My Ex-housekeeper....used vinegar on my dark rust marble floors and it etched lines and spot all over. I had a pro come in and try to buff it out but it didn't work. I have several marble floors and I use Windex without vinegar dilluted in a bucket of warm water. Thats my 2c worth. Nancy

Nina, Did you pick out your tile yet? Here is my 2c from personally installing Travertine, Slate and Porcelain tiles. Travertine and Slate floors and Porcelain shower walls. I LOVE natural stone My thoughts on Natural Stone Tile Travertine, Slate etc and Porcelain faux stone tile. Natural stone looks and feels awesome, will add a huge value $$$ to your homeÂnatural stone tile is timeless. I am huge fan of slate. Natural stone tile is slightly more expensive than Porcelain. It can crack during installation if you are rough on it when setting or need to pull it up bc it sits higher or lower than a surrounding tile(you goofed when toweling on the thin set)Âusually only a factor on large tiles 16' or 18' etc. You should reseal natural stone once a year to keep it looking brand new. You should reseal the grout once a year too. Travertine is typically pretty flat on the underside which helps setting in the thin set. If you are doing large tiles 16' or 18' make sure your substrate is dead flat (not necessarily level flat)Âlarge tiles are not very forgiving. If you go with small tiles (6x6 or less) they are more forgiving on less than dead flat substrate. I usually recommend Travertine for a newbie if they want natural and large tiles. Slate on the other hand is not very flat on the undersideÂwhich makes setting the tiles a little more 'fun'. You should lay out all of your slate tiles on the garage floor ,draw an outline of the bathroom on the garage floor. You want to strategically place tiles for color as well as matching up surrounding tiles for thicknessÂevery slate tile varies in color and thicknessÂmost might be fairly close in thickness but there will be some tiles that will be the extremes (thicker or thinner) . Therefore you need to either match them up naturally OR chip away at top or bottom to make them match. Practice on a broken piece before you do this on a good piece and take into consideration which surface you should chip away. This pre matching will prevent 'surprises' when you start to set the tiles. Ânumber or mark all of the tiles so you know what goes where. Slate will break if it gets too thin, be careful with pieces that you cut to fit around the toilet drain fitting. If you make the perfect piece for around the toilet sewer drain and it has a thin finger that breaks before you are ready to set itÂuse clear 5 min EpoxyÂthe joint most likely will be covered by the toilet anyway Âif the glue joint is not covered by the toilet do a nice job and the glue joint will not even show. OR cut out a whole new pieceÂ! One more thing about natural stone tiles on a bathroom floorÂyou may run into a situation where the tiles sit higher than the toilet sewer flange Âmaybe as much as 3/8'Âthere are two methods to deal with this. First is the one I always do buy two wax seal rings and put them on top of each otherÂyou only get one chance to set it down perfectÂhave a helper spot and guide the toilet to the flange bolts. Second is buy a flange extender to make up difference in heightÂ.itÂs your choice. Porcelain tiles are relatively inexpensiveÂand can be found in virtually any finish you desire, faux natural stone to brilliant smooth shiny white. Some porcelain faux stone tiles are very convincingÂand some are not. They are bomb proof during installationÂthey can be man handled without fear of cracking or breaking. They are dead flat and thin. These two features make them highly tolerant of less than dead flat substrates. Since you know the tiles are EXACTLY the same all you need to worry about is more or less thin set to deal with a less than perfect substrate. With natural tiles you need to be concerned with the variance between tiles AND a less than perfect substrate. Porcelain tile will require less maintenance bc the surface is of course man made and a glazed which makes the surface impervious to water, chemicals etcÂthis makes it easier to clean since the surface is not porous. Well, that is maybe more info than you bargained for. Hope it helps. Bathroom Daddy

I can't tell how true the colors in the photos are -- they look pretty dark. I'd look for a medium gray (warm, not cold) or tan tile that matches a tone in the slate -- there are a zillion cement-look tiles that might do the trick, say -- and use that on the floor and around your tub. You haven't said what color your vanity is, so it's hard to suggest a counter, but again, you might look for a stone that coordinates with tones from your slate while giving sufficient contrast with the vanity (that is, a mix of grays and browns with a cream or white vanity, maybe more toward cream with a darker wood vanity)... Should be possible to make it all look intentional. Maybe you can find a small slate accent tile to put at the top of your tiling near the tub to help tie things together (or maybe as a backsplash for the vanity, depending). Here are a smattering of photos that might help you think:

I got the cabinets through Home Depot (20% off) they are not higher end but they have held up extremely well and we’ve been happy with them. I don’t remember the brand, but the color is cognac on maple. They’re standard kitchen cabinets. We got 2 regular drawer banks, 1 extra wide drawer bank, 2 sink cabinets and the closet you can see in the picture for about 1800 w/the discount. We bumped the shower wall 6 inches into the bedroom to make the shower bigger, pulled the cabinets out from the wall a couple of inches to provide more counter top. And curved the edge the counter for interest. Just for fun, this is what we had to start with. The tub was rusted and there were two doors, 1 from the hall & 1 from the master bedroom, we closed up the hall door. I think we got our moneys worth. LOL As for the labor, I found my Contractor through a plumber I had hired to put in a kitchen faucet. I asked if he had someone good he could refer and he referred Matt to me. Matt had his own company but just him and his guys. All of his work was by word of mouth, he didn’t advertise or push for business, he didn’t need to. I think I got fair pricing from him because he didn’t have the overhead a lot of the larger companies might have. He wasn’t the least expensive and he wasn’t the most expensive. Finding someone who was willing to work on our schedule and not having to have it done ASAP is what really helped me to be able to keep our costs at a minium for both labor and materials.