & one slightly irregular. In fact, I've recently sold another multimillion dollar property for 30% over ask, had 20 offers in the first 3 days of listing it & NO ONE had an issue with the trapezoid shower there. I was getting non-stop calls asking for the designer of the house. I think a 90"x60"x108" shower is quite functional. How big is your 5th shower?

@Monique: Thank you for your input. You got all that from a few tile samples? I think I know what my finished floor surface is. And this IS my finished floor surface. It is all over my house, including the bathroom. The shower portion of the concrete floor has been cut out to accommodate for waterproofing, slope & a curbless pan. Whatever is on the shower floor, however, will butt up to the concrete floor of the rest of the bathroom. Hence, the dilemma of finding a suitable match.

In my experience, even designers like to bounce ideas off other designers. I was under the impression that's what this community/platform was for. Not for getting your frustration out on people. Maybe try Facebook?

@Shazia: Wedge not "Wedgie" ;)

Here's a perfect example of what a "wedge" in a curbless linear drain shower looks like. Except this one is inverted (above grade instead of below) due to the drain being in the entry. Which is a big NO, unless you want to play slip'n'slide in your shower. If you pay close attention (circled in red), you will see that there's about 1-1.25" above the floor & then it slopes .25" every foot to 0" at the drain. Not a great look IMO, but it is being somewhat hidden by the glass panel trim, & there's no tile on the shower pan. Instead, there's a concrete overlay of some sort, & exactly what I was referring to when I suggested pouring concrete in the shower floor, instead of going with tile. Which can make for a softer transition & easier to work with in that area than tile. But I got a lot of pushback on that idea ;)

However, when working with tile & trying to install a wedge/sliver of tile on the side, it may turn out disastrously.

Have you looked at using micro-concrete for both floor and walls? It's basically a skimcoat (as someone else mentioned) that IS concrete without the weight. Lots of colors (including many shades of gray) to pick from, and it gets sealed so you don't have the water permeability issues. As a result, you get groutless everything, which was a requirement in my book.

@BPMBA: Yes, I'd love to do that! But keep getting pushback on the idea. Slippery, porous, etc. I am looking into the material previously mentioned. Any others you know of & recommend? I've researched going that route but keep getting mixed reviews. I've personally showered in many concrete showers in Italy, Greece, Bali, as well as other countries, & absolutely loved that look & vibe. But I know things are different here in the US, so I'm trying to get to the bottom of it. Also, not many people know how to work with this material. I've even talked to stucco people about doing our shower. Any help in this direction would be appreciated!

@Kendrah: DCOF Value >=.42

There are many ways to make concrete integral, so the porous thing is really a non-issue. For that matter, the permeability of concrete is definitely less than grout, so as long as the concrete is poured over a waterproof membrane it will be fine without being integral.

I am not sure about the slippery thing. Isn’t concrete the most common floor in wet commercial environments. I seem to remember the floor of the local stone fabricators all being concrete, I know that most breweries and distilleries have polished concrete floors. I doubt that multi billion dollar companies would use polished concrete floors if they were that slippery on their own.

The problem is going to be after they get coated with a layer of soap scum if you use bar soap. However that problem exists with tile also.

A one-piece Corian shower base solves all your problems. Outperforms any tile in existence.

Micro-concrete comes in different textures, too. We have a rougher texture on the floor and smooth on the walls. No slipping issues.

Not sure where you're located but if you're in VA, I can recommend someone to you.

@BPMPA: We're in SoCal. Do you have any pictures you could share? :)

@Joseph Corlett, LLC: That sounds like an interesting idea. I've never really considered that option, as I've seen some of those prefab bases in stores and they look a bit too...well, prefab. And since we have an irregularly shaped shower, we'll need it custom-made. Do you happen to know any fabricators in SoCal that do shower bases? I've done some research and haven't been able to find anyone so far. Any leads would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!