Here's a crappy mockup of what I was thinking above with the 80" vanity and 24" cabinet.

You could also consider doing two separate vanities.

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Someone here just did an awesome and gorgeous master bath renovation. I'm going to try to find it and post a link to it for you.

Found it:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3552262/diy-bathroom-reno-finally-complete-before-and-after-pics?n=43

So, the question is whether to use the same gray tile on the floor and then in the shower for the walls.

The tiles you picked seem large and more appropriate for a floor. If you want this look, I would go with a smaller tile that could work in both areas.

It's a nice size room. You can get away with a few different coordinating tiles.

Personally I would go with something like the floor in that last pic for the shower. When we redid our tub surround, we used off white tiles but put in a strip of small, square glass tiles. That stuff is so pretty, but kinda expensive so using it as an accent adds a bit of interest to your shower surround. There are also patterned ceramic tiles that also make great accents. Easy to install with big style impact.

localeater, one issue is that we currently have 1 sink - with a dual vanity we can just fork the pipes and hook up 2 sinks, whereas separate sinks will mean new plumbing and more expense. Also since the room has no natural light but what comes in from the bedroom, I like the one long mirror to make the room seem brighter, and I think 2 vanities would chop things up, though I will consider it. I also don't want to clean around/between furniture style vanities and would likely have a toekick made for anything that doesn't have one. We have a furniture style vanity in the powder room and it looks good there but it is a real pain to clean around and that's without so much moisture from showers and more of my long hair, and bath towel lint.

I'm also considering making a custom setup from Ikea cabinets since we are using them for the kitchen, but it would be a lot more expensive in materials and time/fabrication of counter/installation.

tibbrix, I have that thread bookmarked - pretty bathroom even if a bit more traditional/vintage than ours (our condo is sort of 80's contemporary) it looks like a very expensive reno, though!

l pinkmountain, are you saying you do like that tile I posted for the floor and shower? If the pan is white there would be a break between them and I tend to prefer fewer patterns and colors in a room. I would most likely put in a vertical strip of some kind of understated accent tile, silvery or darker grey maybe. But I was thinking of using it for the majority of the shower walls as well as the floor.

ellendi6161, the tiles are 12x24" and I have seen photos of them used on shower walls - just that the photos don't show much of the room in context. I don't want it to look too dark, but I don't have a sample of the tile yet. ere is a reviewer's photo of the Home Depot similar tile (half the price) on shower wall combined with what looks like difficult to clean stone:

http://homedepot.ugc.bazaarvoice.com/1999aa/697567/photo.jpg?client=HomeDepot

In the Q&A a HD rep says the tile is not suitable for showers - how could that be? I didn't think there is special ceramic tile for a shower?

For what it's worth, we used the same 12" x 24" tiles on the floor and walls of our shower, as well as on the floor of the bathroom itself:

Same tile on floor outside shower; the lighting makes it look different:

The 12x24 size could definitely work on your shower walls. My daughters bathroom is much smaller than yours and she used 12x24 in her tub surround and 24x24 of the same tile on her floor. Here's how it looks in her space

Here is an example I found on the web of a 6x24 tile size.

Maybe The Tile Shop could order that color for you. It would still give you the grey tones but not be as dark as the anthracite and it would not be as brown as the taupe color that they also have.

badgergal, thanks - I like that color too! I will have to see what we're doing for countertops but I like the warm grey color you found. Unfortunately there is no tile ship nearby and I just found out to have a single sample sent would be $58! I think I'll have to shop locally, but at least I know what kind of thing I am looking for. I think I will go with 12x24 on floor and shower walls, and I'll put some kind of accent tile in the shower vertically, too. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by the choices but I just have to remind myself any of it is going to look better than what we have!

It is so worth it to seek out a tile shop, even if you have to drive some. We have to drive sometimes an hour or more where I live to visit a decent show room.

What is the size of your shower? I think I'd let that dictate the size of the tiles to some degree. You can always run the floor tiles you're working with vertically and run a 4-5 inch border horizontally to break up the lines. I'm not a fan of all big vertical elements in a small shower, but you might like it. Just allow for a couple of good-sized niches for large shampoo bottles and other stuff in your planning, and use a smaller size tile if you can behind to keep it from looking too busy.

