I'm zero help...but...isn't it funny how if it was someone else asking the questions you'd know exactly what should be done...when it's our own room nothing makes sense. :)

Yes, another Lisa Reno! Fun, fun!

I love your inspiration shower you posted that hubby liked. So if that's the floor tile on the walls, I don't think it looks too busy at all. It's beautiful. I like it way better then the plainer tile (that was on the floor in the other photo)

I think the accent band looks great in the photo as well. And the light from the skylight will be awesome hitting that ocean accent tile. It is gorgeous. In fact, I may have to copy this bathroom for my master. I love all your choices.

I have small 2" square tiles on the floor of my other shower and I don't like the feel of it on my feet. Yeah, I'm just weird so it might not bother anyone else. :-) Plus who wants more grout to clean? Not me! I would do a solid surface in a heart beat.

I do not love the floor tile on the shower walls. Pattern on the wall in a small space makes me claustrophic, but I think that might be my own quirk. I'd prefer your original choice for the shower walls or a tile similar to your counter tops.

I've had some tile shower floors installed wrong and others installed right. Seems fine when it's installed right. I don't know about potential shower pan pros or cons -- I have only had tub/showers or showers with tile floors.

If you had a relatively dark grout on the floor so cleaning wasn't a fuss, I think that tile on the floor could be fine.

Have you considered doing the accent tile on the shower floor instead so you can do dark grout on the floor? Is your shelf the same thing as a cubby for shampoo and such? If so, the accent tile in the cubby and on the floors would be nice with the quieter wall tiles. Not boring, but not overwhelming.

I love your bathroom floor choice but I have to say I dislike tile in the shower, especially small tile. All the soap scum that gets caught in the grout lines drives me nutty (please note that we use the natural homemade type of soap so ymmv), so once a week I sit down and scrub my heart out on the shower floor. Would not do it again.

People in the bath forum love Kohler cast iron shower pans, but they come in standard sizes. I think that's what we'll do as I've been reading in Baths for a few years now and the tile horror stories have me...well...horrified.

What is that to the right of the vanity? I would use fewer rows of the accent tile and sandwich it between field tile as the backsplash for the vanity and tub. It's my favorite way to use a mosaic and looks more custom than the thick band of mosaic that sits directly on the counter and tub deck.

New Construction Family Home · More Info

...isn't it funny how if it was someone else asking the questions you'd
know exactly what should be done...when it's our own room nothing makes
sense. :)

So true, weezel! It's the same with garden design for me. I'll waffle and waffle and waffle about plant choice and placement in my own garden but know exactly what someone else should do. At least I know that if I don't like where I put a plant, I can always move it. Not so easy to do with home design. =)

...another Lisa Reno! Fun, fun !... I have small 2" square tiles on the floor of my other shower and I don't like the feel of it on my feet.

hahahaha, that's not quite how I'm feeling today, Rebunky!

And yes, that's exactly what I think my reaction will be! I have vertigo (I call it my IBD, Inner Blonde Disease =) ) and when I'm having a bad spell, I feel slight elevation differences as if they're big elevation differences. It's frustrating but not terminal so I should quit complaining already. =)

Thanks for the feedback and compliments. I love the wall tile we chose with the floor tile but don't love it as much with a solid color shower base. I don't like fussy/busy but I also don't want it to be too plain either.

Pattern on the wall in a small space makes me claustrophic, but I think that might be my own quirk.

I don't have claustrophobia problems, Jillius, thank goodness for that because I have enough other hang-ups of my own. I do prefer to not go overboard with pattern, though, because of my vertigo. I never know what will set off my symptoms. I like tone on tone texture for that reason. It gives interest without being too busy for me. But I'm not sure how I'll feel about a lot of texture under foot so as beautiful as I think a shower floor of the glass mosaic would look (great suggestion, thanks), I don't think that it's right for us. Plus, it would quadruple the amount of grout going from 2" x 2" tiles to 5/8" x 5/8" tiles. Even dark grout needs to be cleaned. Sure wish I could uncover my Inner Monica (are you a Friends fan?), then this wouldn't be an issue.

The shelf is going to be whatever the main wall tile is. Ditto for the soap and shampoo niche. We're not big fans of putting accent tile in niches since most of the tile gets covered up by not-so-pretty stuff.

