How are you finishing the edges? Hopefully with matching tile trim pieces and not Schluter!

Arch entrances? Curved? How are you handling tiling an arch?

Is the tile rated for wet areas? Hopefully it isn't a crackle finish?

The "small" details that make a huge difference.

Have you had a dark tiled shower before? I hated mine and couldn't wait to gut/remodel with a lighter colored tile. Even with lighting and a window in sunny LA, it was dark and dreary in the shower ... and you couldn't see the random spider that made its way into the shower!

agree with @chispa about the finished edge tile, NOT Schluter edging.

I wonder too about the green inside the shower, too dark.

The size difference in the green tile won't be a deal breaker. I would consider a green grout rather than a contrasting white...

LOVE the floor tile, especially if you'll be using the border tiles!

Agreed! Definitely not schluter haha We are using matching tile bullnose to finish the edges, the arch entrances are curved and rounded with bullnose. We have a tile guy who is doing the tile work (not us, thankfully!). We are working with a specialty tile store, it is a slight crackle finish but it is wet rated I believe!

I don't thin kt the tile size will be ahuge deal I do not love the white grout but this pic shows it

not horrible

This sounds like a fantastic bathroom. A 3x5 sounds more Art Deco to me anyway. I say go for it if there are no other functional differences. I'm excited to see the finished bathroom. It sounds great.

The 3x6 will work great (and more period specific). Think "details" when designing and selecting tile. We just completed an art deco "inspired" guest bath. This was for our own home. Obvioulsy we added an artisan feature so ignore that. It's also not green but sharing photos for inspiration about the layout and trim/accents. Notice the tile at bottom of walls included an accent with pencil liner then a pattern change to what is called a soldier course. Used chair rail moldings to cap the wainscot and trim out around the shower opening. Bullnose wasn't available but we preferred these finishing pieces.

Dragonfly, now that is a cool bathroom, I know your guests will love it. Congrats on making bold choices that don’t skew boring and bland hotel room or straight outta Home Depot/Lowe’s end cap. Well done!

Thanks Lake Affect. Tile is one of the oldest art forms in history. It got dumbed down over time.

These are my favorite green 1930s style bathrooms. Each has a different size tile, but they all work in that style, and they all use tile for the edges:

Pasadena Green guest bathroom · More Info

Pasadena Green guest bathroom · More Info

Pasadena Green guest bathroom · More Info

Pasadena Green guest bathroom · More Info

Eaton Revival · More Info

Helena 1 · More Info

Check out these companies for beautiful green tiles:

https://www.tilebar.com/plp/shop-by-colors-now/green.html?source=bsearch&q=green+tile

https://www.fireclaytile.com/tile/colors

https://www.tileshop.com/products/artisan-green-porcelain-subway-wall-tile-2-x-6-in-484578

Ok what about this tile:

https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/supreme-tile-rustic-295-in-x-1181-in-polished-ceramic-subway-wall-tile-mxem2923.html?piid=101959374

The tile you want is available in 8 weeks. The back up tile is available March 30. You can't wait 5-6 weeks for something you will love every day for years????????

Welllll so update: it’s a craze/crackle tile that needs to be sealed regularly, which we weren’t informed of until someone here thankfully highlighted, and I already have a mold prone home. So we’re going back to the drawing board for a different tile entirely. Open to suggestions!

This is Fireclay tile.

They have outstanding sale support and customer service. Call them, explain what you are looking for and the problem you have run into with your other tile. They will walk you through their options. You can also book a free design consult. https://www.fireclaytile.com/free-design-consultation

Their turn around time varies depending on how much you want to pay for expedited orders.

Even if you don't end up using their products, you will walk away with an excellent education about what you need to look for in a tile including all of the special trim pieces you need.

B&W tile has a ton of colors.

Take a look at these sites to see if any of the tile might meet your needs. We used it when updating a bathroom in our home.

https://www.americanolean.com/products/wall/color-story-wall

https://www.daltile.com/products/wall/color-wheel-classic

Good luck!

I gave you 3 tile sites to check out; susan49417 also gave you 2 more--what do you think?

