Waht were you thinking when you did those pieces at the bottom of the shower ans even the penny tile it is all wrong together . No paint color will fix that mess

That beige tile does not work there. At all.

Just curious, what subway tile color would work best in this setup?

Who is Tim. The issue is the whole set up so we need answers to the reason for this combo at all

match the grout to the tile.

the question is not what vanity color, but what wall and ceiling paint color?

I hope it is a glass door enclosure, and not a curtain.

Is the trim and door white?

Oh, my...

Oh my goodness. The mistakes here are many as I am sure others will point out. But hopefully our responses can be as helpful as possible.

Normally, I like a grout color to match the subway tile color so the lines don't get too busy or distracting. HOWEVER, in this case, you have so many mismatched colors and patterns in this one small space, that I would push it over the top by adding a contrasting grout color to distract even more from the color mismatch. Go full blown eclectic so it looks like less of a mistake and more intentional. Try medium grey grout. on the subway tile.

I'd get frosted glass doors so you don't have to actually see the shower except for when you are in it. Is this an option at this point? If not, then you have to think seriously about how deal with the mushroom color in the rest of your bathroom.

Lastly, I would never, ever use a marble floor tile with no DCOF rating, regardless of the number of grout lines, and whether it is indicated as wet area. Wet doesn't mean not slippery. But, I presume you are not going to rip out the floors and start over. Correct?

@Patricia Colwell ConsultingI’m not the OP, just trying to learn from the pros. What would you have done differently with this setup? Would you use a white subway tile instead or would you not use the subway at all? Do you think a colorful wallpaper would make it feel more eclectic and intentional?

I am so sorry but this does not look great together. I am commenting only on the colours but I would take out all the beige entirely and replace with something whiter. There is no way I would add wallpaper to this too.

What would you have done differently with this setup?

Used one tile on both the wall and floor. Or perhaps one tile on the floor and one tile on the wall. Certainly not three different tiles in one shower.

Although having two different wall tiles is totally odd in here, the change is extremely low to the ground and strange. It is like having a chair rail two feet off the ground.

These neutrals do not match. The subway tile is a warm yellow based neutral. The marble wall and floor tile is a cool white. They look terrible together.

Could wallpaper save this? An extremely skilled designer with talent for an eclectic look might be able to throw a wallpaper in here to make this all look better. It is a hard save.

I'd almost be tempted to add a red/pink based neutral wall paint as yet another element to bring a more eclectic look. Adding more yellow based wall paint is going to look pretty terrible. A cool white wall is going to make the subway tile look even worse. It is all just a bad situation calling for a do over or an opaque glass to hide it all.

“Certainly not three different tiles in one shower.”

Agree.

@Tim - personally, I would have used the marble tile for all of the shower walls vs. adding a subway tile. Between the Calacatta wall tile + marble floor tile, the bathroom doesn't need a third tile thrown into the mix.

I have seen showers that use two different styles of real marble tiles in the same shower + ones that mix real marble and subway tiles. It is important to decide the right height to split the two different tiles (or whether to use marble on the back wall + subway tiles on the two side walls). It needs to look intentionally designed = the way the two tiles are installed + the specific color/type of tile that is selected to be used with the genuine marble field tile.

Below is dolomite marble tiles on the bottom of the shower with what appears to be blue marble tiles above. There is a little squared off piece of blue marble trim that is used to between a row of dolomite tiles towards the top of that section. Also, the floor appears to be 2x2 inch dolomite mosaic tile. This shower works because the colors work together.

Below is a Carrara marble shower + ceramic subway tiles (2.5 x 8 maybe). While the color of the subway tiles appears to work better than in OP's photo, the subway tiles are a creamy white which doesn't work as well as white tiles would have with the Carrara marble (the Carrara marble on the walls has a light gray background color + the tiles on the floor have a mix of whiter/lighter gray + darker gray background tiles). Look at the white window - that shows you how a white tile would have been a better selection than a creamy one.

FYI - I saw a photo of the below shower with more light - and the subway had a pretty strong yellow (warm) undertone to them.

The shower below also has slabs of Carrara marble on the bottom of the walls like the above shower (plus, there is a Carrara slab used on the ceiling + fabricated pieces of Carrara are used as trim pieces over the top row of wall tiles + as caps on the pony wall ledges and for the shower jamb + a Carrara countertop was installed on the vanity). See how the white subway tiles on the walls work much better with the Carrara marble than a warm/off white tile would have?

The tiles used on the shower walls below work better with the black and white marble than OP's subway tiles with the Calacatta marble used on the bottom of the shower walls.

The mosaic floor blends the colors together (it doesn't look bad having a third tile - especially since the marble slabs were only used at the very bottom and on the shower jamb).

