Can you hold or prop up a few pieces against the wall with the vanity to give you a better idea? Your husband is probably right that with light walls it won't be too dark.

what is the size of the room? is there a window? size?

I would be careful of a lot of different textures, patterns and colors all in the same room. This is my personal opinion though. Have you laid all these elements out on the floor, to get a good idea of how they relate, and how much of each element will be used? The amount of each element will be important even if the colors go well. Though for me, nothing is worse than having the varying colors be off.

I had to remind myself that I can't put everything I like into one room.

I drew up my space to get an idea of the patterns and the space. It really helped me. One of my initial drawings:

And because I can be obsessive about process, it evolved to this (this is only one version of about 10):

This is the wainscot layout. The rectangles on the bottom are not multiple tiles but a base board with obsessive shadow lines drawn in :)

Edited because I decided I should put a view of the finished room:

This post was edited by enduring on Sat, Jan 25, 14 at 5:22

The bathroom is 8 x 14. There is one small window so very little natural light.

I created a floor plan via floor planner.com which was great! But can't add in patterns. There really isn't a lot of pattern. The floor is a solid brown color and there wall tile will be beige. I'm just not sure about the brown floor, brown vanity with the darker slate. I'm thinking the lighter slate might look better.

This is a pic of the lighter slate with the shower tile and floor tile.

So in this last picture the slate is a lighter variety than the one in your first post? I like these in this last post. It is somewhat on the darkish side but it could be very nice. Have you got inspiration pictures to help guide your plan?

I went to Houzz to the Bath page and these 3 images were on the 1st page so thought I'd post them. They are from dark to light, as I see them.

[Contemporary Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103) by Great Falls Interior Designers & Decorators NF interiors

[Contemporary Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103) by Kalispell Architects & Designers CTA Architects Engineers

[Contemporary Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103) by Bethesda Design-Build Firms ART Design Build

Can you do a rough sketch of your room layout, and show where you plan to put the slate tile, and how much of it? How much of the slate will be seen next to the floor? It would be useful to see the components together and let us compare the dark vs the lighter slate. They really look quite similar in the separate pics. You can counteract the dark with more lighting, so it may not be a huge issue, if the choice is only between those two slates. I assume there will be some restocking fee if you return your tile?

The darker will create a more dramatic effect. The lighter will be more soothing. Which would you prefer? After all, it's really all about how the room makes you feel when you walk in every day.

The slate tile doesn't seem to relate to the other two choices, at least to my eye and with the colors on my monitor.

I can relate, as tile and paint are my life this week.

Enduring: "I had to remind myself that I can't put everything I like into one room." Oh yeah, that is my mantra nowadays. The downside of spending so much time planning and collecting images is that you find SO MANY things to like!

Good luck with your project-- I do like your floor and wall tiles together.

Thanks everyone. So I opened up the boxes of the tile, and what we got is a lot lighter than what they had on display in the store. So the issue no longer is about light versus dark. I'm just not sure whether this slate tile, which has lots of gray/blue clashes with the cream/beige and brown. Will these warm and cool colors clash? I would LOVE to return the slate tile but it is non-refundable. ugh. the floor tile is returnable and I was toying with the idea of getting a different color floor....more of a slate color like a gray...
Below is pic of the actual tile and a pic of the floor plan (sorry could only get a pic from my phone). The corner is the shower.

Couldn't get both pics to show on one post...here is the actual tile.

Here's an inspiration pic if I decide to change the floors.

So, to clarify, you plan to put the slate on the wall between the tub and the shower? Just from the backsplash height, ie counter, to ceiling? You're not planning on putting it on wall behind the vanity are you?

I would keep the slate, return the floor tile. YOu have rectangles in both the slate and shower tile, do you want to continue that and go with a rectangle shaped floor tile? Perhaps go with the grey/slate that has hints of the beige? This gives you a chance to find a lighter toned floor tile too. I think it will actually look better than your original plan...:>)

Prbetsi75, have you thought about what value of tone you want on the floor? Do you want dark or light. That will be a choice that I think will be helpful to nail down before tile shopping. Have you looked at many inspiration pictures? Your picture above has a dark floor and your original tile is a dark tone. This is what I recommend in this situation, but I am no designer, keep that in mind: If you haven't looked at a lot of photos already, keep looking and decide what values in surfaces you like to combine. I personally like contrast but others like more similar tones. Think of a B&W photo, or squint your eyes to help subtract the color out of the picture if you need to. This would be to help decide light vs dark elements and their combos.

Sorry for not being clear. The slate was supposed to go behind the vanity - from counter height to ceiling. so the full length of the vanity because there is a wall on both sides of it (the closet wall on one side and shower wall on the other). This all started because we wanted a "feature wall" that we had seen with stacked stone in so many pictures and it was beautiful! But now I regret it because I feel we picked the wrong tile!

I do seem to be drawn to the darker floor colors. I do like some contrast but also want it to be soothing. I really wish I could return the slate because I love earthy colors and prefer a brown floor. But if I'm stuck with this slate, I'd like to find a way to make it work.

So all agree that this slate would NOT work with the brown floor, right?

Personally, I love those tones/colours in your inspiration pic. But, then I love slate...(though haven't found a place for it yet in my reno so far, even considered it for kitchen flooring...).

Enduring has an excellent point. To plan my Master Bath, I had to go through pages and pages of pics on Houzz, save the ones I like in my ideabook, and then had to figure out what the common denominator was, what was I drawn to? I found that I didn't like a lot of different colours, and found the BR's with different floor tile, different shower tile, different backsplash tile, different counter surface...was often too distracting ,and I felt not very often well put together. So that helped clarify for me what I wanted.

You say you like the earthy tones. BUt, I honestly feel that going with a greyer toned floor will probably bring out the richness of your espresso vanity more than a brown tile would. What you could do is print off two copies of your inspiration pic, either using photo shop or some similar program, or cutting out construction paper, compare the pic with a grey floor/grey wall, and then again with brown floor, beige wall. See which one you prefer.

Thank you raehelen :o) You're right, perhaps the gray toned tile would bring out the brown tone in the vanity a little more.