I can't help but I can certainly chime in on the overwhelmed part! We only have 2 full baths to do and I can't even make up my mind about those. We're doing all the tile work ourselves too, so basically I think we're just going to go to some bathroom/tile design stores and look around and just hope they have something we like so we can copy it! I feel your pain...

Oh, I'd LOVE to have that problem again!
But then, I have to admit - "My name is Sweeby and I'm a tile addict."

Since you're doing a whole house, the first question I'd ask myself is if it's important to me to "have a sense of flow and continuity from one room to another" or if I'd rather have "five disctinct and separate bathrooms that don't all look the same." I'd also take stock of my budget, the feeling I want to convey in my home (rustic, modern, elegant, casual, neutral...), and any fixed colors, fixtures or space constraints. I'd also try to decide if I want the tile to be a focal point (I do) or a background element. Then I'd go to the tile stores and see what tiles call to me.

If you want all or some of your bathrooms to be similar, I'd look for a versatile field tile first. Something relatively neutral, budget-friendly, and with excellent wear characteristics. A variety of tile sizes and trim pieces would also be nice to have. Then, I'd look for trim or feature tiles. They can be as simple as a strip of matching qtr. round in your shower to as elaborate as a full mosaic framed in trim tiles accented by a listello. (Let your taste and budget be your guide.) But for five bathrooms united by a common field tile, I'd try to find five different accent schemes so each bath would have a personality all it's own. Or, if continuity is very important to you, maybe a few different colors and sizes of the same accent tile line.

If you want each bathroom to be unique and have it's own personality, then I'd start with the accent tiles instead. It's so easy to fall in love with accent tile! The trick is then to come up with designs that feature the accent tiles but don't absolutely kill your budget.

It's tempting to try to save money by buying online, but I really can't recommend buying tile sight unseen. It's such a tactile thing, and the quality of the glazes never shows perfectly in photos. I'd definitely shop tile in person, then price-shop after you've found the tiles you want.

We decided on what we wanted for our bathrooms (and most other rooms) long before we went into a showroom. Call me paranoid, but I'm not the most trustful person and I wanted to be well informed when I walked in the door. I poured through books from the library and the internet looking for pictures I liked until I found the "look" I wanted to achieve in each room. Then, when I went into the showroom, I could basically pull out one "board" and say, this is what I want and hand them the inspiration picture. However, I will say that we don't have as many bathrooms as you and I'm rather boring. We are going for a very classic look through out the house, so with the exception of the powder room (where we will use a little bit warmer terra cotta tile) we are using white subway and white hex floor tile because it is period appropriate to the look we are trying to capture. We are hoping the special touches in plumbing fixtures and cabinetry distinguish the rooms and make them "special".

Tile was one of the last major things I had to decide and by then I was thinking "just give me something that's not stupid looking so I can get it done!!" I don't have as many baths as you-just 3 full and 1 half bath. But I ended up choosing 2 different colors (one color for DD's bath and one color for guest, master and the half bath) within the same line. I suppose it's boring, but I'm very pleased. We did a hopscotch pattern-which made all the difference in the world. All the bathrooms look very different because of decorating and paint, but yet there is some continuity between everything in the house. For what it's worth, I looked and looked and looked online, and in stores, but the first tile sample I actually brought home was the one I chose! It is overwhelming, but to me it was more important to choose something that was neutral and would match anything rather than get something really unique. That really narrowed down the choices.

I bought the tile on my own and really regret it. We, too, have 5 bathrooms. I like the tile in three of them, but even then not having a tile store professional help me resulted in not getting the right tile pieces around that tub that we should have had. You can get a lot more tile at Home Depot than is on display, and that's where I got most of ours. However, the HD sales people I dealt with just did not have the experience or skill to help me order what I needed. If I had it to do over again, I would go with a tile shop as you really do not save that much money doing it on your own, at least not enough to offset the disappointment you feel when it didn't turn out as well as it would have if you had had professional help.

I would also take upkeep and traffic in to consideration. I'm a huge fan of natural stone and put honed durango travertine in my bathroom (floor and shower) knowing that porcelain would have been much easier to maintain. I have 3 more bathrooms on the "to do" list and am hoping to use the same travertine on the floors, at least. I will change out the vanities and granite counters to make them each somewhat unique.

Take your time and educate yourself on the needs of each type of tile - ceramic, stone, and porcelain each have different installation requirements. Bill V and Mongo, tile experts and frequent posters, provide a wealth of information. They are usually found in the kitchen and bath forums.

We are building a New/Old Period style home (think 1700-1800's) so I had a real hard time deciding on tile for the bathrooms. Everything seemed too new to me. I finally decided that I would continue the wide pine floors that we are using in the rest of the house. For the showers I think I'll keep it simple and go with white?ivory sucway tile. I've just gotten sick of making decisions.

Jenn

I know exactly where you're coming from, Kate. I thought I knew what I wanted until I went to a local tile store that had almost every brand I could think of and some of the most beautiful displays! Overwhelmed is putting it mildly. I changed my mind so many times although it was before I put the order in so it was only frustrating going back and forth between designs and colors instead of it being a major expense.

