LOL mn I thought that was your bathroom :) It's gorgeous! This is a roughout of my vanity areas. I'm thinking of putting marble inside the framed in area behind my sink (bigger vanity) and taking it to the top cabinet in DH's vanity as well. Actually his would go a bit behind his cabinet even because we have a funky wall there that sticks out 1 1/4 inch for the top 9 inches (kind of a soffit type thing). I was going to hide it with cabinet..but I'm thinking marble going up behind the cabinet would look great as well. Then I'd have to think about what to do on his left hand side which is a wall..perhaps a little backsplash with a bit of curving to match the oge edge on the counters... I'd have to hang the mirrors from the marble... I think I have to go home and measure it all out. I called the marble folks and they will hold a second slab for me so I can decide when I get home (DS is going to the hospital in Seattle for a week). By the way...the croc comes in black, brown and a gorgeous ivory...and it was cheap really (ok relatively considering every thing else I purchased LOL) $12.50 sq ft with shipping (which is quite high here).

Thanks, Bill! Yep, I'm so excited to see it come together...I absolutely love the glass mosaic tiles, and the reason I chose the crema marfil tiles was because they blended nicely in the background and didn't try to steal the show. Hence, the slabs should also be "in the background" so crema marfil it is. Hopefully I'll be able to post pics of the slabs installed by the end of next week!

RemodelFla, my kitchen designer suggests first checking with your contractor or designer if you're using one and see if they can get a sample for you to have or borrow. If that doesn't work, go to the Jeffrey Court web site and locate the nearest Jeffrey Court dealer to you. I don't know where in FL you are but I plugged in an Orlando zip code and got two hits: TRINITY DESIGN CTR-WINTER PK 976 N. ORANGE AVE WINTER PARK, FL 32789 Montage Dealer phone: (407) 6297447 TRINITY TILE GRP - ORLANDO 4337 DARDANELLE DRIV ORLANDO, FL 32808 Montage Dealer phone: (407) 5216655 If you're still having trouble getting a sample, let me know, my designer can get one for you but would charge the per sq. ft. cost of the tile plus shipping. Jodi-

Nancy, I think our tile is pretty crumbly, too. There's a fine powder all over whatever surface I put them on, and the back of the tile is really irregular. It makes me wonder how they get the front of the pieces so smooth, without the indentations that the back has. Do they cut the pieces thicker than needed and then somehow grind it down to a smooth surface? Or maybe they fill the front side with something. It's really a remarkable difference between front and back? I really like the look of the marble, but I've tried to find something else that would be easier for DH to work with. However, he says he thinks he will like working with it, I think mostly because he took one tile out in the garage and was happy to find that he could easily polish the sides of the tile pieces so that they would look more finished at the end of the counter run, where the one side is exposed. It sounds like, despite the challenges, you're happy with your choice of backsplash, correct? Anna, Thanks for the link to your kitchen---it's lovely. You really achieved a remarkable transformation, and I do like how your backsplash works with it all. I really like the larger size---what size are they? They look like they're maybe 4x8? We'd like larger, but so far we've only found the subway size at Home Depot that is affordable. Was you tile also a bit crumbly and uneven on the back side? Where did you get yours? Thank you, too, for the information about sealing. It makes sense, now that I think about it, that it would be important to seal before grouting. So you put the tile on the wall, let it dry, then seal, let that dry, then grout, then seal again? Do you use the sealer on the grout, too, not just the marble? We have always sealed our grout, but it would be nice to just use one product that would cover everything. The decision to use the Crema Marfil is not 100% certain, because the granite hasn't been installed yet. We don't want to make the final decision until we have the entire slab installed and we can look at our samples with the installed countertop. However, it was the first thing I found that I liked, remains my favorite, and it's the one DH prefers at this time; so likely we will go ahead with it. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences. It's so helpful. Edited to Add: Oops, Anna, I went back and looked at your lovely photos again and noted that in your summary you said that your tiles were 3x6. Guess I didn't read carefully the first time through. This post was edited by sail-away on Wed, Mar 13, 13 at 16:38