The tile in this bathroom goes up to about 56" (48" of subway tile + about 8" for the trim pieces and mosaic border) above the floor -- which is higher than you would normally go. The reason I did it so high is because I didn't want the decorative tile border to hit the medicine cabinet in an awkward location (i.e., I didn't want to have to cut into one of the trim pieces or the strip of mosaic to fit the bottom wood trim of the medicine cabinet). A downside of having the tile so high is that the light switch/power outlet is also higher than normal (since I didn't want to put that in the middle of the tile, either) -- so young kids can't turn on the lights by themselves. I think 48" is a more standard height -- but I would think about how the tile will fall relative to any other elements you need to work around (e.g., medicine cabinets, windows, light switches/outlets, etc. Here's another bath that I tiled up to 51" (48" to the top of the subway tile plus 3" of trim) -- the black liner ended up fitting in perfectly with the bottom trim piece on the medicine cabinet:

Before you use all those toxic cleaners the regular (non health-food) grocery store sells, think of what it does to your body, if it's doing THAT to your marble. Most of getting rid of the germs is removing them from surfaces, not launching an all out nuclear attack. I think you should try the same tests you did on your limestone on a Ming marble sample. I had a gorgeous pink marble tile floor in the hall/kid bathroom in my old house. The bathroom was also the home of the washer and dryer, and all associated products (for me, those would be 7th Generation detergent, baking soda, and vinegar). At the time, we had 4 kids (3 boys!). I would do the marble again in a second. Now, I did not mind that the floor got scratched and scuffed. I considered that a patina, and that it made the floor less slippery. When we moved out, the floor was not as glossy as the day we put it in, but it still looked beautiful. I did use a little bleach around the base of the toilet, to get the grout white again. This was after 3 years of boys in various stages of potty training. I have been to Italy, where marble floors and countertops are ubiquitous. In the very old houses, the marble just has a matte finish. In Baltimore city, the old rowhouses are reknowned for their beautiful outdoor marble steps the ladies would scrub EVERY day. Toxic bathroom cleaners you buy in the regular old grocery store are bad for your health and the environment anyway. You can clean your whole bathroom with things like baking soda, vinegar and water in a 1:4 ratio, steam (I got a $30 steam-cleaner at Tuesday Morning -- the steam kills EVERYTHING loosens up all bathroom gook, etc. with no toxic fumes. It's just water!) Seventh Generation makes a kick-arse toilet cleaner. If you want the bathroom to smell clean and to kill germs and mold without ruining your body or your marble, put a couple of drops of essential oils of lemon, lavender, eucalyptus, rosemary, cedar, pine, tea tree, tangerine, or some combination thereof, in your homemade cleaning solution. It only takes a minute to put a glop of Bi-O-Kleen all-purpose cleaner degreaser in a spray bottle, fill up the bottle the rest of the way with water, shake it up, and go to town on the bathroom. I promise it will still sparkle like you used the Dupont and Dow crap that uses known endocrine disruptors.

This topic couldn't be more timely! I am in the process of selling my NYC condo and buying a Loudoun County new construction home. To start with, the condo had marble baths - vanities, floors, shower tiles, wall tiles - the whole thing. I hated it! Looking back, I now know why I hated it. I hated it because I always knew that condo was not my forever home. I was always trying to keep it looking fresh and clean and pristine for "when we sell". That meant that I was always wiping up water from the vanities. If we had guests, I would take every opportunity to go into the second bathroom to wipe up whatever water was sitting on the vanity. This was a constant issue and stress for me and my poor husband who was an innocent bystander to my obsession. One day my cat peed on the bath mat on the floor and the etching in front of the tub freaked me out and I couldn't look at it without worrying about a potential buyer's complaints. One night I put my contact case on the vanity without drying it off and to this day there is an outline of a contact case on that vanity. All this being said, the first person who looked at my condo made me a full price offer with no mention of the barthroom marble! Now that we are building our dream home, I have decided to put in 150 feet of Carrara marble kitchen counters and am plotting for that day In the future when I can afford to redo the builder 4x4 ceramic tiles in the master bathroom our budget requires we get now with Carrara marble tiles and vanities. Long story short, now that I know that this is "my" house and whatever I do with it only has to please me and not some future buyer, I am doing exactly what I want. The thing is that I am a relaxed person who enjoys things that feel warm and homey and used but have an underlying elegance. Marble is perfect for me! I can't wait to have it and enjoy it and appreciate it's characteristics rather than fighting them. Marble boils down to this, if you are going to fight every mark and indication of use - DON'T GET IT it is not for you. Stick with granite or something else that will look brand new in 20 years. If you appreciate a patina and signs of use, then get it and love it.

My early favorite was a ming green backsplash by Ann Sacks: Matchstick Mosaic. It's gorgeous, but too pricey for me. I still went green, but used glass tile instead. Here's the Ann Sacks: Source: [houzz.com[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-shelving-and-cabinets-contemporary-kitchen-san-francisco-phvw-vp~98502) via Jen on Pinterest Source: [houzz.com[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/cabinet-tile-window-detail-transitional-kitchen-san-francisco-phvw-vp~53414) via Jen on Pinterest Source: caitlinwilsondesign.blogspot.com via Ranelle on Pinterest I love the tiles you found, and think it will be a beautiful kitchen!