I ended up spending several hours online looking at bathrooms in model home pics and anywhere else that caught my eye. I took the pics that I printed and any info that pertained to the tile and then found a designer that I really had clicked with at the tile store. I met several different ones on my trips there and since they didn't work on commission, they were all willing to help. I ended up doing something more over the top and costly in our powder room but kept the guest bath, my son's bath and our master bath a bit more traditional. I don't think they have to resemble each other or blend with each other colorwise unless that is the look you prefer. It's all about what you want IMO. I did find out after talking to several knowledgeable sales associates that for each of the really expensive designer tiles that I liked, there were many similar "knock-offs". It saved me about $10k in tile by going that route.

Good luck and though I know it will be difficult, try not to stress over it.

kateskouros, goodness, call me a glutton for overwhelmization (my new word) because I'll have to do 8 baths (plus the one in the RV garage) and every single one of them is different! I've decided to go with freestanding-type vanities for each bathroom, except for the pool bath (it'll have a simple wall-mount sink). At this point, I'm like sweeby and thinking that the tile shopping will be great fun, one of my highlights of the build and nothing to worry about...hopefully I'm right when the time comes! :)

Since each bath vanity is different, I think that will make it easier to determine the tile selection because my decor palette will start from the vanity. Just envision the feel you want the room to have and go from there. Or, you could just choose your top 5 favorite tiles and incorporate each into each bathroom.

Good luck and let's see your photos when you're done!

I felt pretty overwhelmed too with my bathrooms.

However, I made an appointment with one of the floor managers at a local tile store. She happened to be an expert in the style of house I have and she went to town. I didn't pay anything for these services.
I then shopped on line, local stores, etc and had 3-4 prices from these places on all of the tile she recommended. I asked her to match these prices and my business was hers. She did and I love the results from all of her designs.
I also was fortunate to have a wonderful tile installer who has a keen eye for attention to detail and design.
I am very pleased with my bathrooms (6 of them) and they all share one or two common elements, either the floor, the botticino tile I bought on a sidewalk tile sale, or the fixtures I purchased in "bulk".
I think this technique allowed me to get a reasonable deal on my tile and yet still take advantage of those wonderful and talented people who work at the local stores.
Good luck and please post pictures when you can!
V

I was so overwhelmed after my first trip to the tile showroom. I was looking for tile for 4 bathrooms and laundry room. The best advice I got was to focus on one room at a time. Apparently that was the trick.

Then I went to another tile showroom (where I've gotten my granite in the past and now) and I walked around and just wrote down what I liked. Price also had a huge affect. DH is no help when it comes to these things so he left it all in my hands. Now when I had him come by just to show him my selections, he nixed one bathroom completely so I just let him have at that one. Not thrilled with his choice (slate look porcelain) but it will do and I only thought it fair.

It also helped that I knew what was going in the bathrooms as far as vanities/sinks so that also limited my choices. For the MB I went with the first thing I saw that I liked. No sense in looking further and I had already selected the onyx tops so I needed something to complement it.

I will say that I'm not one to believe that everything in the house should match but since all MY choices are neutral I'm comfortable with my decisions.

jaymielo-
I don't know if I did things 'backwards' by most standards, but it worked for me! I picked out my tile before anything else in the bathrooms.
I did a lot of magazine clipping for inspiration. I found my cache of clippings the other day and was surprised to see how closely I ended up following their general themes after all. Although I didn't have specific colors picked out for each bathroom, I did have a general FEEL of what I wanted.

For instance, in my boys bath, I knew the design needed to be more masculine, what an adult would feel comfortable with (since they won't be little for long!), and also something that would work if a girl ever entered the family picture and used one of the bedrooms sharing that bath. Honestly, I didn't even think about the countertop at this point, since I knew that it would be easier to pick that out after figuring out the tile. We ended up doing the copper slate bath up there:

For our master bath, I had found a pic of one that had a creamy yellow with darker wood in it. Then we went on a trip to Santa Fe and stayed in a B&B that had the most awesome travertine shower in it. DH and I knew immediately that we wanted to find a similar tile for our master bath. We also had known for a few years that we wanted to do a pebble floor in there. Adding all those ideas together, we came up with this:

I guess my best suggestions would be to
1)Get your magazine/photo clips out and decide what it is you like about them in particular.
2)Decide of the main function of a particular bath--kids, light or heavy traffic, guests, etc.
3)If you want individuality, do each bath one at a time so that you don't overwhelm yourself. Keep in mind that even though they will all be different, if they fit the general color schemes of your house, there will still be a 'flow' throughout.
4)If you want even more cohesiveness, pick a general tile and mix the accent pieces/countertops to individualize each bath.
5) Remember that you can always change the paint color, but it's MUCH harder and more costly to change tile!

I'm sure whatever you do will turn out great. It's just the process that can sometimes be overwhelming!

Sorry kateskouros- Had just read a jaymielo post when I typed my response to yours!

thanks all for your input so far. i've been taking a break and i'll get back on the ball next week. i just decided last night (or early this morning!) to take my kitchen in an entirely new direction. (of course!) ...from white to "putty", black granite to marble and exotic wood island. i suppose this is the time to change my mind (not after everything is built) so i'm just going with the flow. dh just nods...