Have you tried find a quartz in a similar gray color? You would need to find a remnant, so you aren't paying for a whole slab.

People used to do tiled thresholds all the time, so having a seam wouldn't be the end of the world, if done properly.

Thanks for your comment- I appreciate your thoughts on seams. But have looked endlessly for remnants. I live near Chicago and all the remnants are mostly outside and they cant get to them due to our weather!! I need this right away so my options are very limited. :(

If you use the gray tile, just try to get a grout color that's a close match, to minimize the seams.

However, two thoughts in favor of the counter material approach:

1) It's very helpful to have a visual cue about where your threshold is when you're stepping in and out a lot, sometimes wet and bleary

2) the shower wall/door generally bisect the spot where such a threshold lives, so you don't see the threshold as dividing the gray, but instead the shower door/end of the glass as dividing it.

(also, 3, it will match your shower walls andn look consistent, not random)

Digging around, because I think I did a tile threshold in a project a while back...

Brag pics · More Info

I am 99% sure that this was a long tile like you're describing. I think we just cut it to the threshold size on site, no magical treatment, but I also think it was thru-color, so no awkward edges either.

" I live near Chicago " where do you think Chispa lives?

*I* would match the threshold to the nitch on the wall. A contrast there would be considered something to warn users that there IS a threshold.

I wouldnt know where Chispa lives- lol. but thanks for the comment- my niche will just be a continuation of the shower wall tile

ACM, thank you for your comments. yes my grout matches the tile exactly. I hear you about using counter material. good points. No choices make me happy except for the exact flooring material in a solid piece THAT DOESNT EXIST! LOL 😆

yeah, there's always something... lol

What material has been installed as a cap on your pony wall? Is it the same material that you will use for your vanity countertop?

How will the left side of your shower wall be finished? Right now, it is simply showing the cement board that was used under your tile.

What will you use for the bottom shelf/sides/top of your niche? Will you also have a shelf inside your niche (a short one at the bottom would be nice for soap/razors/etc. - just measure accurately in order to leave enough inches above the shelf to fit pump shampoo/conditioner bottles)?

It looks like solid white - if you will be using the same material for your countertop + niche shelves/sides/top + maybe to finish off the left side of your shower, I'd think about using the same material for the top of the curb so it will all match (pony wall caps/curb/niche shelves and sides/vanity countertop/curb). I'd lay some white tiles on it and take a photo to see how it would look.

However, if you won't be using the same material as the cap of your pony wall for other places in your bathroom or if white still looks out of place on the curb - I'd use a honed absolute black granite solid shower curb (my first choice).

Your tile is described as looking like Brazillian slate tile:

The Ardosia collection from Garden State Tile features stunning graphics that are reminiscent of the elegance and simplicity of Brazilian slate, met with the durability of porcelain.

Black honed granite works well with the dark charcoal color of slate from Brazil.

They are not expensive - your countertop fabricator could make you one from a remnant in their stone yard. They also sell black solid shower curbs at big box stores (probably a quartz or some other man made material - you'll need to be careful re: matching colors) + Amazon sells shower curbs made out of Absolute Black Granite (honed and polished - I'd buy honed).

The floor tile shown above is what honed slate (has a much smoother surface than regular slate tile) from Brazil looks like (with a matte enhancer to make it darker/uniform in color).

Below is a photo of a shower that is almost identical to yours - it was finished by Beth H. (a pro on Houzz who is a tile expert) for one of her neighbors. She used a piece of honed black granite for the curb:

She still used a solid white countertop for the vanity.

There lives not a stone yard, mid size city, let alone Chicago,,,, anywhere USA that will not have a remnant of honed or leathered "Absolute Black" granite, or even "Virginia Mist" , or a black Soapstone with minimal veining.. You don't need to navigate the snow, you trust the stone yard, or pay your contractor to bundle up and wear boots.

Or........

You go INSIDE at the stone yard. Someone else has a project being cut asap, tomorrow, the day after, and THEY will have a remnant.

Or.....

Corian, yup the Dupont original,

I won't ask how the project got this far,without consideration of the threshold in conjunction with the other materials . Oops. I did just ask . Sorry: )

Jan thanks for your thoughts. And the project got this far because I'm doing it alone. There wasn't enough money to hire a designer on top of the construction/material budget and we needed to remove tubs to install walk ins as we're aging out of tubs. I was told I could do a "no curb" situation, so I only focused on the flooring tile. It had already been shipped and in my garage when I was told sorry, can't give you a no threshold shower. Then I was stuck. You asked, you received.

@dani_m08 Thanks for your ideas! I know it doesn't look like it in the photo, but this Ardosia Pencil Gray is no where near black. They HAVE a black, but this is a mid gray with subtle vatiation. When I placed a black object on the threshold, the same thing happens in reverse as using white- it really stands out like a sore thumb. There is no black anywhere else in the bath. Regarding the knee wall and niche shelf; I planned to use just white for the shelf and my counter top material on knee wall. The left side of shower looks exactly like the back and right hand walls.

Here are some photos where they used the flooring for curb from Edward Martin's website: I too, prefer solid surface. But at least this would provide a seamless color throught the floor.........