I haven't read all the replies, so if this has already been discussed, I apologize in advance but I would not install Ikea cabinets in a bathroom. They're mostly particle board which may not hold up to the humidity and moisture. Our bathroom was much like yours when we redid it a couple of years ago, even our cabinets were similar in length and look. What we eventually ended up doing was buying several pieces through the Home Depot kitchen department. All of the cabinet companies carry bathroom lines too and the bonus with that is you have more options to customize the look and function to meet your needs. Pricing varies and usually one brand or another are always on sale. We got 2 sink cabinets, 3 drawer banks and a large floor to ceiling cabinet with a 20% discount and the designer helped us design the set up so it would fit perfect. We've been very happy with the way it turned out. Our style is rustic and we used slate for the tile so the look is different from what you're after, but for a visual, here's a good shot of the cabinets we got and if you want white, it's available too.

Sorry, I forgot to add that If you find a tile that you like but feel it's too large for the shower, it may be available in different sizes or maybe you can have the installer cut the larger tiles into smaller sizes. For example a large rectangle can be cut into 3 pieces to make smaller rectangles; or in half to make 2 squares. The tiler may charge you a bit for it, but you won't be buying as much tile either so it will come out to about the same in costs.

OutsidePlaying, the shower will replace the tub so it will be 60" wide by 32" deep rough in size.

lukkiirish, Ikea cabinets are MDF which is a really robust material, and pretty much all cabinets are made of some type of particle board or MDF, and they will withstand humidity - not standing water of course but no cabinets do well with standing water. Anything I'd buy at HD or Overstock is MDF or particle board. Our existing 35 year old vanities are the really bad particle board (not even the better quality Ikea MDF) and they are still in good shape - just ugly and not good use of space. I actually considered just replacing the drawer and cabinet fronts but they are nonstandard sizes, and removing/replacing the counter will probably ruin them anyway.

lukkiirish, thanks for the tip on having them cut - so the sharper edges (non beveled) would not look strange? I don't think the size would be an issue, it's more the color and uniformity of the look, whether it would be attractive. I'm thinking maybe we will want a lighter color on the shower walls though.

Tmnca, your referring to prefab cabinets and yes those are particle board or mdf, the cabinets I'm referring to are wood, semi custom or custom made. I guess we have differing opinions on MDF and particle board, as it's really not something I would want to invest in for a remodel. Even if it doesn't swell, that doesn't mean the veneers won't bubble or peel or that they will hold up well over time. I researched cabinets for months before deciding to go with something semi custom; in my opinion, the prefab products on the market today are not made to last and spending the extra money made good sense over the long term.

In regards to the tile, if it's beveled obviously, the suggestion I offered wouldn't work, but if you find tile that isn't beveled and they don't have a size you want, then having it custom cut on site may be doable alternative. It was suggested to us by the contractor we had when we did our bathroom.

My master bath in the addition for my 1939 house:

Floor - porcelain 6x24" tile laid in herringbone in a very soft, light grey.

Shower - Carrara marble subway (sealed twice before grouting) and there's a small 2x2 porcelain in soft grey for the floor.

I bought a white demilune vanity with marble top.

I doubt it will be finished before you make decisions, but all the tile is laid and the soft grey works well. Right now, my walls are a warm white and I'll decide later if I want to introduce color. My carpenter is installing picture frame molding on the walls.

dyhgarden sounds beautiful! Where did you get your tile and what brand/model is it? Soft light grey would be great. We're going to stick to porcelain though no stone in the shower.

lukkiirish, this is an entry level price condo and we don't want to over-improve the property. The remodel is for us, to enjoy while we live here an undetermined length of time but likely not more than 5-10 years. We don't expect it to be an investment as remodels are not good investments anyway (no one is going to pay extra for our home if we have real wood cabinets vs MDF I guarantee you), and the value of our property is pretty much maxed out - very expensive market yet in a neighborhood surrounded by rental apartments. We're going from 1980 condo builder cheapo to a little nicer, that's it. Custom or semi-custom materials are not in the budget.

dyhgarden, I am so sorry for your loss. Certainly a daily reminder would be too painful :(

Your bathroom is beautiful - we will be on a smaller budget and no beautiful window, but the colors and textures are great inspiration.

I haven't read through the threads, and I'm not going to discuss cabinets etc because you've gotten excellent advice. One thing to note is because you don't have any natural light in the bathroom, do not pick a white or gray color for the walls as it will just look more gray. If you can pick a color and one that is darker and/or brighter than you would imagine. I believe the color expert Maria Killiam is the one who first explained why.

Because of her, I wound up painting my interior guest bathroom a deep red, and it glows. (I'm not saying to use red, but just not white, tan, beige or gray. Here's mine to give you an idea. Not all the lights are turned on and this was before LED lighting.

cpartist, your red is pretty! I like the warm grey we have now though - revere pewter - it looks nice with no natural night.. soothing and a bit silvery but spa-like. So We're not intending to change the wall color. We will change the light fixture, though.