With the indent on the wall area where the toilet is going if I center the tiles on that wall I'll end up with lots of less than 5 inch pieces for the project.

First of all this whole "center the wall" thing is way overblown. It's a good place to START looking for your layout, but it's not a "must have" kind of thing. It's what's called a rule of thumb, as is not having any cuts less than 1/2 tile. Both are good rules, but as the saing goes, rules are made to be broken. However, there are also, in most cases, two ways to center the wall. You can either put a grout joint on the center of the wall, or the center of a tile. Either way is centered, and while one may give you an extraordinarily small piece, the other will give you a much more acceptable piece.

Your best bet in any situation is to stand in the doorway of the room and look at the area and decide what would look good to you from there. Your first reaction won't steer you wrong.

Thanks Bill (I think you are also known as Mongo?) Have seen your work on this forum which is why I posted. Very impressive. Yes if I stand in the room it looks better to me to have just the two half pieces in the corner of the shower. All others will be full tiles on all walls.
As my post was long would it look better if I had the full tile at the top of the shower walls which would leave a partial at the bottom or center tiles horizontally which would mean bottom and top rows are partial tiles? You will probably say the visual thing again. I'm a very visual person and have redone my pond 4 times because of that!

First, no, Mongo and I are two different people (good news for Mongo!! LOL) Secondly, I'd split the difference so that both top and bottom could be cut in. That way, if either is a touch out of level, they can be cut in. It's very rare that I'll lay out shower walls for full tiles either top OR bottom, just for that reason. At the very least, if I want to SHOW a full tile, on say, a 12x12, I'll lay it out to cut an inch off, so that I can cut in any slight deviation.

Whoops sorry. I saw your name in lotsa places too also impressive. Thanks for advice. As this is an old house (50 yrs) the ceiling joists aren't completely level so your method would help with that. Can't wait to get started but as can't drywall the ceiling there until the kitchen reno above is done tiling this bathroom will have to wait. I like to have things well planned out for anyone I hire for work. Most of the basement reno I did myself which is why it took 3 years to finish as I pay cash for everything and the few contractors I needed for electrical, plumbing and heating were hard to get. Professional tilers are next to impossible to hire around here as are booked up a year in advance! thanks again for help. Patti

Patti-- where abouts are you? I know alot of good people all over the country. If you'd feel more comfortable, you can email me your location.

I live in a small town in Central Alberta Canada about 60km north of Red Deer. I actually enjoy doing the work myself its very stress reducing. Didn't like mudding and taping drywall though. With the boom on here the last couple of years most contractors, plumbers and electricians didn't have time for a "small" job like my 1200 sq ft basement.(Not that they didn't have the time they just wanted the big bucks for the big new houses!) Now that the market has dropped so much they have the time but no one has any money to pay contractors for renos so many are doing it themselves. I don't think our economy has been hit as hard as US but workers in the oil patch have been hit pretty hard. They laid off 700 guys at the facility site my son works at and my nephew was laid off from a cabinet making company that didn't have any more orders for custom cabinets. Good thing I'm a disability worker as we don't get laid off.

Bill!

My long lost brotha from anotha mutha?

xoxo, Mongo

Something like that. :-)

Dan Fogelberg had an album (NOW I'm dating myself!) with a similar name-- Twin Sons of Different Mothers. :-)