On this job called "Yale Town Do Over" we have designed a flush tile to drywall transition on the two long walls of the bathroom. To achieve this I'm using a shadow reveal moving made from metal and cladding the wall with an extra layer of drywall to start. This photo shows the doubled up layer of drywall.

To the left of the drywall we will be installing Wonder Board Light. Then waterproofing. The waterproofing will be tied into the drywall and Shadow Reveal making up a capillary break for the wall.

The tile will be installed flush to the shadow reveal molding and be seamless in design.

I have uploaded a few more photos of the process here:

Recessing tile into drywall? Tile experts?

Progress pictures from yesterday.

How do I do a seamless transition between a plasterboard wall and wooden frame for an alcove bookshelf without putting a frame around the wood to hide the cut-out?

That is harder to do and make nice. I do this on occasion with custom wood drywall transitions that I install in position and finish with drywall and paint.

Fireplace Feature · More Info

You can see in this job the bookcase appears to be floating off the brick wall and then the face wall and the bookshelf appear to be one. This is because they are and the book shelf has been made to accept the drywall and drywall bead.

If you sign up for a short call I can work on a sketch for you.

Good luck.

These bookshelves I design the same way. Where does the bookshelf stop and the drywall end?

Contemporary Living Room · More Info

No sorry.

The process is a simple one. But one I have developed over they years. Not something I'm prepared to share the details with for free.

If you want some more design help with this detail please take some time and read this link. It explains what a mini design call is and how much I charge for the service.

Fireplace Feature · More Info

Here is a look at the larger image sizes.

Fireplace Feature · More Info

Fireplace Feature · More Info

This fireplace was build with drywall 1/2" - MDF - Granite - 2"x4". There is no magical items and all the materials are easy to source.

For drywall work I used Cement Fill - Mesh Tape - Paper tape - Guardz and Synko's Joint and Lite Line finish.

Over on Garden Web a lady was having a hard time planning her Neo Angle Shower. This planning stage can be tricky and how you finish the tile to the drywall as challenging as with a normal square walled intersection. I dug up for this poster some of the pictures I used to transition from a Neo Angle tiled wall to the drywall.

No tile edging.

No bull nose tile.

Just the tile and some special drywall beads.

here is a peak at the pics.

By framing out the right side of the shower wall I created a 45 degree angle to the entry. This allowed regular hunger to be used here and made the niche(s) deeper.

These are tear away beads - pre torn away. not a Home Depot option but rather sourced from a drywall supply store.

More pictures and explanation for this job found in my comments on this discussion

Shower Door for Neo Angle

SEAMLESS TILE TO DRYWALL TRANSITIONS: YALE TOWN EXAMPLE

This bathroom received new drywall 1/2" over both the left and right walls. Then some Z molding (shown a couple posts up) and waterproofing from Ardex. In these three following pictures you can see the large wall tile going in.

The tile measures 18"x36" and is 3/8" thick. The Z molding is 1/2" deep. But it is covered with waterproofing so it's a little less than that. The tile gets installed and kept away from the Z molding edge a grout joint spacing away.

This detail provides a flush transition from the wall tile to the drywall and a capillary break from the shower to the drywall. It also looks Bad Ass and so sleek.

Because the tile work needs to meet the drywall bead perfectly the drywall bead needs to be installed perfectly. I did both steps to ensure the work met my approval and once I was finished with the drywall bead I make sure my tile lines up nicely.

The drywall to the right is still in a raw state. I need to fine tune the sanding and prime it prior to grouting this shower. You can see I kept the tile away from the Z molding just a hair under 1/8".

This picture shows the tile going in.

Taking shape:

SEAMLESS CEILING DETAIL

When building a steam shower and sometimes a regular shower the ceiling gets tile. When you need to transition from tile to drywall the same issues arise. One of the tricks I use here is again more drywall work and careful planning.

Looking up at the ceiling detail.

This is a photo my buddy sent me from Ontario. I flew out a few weeks back to help him over the long weekend get his steam shower ready for tile and to set the large porcelain tile on the ceiling of his steam shower.

We first vapour proofed the shower with Laticrete's Hydro Ban Sheet Membrane. I had him leave the drywall lapping down past where it needed to be and then used some Ardex 8+9 as a capillary break sealing the drywall back side to the sheet vapour proofing. Once the tile was set my friend cut back the drywall so it was a hair lower than the finished tile and then installed a metal J-Bead.

I was stunned that in London, Ontario not a single building supply house or even the local home depot did not carry J-Bead. I had to mail to to him....

The J Bead was set with silicone and will later get drywall mesh or paper tape over the metal to drywall transition and then a couple finish coats of drywall. Some sanding. Some priming and then it's done.

The look is clean and this eliminated the need for any exposed edge or Schluter like tile profile.

Seamless Wall Transition

This photo shows another friends bathroom where we used a J Bead to cap the end of the drywall. The picture shows the J Bead after it has been primed and painted but before the grouting stage.

Another builder here in Vancouver is following my detail for his tub shower renovation. The drywall and J Bead extend about 3/4" past the backboard. The drywaller used a paper J Bead that will need to be tied into the waterproofing to create a capillary break.

In the photos below only the taping and mesh work is done. No waterproofing as yet.

These outside corner details get tricky. How to end the tile cuts problematic. By setting the drywall beads with care a nicer cleaner look can be achieved.

I just retiled the interior of my shower. there is a pony wall that will have glass above. the tile is set level and the pony wall is not level so there is a gap/crack that I need to somehow fill to finish it. I don't know what to do about it and the tile contractor said he would come back to fix it and is now not answering the phone. any suggestions. I am posting two photos for both areas that need to be finished. I would appreciate techniques and products to do the job

I'm not sure what the issue is, but there are a number of things you can do, depending on your budget. The simplest approach is to caulk the gap between the ceiling and the wall. Otherwise there are more labor-intensive processes, like removing the popcorn texture and skim coat for a smooth ceiling, or tiling the ceiling, something I have done in my project, and was glad I did. It provides for the most durable surface in a very humid environment like over a shower, where paint always ended up peeling over time.

Hi John, I am about to have a bathroom that my husband and I prepped the walls for. We will have tile wainscoting on two walls and installed the greenboard above with the tile backerboard recessed about 1/4" so the chair rail would not stick out too far past the casing around the door after all was installed. We put the L metal level under all the greenboard but one of the tile guys asked us to remove it before tiling. I asked another tile guy and they had no opinion and a 3rd said we didn't need L metal at all when I asked if it could be installed after the chair rail was installed under. What is your opinion? I am lost.