Personally I think I mini backsplash over a pedestal sink would look strange. The only way I think it would work would be in the case of tile, where you did it around the room as a wainscotting kind of application, which then went a little higher than the sink to act as a backsplash. Just my opinion though. I say do what you like! You're the only one who needs to love it.

We used quite a bit of the grecian marble (incorrectly spelled greecian on the Home Depot website if you are searching for it). We used 12x12s that we cut into 6x12 bricks, 3x6 that we used in one bath as a herringbone pattern and one bath installed in a subway pattern, 6x6, chair rail and the 1x1 hex on the floor. In one shower we installed the Homedepot river rock/pebble mesh mosaic on the floor. We installed the tile in Feb/March so its been up for almost a year and it looks great. There is, however, a great variation in color. It is not a pure white. Some tiles are almost all gray and some have quite a bit of brown in them. Our installer was fantastic at pulling the out and arranging them so that the colors are scattered. We like the color disparity and movement but that's personal preference. Just don't expect a pure white. We did find several boxes that contained noticably thinner tiles (mostly with the 3x6 tiles). We simply packed these back up (save the little boxes it comes in)and returned them to Home Depot. This is a stocked item at our HD so it was easy to get if we needed more and easy to return. The hex mosaic tile was an online only item and we had a HUGE problem getting it delivered. It was through a freight company and they kept promising it and it wouldn't arrive. This could be just an issue in our area (Cincinnati) but it held us up for about a week. (It arrived two weeks later than promised). If I can figure out how I will post pictures as I think the bathrooms turned out great! No extra maintenance. Just sealed it. We were cautioned by the installer about rust which is impossible to remove from marble (often things like shaving cream cans are still metal and can rust). I'm sure newhomeowner is finished with the project but thought I'd throw in my 2 cents for anyone considering the grecian marble.

Very do-able, and if I were doing subways [I'm not], I'd definetly go with a herringbone. I 'get' the running bond look, but I've seen it so much lately it doesn't have much impact anymore. But combining with the tin could be a little tough: tin tiles [I assume we are talking about the embossed ceiling tiles] are generally too large and the wrong size to integrate easily. So I'd do the herringbone with no accent all around the room, then switch to a more 'picture frame' look with subways, chair rail and mitered corners over the range. I'd choose the tin tile [or tiles or medallion] now, and have it glued to a flame proof MDF for mounting. Then I'd screw [using the pattern of the tile to camoflauge the screw heads] the assembly to the wall and have the tile laid to fit around it exactly. This will give you the option of unscrewing the tin tiles at some point down the road and replaceing it with a mosaic or other accent piece without disturbing the subway frame. Since the tin could be painted, you could change it to match your accent color as often as you please. If you wanted to get *really whacky*, you could even buy enough tin now for several different centers, paint/finish them differently, and change them out with the seasons. But choose the tin carefully: it needs to be interesting, but not so textured as to catch grease, and rigid enough to take a good scrubbing without squishing.

Frankly, I like what they have proposed better than the original plan (assuming I understood it right...you wanted the curved end only on the short sidesplash and a straight end on the backsplash?) I think it looks symmetrical this way, as it's the open ends that have the curved piece...not one open end and one that deadends into the wall. So, if it were me...I'd take the credit (I assume you mean a discounted price...not a credit towards something else, which possibly you don't want or need?) and feel good about it. But, as they say, advice is only worth what you pay for it!