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how would white subway tile + an accent line of iridescent mosaic

15 years ago

In our shower we're going to do white subways with light gray grout. Would it be too weird to add a 6" row of iridescent white glass mosaic tiles at about eye level? Obviously this wouldn't be a period look (our house was built in 1969, not 1920) Or would it be too jarring? The rest of the bathroom will be kind of Pottery Barn looking (espresso vanity with carera marble top, white toilet, light fixtures from Restoration Hardware).

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Comments (5)

pepperidge_farm
15 years ago
Actually, it sounds very nice- just to keep in mind how many different elements of material you will be using- marble top, white tile, glass tile, what will be the floor be? Just remember to make sure you tie it all together with texture, color, material, etc.,.
november
Original Author
15 years ago
that's a good point. maybe instead of a band of glass tiles, I could do carrera mosaic tile to match the countertop and floor... or those tiny marble subways, if I can find them somewhere. I crave those...
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mycatz-- We bought a wet saw. I just taught myself how. I have already done 3000 sq. ft of hardwoods and plenty of finish work on this house so figured I can do tile as well. Its a long story but we have an absentee builder and a bank who says we must finish, even though they chose our builder. I have learned a great many things from doing all this and feel I could tackle just about anything. Oh and yes you may have to put in extensions,we had to anyway as we have extensive beadboard and need extensions for that as well. Here is some of what I have been working on. Cabs will be white, haven't decided if I am going with lt grey or white grout yet.
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Flo, thanks so much. I just got home from the tile shop. I like the basket weave with the black dot (not the dark grey I was considering) and the guy I’ve been working with at the shop suggested just buying field tile that matches the dot and use that as the liner on the rug (cut into 1/2” strips). His thought on the wall is to either use that same liner, to match the dot, or skip it. I’m leaning towards skipping it and letting the floor be the focal point. Do you still think this a tough tiling job? Is it the basket weave or herringbone subway or ...all of it together?. I imagined that the wainscoting would be easy. To answer your question, no I don’t dye my hair at home, but thanks for the heads up.
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caligirl_cottage
15 years ago
I'm actually looking at doing the white subway with carrera mosaic or carrera mini-subways. I found some locally that aren't too bad ($10 a foot) and since it's a 6" wide band, you don't need that much.
fluke67
15 years ago
I'm thinking of doing the same thing. I saw some bisazza mosaic blends at Home Depot (yep!) that looked fantastic with carrara (the mix was white/grey with a few iridescent tiles included) and it wasn't too pricey ($7.92/sq ft). the blend was "roma plus" - I couldn't find that blend on the bisazza website, but HD lady said many mfgs. have special products just for HD.

I was also thinking of doing something similar - using the bisazzas on one accent wall, and running a strip of bisazzas around the rest of the room.

I'd pay special attention to the undertone of the subways and mosaics & make sure they're ok with the carrara. whites can be really tricky. when next to stark white, the bisazzas had a grey-ish cast, which looked great with carrara and the almost black vanity. don't know what brand of subway tile you're looking at, but i believe the various dal whites have slightly different tones.

also, the glass mosaics tend to be thinner than regular tiles, so be sure to take that into consideration during the install. I've seen the mosaic bands set between pencil liners, and that looked good.
evilbunnie
15 years ago
I did a similar thing in my old bath, which was granite tiles with a strip of tumbled marble 2x2's pretty high up. We always got great compliments, and I liked the contrast between the polished granite and the earthy tumbled tiles. At the risk of sounding obvious, any small mosaic on a mesh backing can be cut into strips, and this ends up being a really reasonable trim method. Tilepost.com has tumbled carrara mini-brick for 14/sf, and you could get multiple linear feet out of each square. As for the pencil molding, check out the tilepost.com site (under 'specials') as they are having a 6.99/ft special on that. We're using an ann sacks 'adiago' mini-brick as an accent stripe just under the chair rail. I love that (expensive) stuff.

Here is a link that might be useful: tilepost.com

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