In the photo below, marble field tiles + a marble mosaic have been used together on the shower walls. The mosaic tile at the top of the walls + subway tiles + the mosaic tiles used on the shower pan are all made out of Carrara marble with similar shades:

Below are either two different types of marble OR two very different grades of Carrara marble (lower grade Carrara can look like the lower part of the shower walls. I would have rather used the same higher grade of Carrara marble that was installed on the upper portion of the shower for the entire shower instead of switching to the marble at the bottomof the shower walls (and shower pan). Also, the shower would have looked better if the top Carrara tiles were run up to the crown moulding instead of stopping right above the shower head.

This shower above would have also looked better if a white subway tile that matched the white background of some of the higher quality Carrara marble tiles was used in place of the marble tiles that were installed at the bottom half of the shower.

This last photo shows something "similar" to OP's bathroom = a mix of cool and warm colors.

HOWEVER, the cool white shower tiles are repeated in other places in the bathroom (the color of the vanity, window casing and tub apron) + the warm beige color used on top of the shower seat is also repeated in other places in the room (vanity countertop/floor tile/bathtub surround/wall and ceiling paint). It's still not a bathroom that I would do - but it's a pretty bathroom.

The cool and warm colors in the shower work better than in OP's where the warm tile on the upper walls is the only warm "mushroom" color (I assume the vanity and/or countertop for the vanity aren't a warm mushroom color).

FYI - you don't ever want to cut walls in half with two materials = don't use two tiles and have the dividing line be halfway up the wall. It tends to look awkward and creates an unappealing division of the wall. The rule of thirds works best when dividing a wall.

For example - traditional wainscoting typically runs up 1/3rd of the wall height and board & batten is run up 2/3rds of the wall (I've also seen some b&b run higher covering 3/4ths of a wall - but not very often).

While OP's shower doesn't split the walls 50/50, the Calacatta tile wasn't used for the bottom 1/3rd of the wall (or even 1/4th of the wall - it's just under 1/4th). I think the Calacatta tile should have been installed at least to the height of the window + a cooler white subway tile used with the marble if OP didn't want to spend the $$ to do a full Calacatta marble shower.

@dani_m08 - I love your teachable moments. There should be new threads asking if something works or not and hearing people's reasoning behind their answers.

Other reasons why this doesn't work:

1. The OP's subway tiles are wavy instead of flat. They catch light in a totally different way that doesn't look good.

2. Yes, the yellowed subway looks terrible with the cool marble, but the two marbles are not a very good match with each other either.

My guess is they looked at both samples on a flat surface instead of standing the wall tile up on a vertical plain to see how they look when the light hits them from different angles.

Three tiles could have worked here if they used coordinating marble on the floor, large format, and flat marble subway tile. And, if they made the cut off between the large format and subway at the height of the window.

Also, why the fourth material? A pure white surface for the step and for the shelf in the niche.

Rules can absolutely be broken. But you have to be skilled enough to break them.

For crying our loud; come on, this post is not about you and your critique on personal choices and install, which by the way, is too late. Just comment to help OP.

My suggestion is to concentrate the vanity and counter color with the floor and shower base. Then add mirror(s) on the wall which correspond to the color of the wall tile in the shower.

Yours?

@JUDY GRAHAM thank you so much for being the voice of reason here. We just got this installed in our young daughters bathroom and would be a shame to rip and redo after all the time and money spent on this. Believe it or not, this whole look was created by "top rated" designers we hired. Needless to say, we are no longer working with them (for many other reasons).

@dani_m08 thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and showcase with all of the examples in the photos.

With all of this being said, we are looking for suggestions on how we can make this work and look more appealing. We plan on putting glass door and have polished chrome fixtures. Torn on wall color and vanity color. @JUDY GRAHAM thank you for your suggestions - we will take into consideration!

I think a darker vanity may draw the attention away from the tile work. For wall colour i light play with is a bit and sample a few things to get it right. You will need something that tolerates white and beige/ivory type colours.

@JUDY GRAHAM - if you read my post, you'll notice it was responding to @Tim - he posted a comment a few before mine asking questions - I went ahead and posted a response to his comment. People respond to other user's questions as long as they are related to the OP's post all the time.

@Kendrah - I agree with your observations - however, I don't want to type anything else because I don't feel like being scolded again.

So it is done we need to now I guess figure out how to unsee what is done . I think a really dark gray vanity will draw your eye away for the shower I would do a frosted glass shower door and match the beige in the tile for grout . The add some anice white and black fluffy towels and a color she loves for some accessories

I agree with Patricia that a frosted glass door will help the situation.

Your grout (to answer the initial question) should match the upper tile as close as possible. That will reduce the “brick” look, which is a strong design statement.