It seems they almost always put the cleanest pieces in their displays. My jerusalem gold floor tiles showed up with far more variation in color (some pieces are almost beige; some have a lot of darker yellow). I prefer the lighter, less variation ones.

Unfortunately, the first time I saw the actual tiles, they were already going in - in fact most of the main area of the floor had been tiled. I was distressed, to say the least. I started pulling the darker tiles out of the box and setting them aside, so the installers wouldn't use them. Well, a few of them ended up in my shower.

I will say that at the end of the day, now that it's all in, I hardly notices. Hardly being the key word.

What I've learned since is that for a little extra $, you can hand select your tiles, weed out any that offend you. I wish I had done that.

There are several types of Calacatta marble. The veining structure is totally different between the two marble tiles. The tile you have doesn't look like the same type as the samples. Your slab and the store samples look like Calacatta Gold, but the tiles you have look more like Calacatta Vagli. The Calacatta Gold has softer, prettier, more flowing veining like the store samples and your slab.

Redroze,my floor tiles look exactly like the display tile; however, there is still quite a bit of variation from batch to batch. I actually wanted more veining.

I used beveled calacatta oro bricks around my tub surround and they look very much like your floor tile...a lot of heavy veining and a lot of grey...and it's my favorite part of my bathroom...even though I initially thought I made a mistake. The tile is lined with a pencil liner that has a much softer look (like the floor tile).

I used 2 X 4 calacatta oro tile for the vanity backsplash and they are totally more "busy" than the slab and it still looks good (at least I think it does). Oh, and again, I used the pencil liner that is a softer look.

I originally asked if I could hand pick the pieces I liked, but my tile person talked me out of it (although I did make them take one floor tile out that I just hated).

So, my point is that once it's all in...it just all flows even though every piece is different. That's the beauty of marble.

Calcutta, statuary, and carrara are very much alike. Matter of fact, in my own bathroom years ago, I ran short 3 pieces of statuary, and rather than buy another box, I used 3 pieces of carrara, and they didn't even stand out as different in any way. I bring this up, because all three also have one other characteristic-- all three can change drastically from box to box. One can be stark white with strong grey veining, as seen in the openned styrofoam case, while another could have softer veining as seen in those with the sample tile. Still others could be more greyish in back ground, with more of a "mottling", rather than any distinct veining at all. These three, for that reason, are very difficult to work with.

Lovely marble and the veining definitely does not look too busy.

I'm so envious of anyone who's getting marble with veins! We're paying significantly more for our tile order with Artistic Tile than if we went with the local vendor, but Artistic sold us on their grading system and how you can pick exactly how much veining you want in your pieces and they'll find a lot with your specs. We signed an order for the most veined Calacutta Gold they carry, and the sample from the lot has very faint gray veining with no gold at all. It does not look like Carrera but it certainly isn't identifiable as Calacutta Gold! They have only one other lot on site that is large enough for our order and we're waiting for samples from that today. Fingers crossed that it is as lovely as your pieces!

Thank you for all the responses, I feel so much better! I wasn't sure if the floor would end up looking too busy. Our vanity will be stained a medium brown, so perhaps it makes it a unique focal point and therefore the marble on the counter is okay if it's softer than the tile on the floors.

The people we bought the tiles from actually sorted our floor tiles from the lot, to keep them as consistent to each other as possible. They had shown me other lots of Calacatta and they varied just as Bill and others had described. They had one lot with the softer veining, but unfortunately didn't have enough for our master bathroom.

Marlene - I love your bathroom and you have a beautiful, peaceful marble on your counter, so I'm happy to know that you also like the busier veining on some of your tiles.

Zeebee - please post pics when you get your samples. I'd love to see them!! I'm so happy that we've been able to incorporate Calacatta in our home as I've loved seeing it in others' kitchens. I'm super happy with our Bianco Antico kitchen counters, but Calacatta had an allure that I just could not ignore.

Here is the layout of our master bath. The 18x18 Calacatta floor tiles will be on the floor, while the 5/8x5/8 mosaics will border an area on the floor, and go on the shower floor. The bathroom walls will have a half wall of subway tile, and the subway tiles are carried over into the shower walls and ceiling. The slab of course, will go on the vanity counter, as well as the marble jambs and thresholds.

Hi redroze! I'm wondering if you have finished your bathroom and whether you have any pictures of your completed bathroom? I'm in the middle of renovating my master bath, and my vanity slab is very similar to yours. I'm thinking of doing similar tiles on the floor, and I'm wondering how yours turned out. Could you post some completed pictures or perhaps e-mail them to me?

Thanks,
Rick