In addition to the excellent resources already posted, take a look at:

Pratt + Larson *

Motawi Tileworks *

Subway Ceramics

California Pottery and Tileworks

Clayhaus Tile

Malibu Ceramic Works

Alchemy Materials

Heritage Tile (supplies some of the above brands)

* I have tile from the first two companies in my own home. 10/10 would recommend.

Lindsey Oelling, I thought your original choice of tile was gorgeous, though I share chispa's concern about the bathroom perhaps being very dark without adquate lighting. some of the inspiration pix looked to me like they included lots of daylight, and the light may have been boosted for the photos.

For subway tile, I usually prefer running bond to stacked, but as shown in some of the pictures posted by others, stacked can also look fantastic.

Diana Bier Interiors, LLC, thank you for posting those moderne bath pix. They are such a pleasure to look at!

My kitchen and baths are not deco/moderne, but you can see what I did with tile if that interests you. (It's okay if it doesn't!) My kitchen is vaguely MCM-inspired. My primary bath is 1930s–40-ish inspired, as is my guest bath (with a special guest appearance by a retro 50s-ish vanity).

Both my baths are small. The primary bathroom is really a 3/4, and pretty small even by NYC standards—though I've lived with smaller, and even with no bathroom at all.

@amystoller your home is wonderful--especially the pink bathroom!!!

Thank you, Diana Bier Interiors, LLC, that means a lot coming from you. I put a ton of thought and work into all of it, and my interior designer was the best partner I could have had in making my vision a reality. And my contractor was terrific. They made a fantastic team.

^^^ I agree - the pink one is really adorable!

Bedrosian Cloe Green tile - available in 2.5x8 and 5x5 sizes:

I've also seen quite a few installations that used a darker grout in order to eliminate grout lines and they looked nice also.

It's available at many retailers - if you decide to purchase it, do a search because the price per sf will vary depending on where/when you purchase it. Also, if you purchase it from Lowe's, you will receive free shipping + free returns. You can order a box of it to see if you really like it vs. just a sample (there is variation between tiles = it is important to see several tiles vs. a sample).

I've used Cloe White in a guest bathroom renovation + I have the Baby Blue (it's really more of an aqua) that I'm using in another guest bathroom.

Bedrosian also has a few other tiles that are available in green that would look great.

Amystoller, lovely, original baths that, like Dragonfly’s, aren’t boring or trendy, thank you for sharing. We are currently (re)watching the TV show ER, and the tile work in the operating and treatment rooms is stunning, there is a green subway stacked vertically with rounded black pencil liner, some great checkerboard floors and a yellow tiled room, all classic and elegent, which sounds funny to say when speaking of medical treatment spaces, but to me they truly are such.

Dragonfly, so true about tile being a lost art form, I love seeing spectacular results from common materials, and like you and amystoller, using inexpensive, plain field tiles with snazzy accents that just make the room.

We are converting an downstairs room into a bedroom and bath, slated for a guest room now, but will be used by us if we can no longer negotiate stairs, so I’m here for inspiration, and thanks to all who post pics of their spaces.

Edited to fix a typo and add a few clarifying words!

Thanks for the kind words, folks. Lindsey, I really hope you end up with a bathroom that you love as much as I love mine! I had a funny thought, though (well, I thought it was funny).

"Would 3x6 work or look too ‘farmhouse’ compared to 2x8?"

To me, what would look too "farmhouse" would be an outhouse in the back yard and a tin tub in front of the kitchen fire. But it would be authentic!

Lake Affect, I wish you could have seen all my look-books. I had oh, so many inspiration photos that went into cooking up my "original" recipes. To some extent you could look at all I collected and still come up with something completely different from what I chose. But there were also a couple of pix from which I just took someone else's idea and plunked it into what I was working on. As we say in show biz, "Always steal from the best"!

Thank you, everyone, for the suggestions so far! I'm trying to find tile that is less than $15 a sq ft which is a bit of a challenge but there are some great options here! I definitely have champagne taste on a beer budget :D

@amystoller - Thanks for sharing all of these wonderful pics of your home. I love that your space is so thoughtfully crafted and deeply interesting without being quirky or cliche. Kudos. I covet your kitchen pantry. And your long mirrored bathroom cabinet is a great example for anyone looking to add bathroom storage between studs.

Any time you want to post more pics of the rest of your house, my inquiring mind would love to see!