There are quite a few choices for grey quartz too. Look at Silestone, Caesarstone, MSI etc - you can sort by colour on their sites. Take some tile with you and go to their showrooms. Or, find the biggest fabricator in your area and take some of your tile with you and ask them to suggest best matches from their off cuts and remnants. I'd look for honed or suede finish rather than polished.

There are many greys with different undertones so you may not find it on the first try.

Here are some dark grey examples from the Silestone site.

Silestone Marengo

Raw G - Silestone

FFrom02- Silestone

I think this one is gorgeous and I would use it for the shower step as well as the knee wall. Lots of colours of grey in this so it might blend with your choices and tie into your counter top choice as well. Its Silestone Platino.

Silestone Bromo

Chispa lives nowhere near Chicago! User name is actually a word in a different language!

WIth screws through the liner at the curb, the decorative choices are irrelevant. The waterproofing is done badly, and this has a 2 year lifespan at the most.

@cheerilyhouse - I was tired when I typed my comment last night . . .

Slate from Brazil isn't black either - it looks closer to black if a color enhancing sealer is used. That's why I suggested honed black granite - it isn't black either:

The above two slabs are both honed Absolute black granite (which is sold on Amazon also - although I agree with Jan - it would be easy to locate a remnant by calling fabricators - they all have pieces of different types of black granite - which can be honed if it's polished).

There are some black granites that have more movement in the stone (subtle white) also.

Soapstone is also a good option - but may be more difficult to find a "match" that you like.

The quartz and corian examples provided above may also work for you. You have quite a few options that would look nice with you tile.

IMO use the pony wall stuuf or the counter already too many choices and I agree the screws through the theshold are alreasy an issue and thta niche I can bet will be leaking soon and should have been the same as the shower walls shampoo bottles are not decor ..

Didn't read through everything; but just head to a good tile shop and look at standards sill. They are 6x72 on average can come in plenty of colors. Black absolute honed would be great, as well as some dark gray quartz options.

@cheerilyhouse - will you take some close up photos of the top and both sides of your curb + the inside of your niche?

If you have a pvc waterproof liner, the screws in your curb have punctured it = your waterproofing has holes in it.

Do you know how the shower pan was constructed? Is it a traditional mud shower pan OR does it have a surface waterproof membrane? Based upon the RedGard that has been rolled on the cement board, it appears to be a traditional mud shower pan (I have seen showers where contractors mixed a surface waterproof membrane with RedGard waterproofing - but it's more likely that no surface waterproof membrane was used in your shower/shower pan).

Did you take photos while the shower was being constructed? I took a lot of photos. If you have some photos, please post them in a comment so we can see how it was constructed.

I had a contractor who did the same exact thing when my new shower was being constructed. I noticed issues (at two different points during the build) - and wound up needing a new contractor after the second issue (he remedied the first issues which included putting screws through the sides and top of the shower curb - fyi, in my jurisdiction, a contractor has a right of remediation).

The next issue happened during the tile installation stage - he had installed Carrara marble tile on the back wall up to the ceiling (which was 50" wide and vaulted from 9.5 to 11 feet tall). I was very unhappy because I had spent quite a bit of $$ on my tile (high quality from Italy - not the cheaper marble from a big box store). Everything had to be ripped out + I had to purchase replacement tile. Also, a few weeks later, I discovered that some of my floor tiles weren't bonded to the floor = I had to pay a new contractor to rip out all of my floor tile + replace the subfloor + prep the new subfloor and install the replacement floor tile.

I feel horrible for you as it appears that the same thing has happened to you re: your shower pan (and likely your niche). FYI - your contractor will dismiss the issues + tell you that he has been building showers this way for 20+ years and has NEVER had one issue during all of that time.

I was told that my contractor would tell me the foregoing, and he did - word for word.

Dani you provided some great information. I was working during most of the early days and can't deny but this contractor has been working in my area for many many years. If he did crap work, it would have come out I think......... I am so sorry to hear of your troubles. I wouldn' thave the budget to redo everything as we are retired on fixed incomes and saved for this renovation. He did put in writing that he backs his work for a lifetime and will be here to remedy if anything comes up.

Here is what the contractor told me regarding the curb:

Under the concrete we used an Oatey Rubber shower liner that I can send you the Home Depot link to you for your records. This liner covers the whole shower base, connected to the shower drain and goes up the walls 12”, and over the threshold. On top of this liner is the concrete which is sloped from every angle to move the water to the drain. Once the concrete dried we put the red guard over the concrete base and about 12-15” up the walls around. Per your request after we discussed it, Gabriel then put red guard in the niche and over the threshold. I hope that explains the shower base system. Again I will forward you both the link to the shower liner we used.

Here is a much better image of the flooring material. This is why black won't work as nicely as some mention. IMO, Black (and white) are too strong of a contrast with this porcelain....

Dude's process is a mold factory. He doesn't know what he is doing. It's a guaranteed leaker. Liner flat on the floor with the preslope above it is wrong. Screwing through the liner on the curb to attach cement board is wrong. Moisture sandwich of red guard and liner is wrong. He needs to join the Tile the World FB group and get some education. And you need to redo all of that.

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