How does Maria Killam have the market cornered on a white bathroom? they've been around since the advent of indoor plumbing. Your choices look very nice, but it's difficult to gauge color on a computer monitor. If it looks good to you, then do it.

I’d also love to hear your personal recommendations too!

I love white on white bathrooms--they look so clean and bright. I also like black accents, like liner tiles, trim, and black on mostly white floors. For floors, I love small hexagons, pinwheels, and basketweave mosaics.

Here are some of my favorites:

Catalina Street, Laguna Beach · More Info

Lombardy Lane, Laguna Beach · More Info

Holly Ridge Farmhouse · More Info

Tudor Revival Estate, Full Home Design · More Info

Bathrooms · More Info

Mid-Century Cottage · More Info

Toronto Restoration · More Info

You can add color above the tile with either paint or wallpaper and with towels and accessories:

Penn Valley · More Info

Family Fun · More Info

East Harriet Colonial · More Info

Seaside Historic Restoration · More Info

Master Bath · More Info

Big Pink · More Info

All the bathrooms in both my primary residence and vacation home are white. this is the master bedroom in my primary, with marble basketweave mosaic in black and white, and a black liner in the shower. The shower walls are ceramic tile.

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC · More Info

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC · More Info

Thanks for sharing. I hear marble is hard to take care of. What do you think is a reasonable expectation regarding cleaning?

Any trouble with etching and staining?

Yes, marble is difficult to keep looking new in a bathroom, especially in the shower. I love it, but probably wouldn't do it again. I have hard water and there is a problem with mineral buildup. I have to have a tile restorer come in once a year to clean and recaulk it. Porcelain or ceramic on the walls and floor would be easier to maintain. But I would still use a marble vanity top.

A trick that I learned years and years ago was to take my samples outside and look at them under natural daylight on a clear day around 2:00 in the afternoon.

The undertones on the whites show up so much more clearly than under any type of artificial light.

I have a very small NYC primary bathroom with white hex, large white wall tiles, and grey floating vanity. When we purchased our home, the upper walls and ceiling were painted a grey-ish white. I changed it to Martin Kesselman white by Farrow and Ball. (See description below.) I added an old mirror that was my grandmother's to add some warmth to the room.

Martin Kesselman is a paint colorist here in the city and Farrow and Ball commissioned him to make a true white. It looks great. Here is a description of it:

"MKW is nuanced, it has warm qualities, ones that are subtle, yet apparent. It’s an architectural white, a true white. One that reads true, not off, cream, or with pigments you would typically use to warm up whites, to combat cool feels. At the same time, one that is not stark, sterile, commercial or institutional. What was intended to be a design coluor solution, with hopes for a better energy for the home and a great backdrop for art. Martin Kesselman White is available in a full range of finishes. Each tin is made to order and all sales are final. Orders can be picked up, or delivered in NYC, or shipped via FedEx anywhere in the US"

https://www.incolour.life/products/farrow-amp-ball-martin-kesselman-white

I'm not sure what a "true" white is.

Doesn't matter what is "true" white but what is the right white for a particular room and the light it receives. I have a creamy warm white in a north facing dining room and stark whites in windowless mudroom and laundry with tiny window. Sometimes varying whites can add contrast or depth like "ultra pure white" trim in Gloss and an eggshell finish "cottage white" or "Swiss Coffee" wall.

Lauren - just get lots of samples and look at them together (flooring options laid horizontally and wall options laid vertically) against a white paper background to see what works together. The grout selection is usually the trickiest so make sure you have your wall paint (or wallpaper, etc) with it in the mix to see what grout is best. Looking at it in daylight like Jennifer recommended is good too.

I like a (mostly) white bathroom, especially with those mini-hex tiles you're considering. Looking at the inspiration pictures people shared, I really like the ones with colorful wallpaper up top. But a couple thoughts about doing it well:

- All white can be difficult to "get right". Done wrong, all that white can look "flat". Consider a variety of shapes and textures to avoid that.

- Remember that your grout matters just as much as your tile. Personally, avoid extremes and go with a medium gray.

- I don't get the appeal of marble -- too expensive, needs too much babying. It's a bathroom. If you like the look, consider marble-look porcelain tile.