I wish I had more pictures of the finished work. The ones you can see were taken for the design firm's Instagram page. They did some staging, and careful professional lighting, and the photographer was a pro. Unlike me! If I took pictures of my home, its eyes would be shut and its mouth hanging open. Or else its eyes would be glowing red and its tongue sticking out. Maybe some day …

Dragonfly, thanks for pointing out all the details in your pix. Those "little" things really count. I admire your shower ceiling so much! Tiling the ceiling with the same tile you use for the floor is something I've never seen before, and it repays your effort beautifully.

Trying to decide between these two different emerald tiles (with a black bull nose):

https://www.daltile.com/products/wall/color-wheel-linear/emerald

https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/supreme-tile-rustic-295-in-x-1181-in-polished-ceramic-subway-wall-tile-mxem2923.html?piid=101959374

I know Daltile as a reliable tile company. I know Wayfair as a company that does a lot of things, not all of them well. I can't say that my experience with either is recent, so I hope others will chime in.

I would not commit to such a big and expensive job without ordering samples of each to see which you like best.

These are two very different tiles. The Wayfair tile has a handmade look, a rippled surface, and uneven and unglazed tile edges. Is that the look you are going for? It doesn't particularly read art deco to me, but no reason you have to be a purist. The color looks great. But, do they make a black tile with the same waviness, uneven edges - the same line but in black?

Wayfair is a middleman. I don't even know if Supreme Tile is the manufacturer or just a supplier. If you have problems who will rectify the breakage, new orders, lots orders, and answer techinical questions? Call Wayfair and find out.

Dalite is the manufacturer and distributor. All they do is tile. They have been around for a very long time, have excellent customer service, and account for a huge amount of the market. Their tiles are quality, consistent, and every tile installer has worked with their product. Their tile is flat, no waves, has even edges, and is going to look more "correct" in an art deco bath. Their black tile will be uniform with their green tile. However, the green you are showing is a very different from the Wayfair green. It is not as dark and deep of a color. You really need to see the two together to decide.

Your idea is beautiful but is it practical given that you have a mold prone bathroom? I, too, have such a bathroom so when we remodeled, we went with quartzite slabs. No more grout! It looks awesome and is low maintenance. If you get mold, it doesn’t matter what color your grout is, it will show and look terrible. FYI, quartzite is available in many colors including some greens.

When I think dark green (art deco) tile styling, I think of gold and not black. I have no idea which tile will work best for you specifically, but just wanted to say to consider highlighting with gold accents and accessories.

You will live with whatever tile you choose for the rest of the time you live in the house.

Get what you really, REALLY, want, even if you have to wait.

If you have to wait, and need to shower in the shower, hang plastic to cover and protect the wall and wait - I had to do that for the tile get to get time and it was ugly with black cement boards on the wall, but now there is nice tile - worth the wait.

ty

it’s not just the tile size, it’s how you install and frame it.

A few pro tips to keep it firmly in that Art Deco direction:

• Layout matters more than size
  Skip the standard brick/subway offset. Go with a stacked layout (vertical or horizontal) or even a herringbonefor your focal areas. That instantly pulls it away from farmhouse and into a more elevated, vintage-glam look.
• Use the arches to your advantage
  Since you’re already doing arched entries (which is very Deco), the smaller 3x6 can actually help you get cleaner curves and tighter transitions around those shapes.
• Grout color is everything
  Go with a color-matched grout (deep green) for a seamless, rich look -or even a slightly darker tone for depth. Avoid bright white grout- that’s what pushes it into farmhouse territory.
• Finish + trim details
  Make sure you’re using metal trims (brass/gold) or proper edge pieces. Deco is all about those refined finishes.
• Your overall design is already strong
  Emerald tile + black & white hex floors + arches + freestanding tub = you’re already locked into a bold, classic direction. The tile size won’t break that.

Honest opinion:
The 2x8 would feel a bit more modern and elongated, but the 3x6 is actually closer to what you’d see in original Deco bathrooms- so if anything, it might enhance the vibe, not take away from it.

If waiting 8 weeks is going to slow down your project (and cost you more in labor/time), I would 100% move forward with the 3x6 and focus on layout + details.

You’re on a great track- this is going to look