@Diana Bier Interiors, LLC

Per MK - these are the whites that represent the whites on her color wheel

BM White Diamond (blue white)

BM Chantilly Lace (true white)

BM White Dove (off white)

BM Ivory White (cream)

SW Extra White (blue white)

SW High Reflective (true white)

SW Snowbound (off white)

SW Aged White (cream)

Daltile has a whole series of lines around their Color Wheel collection. https://www.daltile.com/color-wheel-collection The 0190 Arctic White is a crisp clean white that comes in zillions of shapes. The 0790 Matte Arctic White is the non shiny version, but matte versions of a color always appear to be darker. So for safety, your floors should either appear to be a bit darker and be non slip safe, or you put in matching shiny glossy slippery stuff on the floors and end up in the emergency room. https://www.daltile.com/search#q=0190&numberOfResults=30

Nice to know, Jen, but I don't subscribe to MK's color philosophy. I prefer Lori Sawaya's scientific approach.

@Diana Bier Interiors, LLC -

I am not in love with MK, but find that I can use some of the information she provides. I do truly appreciate Kylie M's insights and her color reviews. I also have always loved math and love that we can measure color and add that math and science base to our color decisions. I use LCH values to understand color relationships, but have also come to understand the difference in human perception and the measurement of color.

I know LCH is based on "The human perception of color" and Munsell color theory, but it is just based on this, not actually the same.

You have a strong understanding of math and a really good eye for color (yes I have read your advice for years.).

Munsell used human subjects to evaluate what colors people perceived as yellow or green or blue.

LCH measures the hue angle and assigns a color. Perfectly linear relationship.

Years ago I was finding quite a bit of discrepancy when I looked at the Munsell guides to soil colors that included LCH values. It made me curious.

I pulled the standard Munsell publicly accessible data and compared it to LCH values at different chroma and light levels.

Instead of straight linear lines at each hue this is what I found.

Light values are listed across the top - this page is for chromas under 20

The angle of the curve changes as we go from cool to warm colors.

LCH works on the premise that the color we see is linear, but based on Munsell's study of human perception it is not quite that simple.

As chroma increases the lines become more linear, but I rarely see people use colors in their homes with a chroma greater than 12.

There is also scientific evidence that the CIE LCH standard overstates yellow. Hunter overstates Blues. We don't have a standard based on mathematics that can get both right.

Practical application of this knowledge. . .

SW Snowbound and SW Drift of Mist have very similar hues (98 vs 96) and even the chroma isn't far apart - darker shades of the same color typically have higher chroma values

Drift of Mist

Snowbound

If we kept the same chroma value for drift of mist and made it as light as Snowbound it would get much more yellow - actually is a really close match to BM White Dove

Easy RGB

White Dove

So here we have three colors with the same hue - one Drift of Mist that is generally considered a neutral with green undertones, White Dove which is generally considered pretty neutral with a slight yellow undertone and Snowbound that is generally considered a neutral white with pink undertones.

Kylie M's comparison of Snowbound vs White Dove

So although I love the science of color, I think we still have a ways to go to get from color measurement to the human perception of near neutral colors. There are color data scientists working toward this, but it just isn't perfect.

So I still take my samples outside on a clear day and look at them next to one another to see what my eyes are telling me, not just what the numbers are saying.

Thanks, Jen, I appreciate all the info, but I'll still take Lori's approach over MK or KM. (Ha, I just realized that their initials are reversed!)

I used it recently for a client's family room where we were searching for a dark green to work with the furnishings. It worked like a charm. My client thinks I'm magical!

The renovated bathroom in my 1914 California bungalow- I used Sonoma Tilemakers subway tile and Akdo 2 inch marble hex flooring; paint is Farrow and Ball Schoolhouse White.

@chinacatpeekin - Your bathroom is just wonderful. Vintage but subtle. Classic but updated. I love you sink. Can you share who makes it and what model? Also, is there a shelf beneath it or are your towels sitting on something else beneath the sink?

Thanks, Kendra! That means a lot, coming from you:) The sink is Kohler Memoirs, as I recall. It does have a shelf.

VERY nice, chinacatpeekin! Love your aesthetic!

@dianabierinteriors do you have any small hex or small tile marble look tiles that you love for an all white space

I don't have a "go-to" tile. Whenever I have a project, I research what would work best in the space. I usually go to a dedicated tile/bathroom showroom in my area to see if they have what I want/need. If not I'll visit showrooms in NYC such as Ann Sacks, Waterworks, Walker Zanger, etc.

I recently did a bathroom for a client and we used a 2" square marble-look tile (I don't remember the manufacturer) for the floors and a 24" x 48" tile for the walls. It was a very realistic approximation of marble.

But if you want something like your original photo, then don't try for a faux marble. I'd use a porcelain or ceramic tile. The Heritage Tile Company specializes in historically accurate tiles and they are all made in the USA.

https://www.vivatile.com/shop/100mm-hexagon-tile-10144?category=149#attr=49833,49752,49753,47394,49754,49749,49750

Thank you, Diana Bier!