I like your idea of finding a wall tile similar to the counter. I'm headed back out to the tile stores this week to see what I can find.

I love your bathroom floor choice but I have to say I dislike tile in
the shower, especially small tile ... once a week I sit down and scrub my
heart out on the shower floor. Would not do it again.

You've stated exactly what we want to avoid, guco. We keep talking about hiring a housekeeper to come in at least every other week but so far haven't done anything but talk. I feel kinda guilty since I'm home but on the other hand, I have limited energy and I'd rather not spend it cleaning my house.

People in the bath forum love Kohler cast iron shower pans, but they come in standard sizes.

You hit the nail on the head, mayflowers. The other issue is that we don't want the curb to run the whole length; our plan is to have the door bookended by 2 42" tall walls. Here's our lay-out so you can see what I'm talking about.

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The other downside (read that you've hit this same roadblock, too) is that our shower is just a hair too short and too narrow for stock sizes. That said, we could do a 36" by 36" square. We'd end up with a slightly deeper shelf but we'd still have more foot room than we currently do in our pre-fab fiberglass shower with corner bench. But that doesn't solve the custom threshold issue.

Our initial plan for around the tub was to sandwich the accent tile with field tile but because our accent tile is quite a bit darker than either the floor or shower wall tile, it would end up looking far more stripe-y than the pic you posted and far more stripe-y than I prefer.

I also looked at doing a shorter band of accent tile but I like the visual of ending the tile at the bottom of the window trim. It would be cleaner not to have a narrow band of painted wall between tile and window trim.

Maybe we should go back to including another tile we initially selected, a glazed tile from Sonoma, Stellar series in Aquarius. Then I'd get my tone on tone texture. Here's a pic of that tile with my other choices (center tile, the other block of blue, next to the drapes, is the wall color).

I like how they did the field and accent tile in this shower: large tiles on the lower half with smaller tiles above. I like that they painted the ceiling to blend with the tile. That will be trickier for us, though, since we have a skylight. Then again, it needs to be re-painted anyway....

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Hmmm, now you've got me thinking! What about a solid surface shower pan with 5 rows of 20 x 24 Century Darwin Floreana, laid horizontally, staggered seams, with rows of 4 x 8 Sonoma Stellar Aquarius to the ceiling? Then I'd use more of the glazed tile around the top with an accent stripe of the glass mosaic?

btw, the tiles are "floor" or "wall" tiles. They can be used in either application.

Our GC is helping me figure out the shower pan question. Hopefully, we'll have answers soon. We were supposed to start the remodel today but DH and I put the project on hold while we figured out a few things, including the shower pan and tile choices.

Thank you, everyone! I really appreciate your feedback and advice.

That's a lot to digest! I find selecting bath finishes so much harder than the kitchen finishes, which is why we ditched our remodel last winter after weeks of research and shopping. Now we're only doing the shower and probably using a larger format white or cream ceramic with an accent. Vanity and floor will be next year. Small bites.

Hmmm, now you've got me thinking! What about a solid surface shower pan with 5 rows of 20 x 24 Century Darwin Floreana, laid horizontally, staggered seams, with rows of 4 x 8 Sonoma Stellar Aquarius to the ceiling? Then I'd use more of the glazed tile around the top with an accent stripe of the glass mosaic?

I've seen a few recommendations for Corian shower pans. They come in a lot of colors, though I'm happy with white. They're easy to clean and they can be refinished/sanded just like their counters I presume. But I also read they're very expensive.

Okay, I'm going to get lost here. The floor is 13 x 13 of the Century. The shower is 5 horizontal rows of offset 20 x 24 Century.

Sonoma Stellar 4 x 8 in the light blue Aquarius up to the ceiling. I personally like to change the shape when I mix tiles. I kind of love the 3" square tiles. They might be fine in a small shower.

Then I'd use more of the glazed tile around the top with an accent stripe of the glass mosaic?

I'm lost by what you mean by the glazed tiles. Is that Aquarius? I also can't picture where the accent goes when you said you'd take the glazed tiles to the ceiling. But it seems busy to mix the accent stripe and the blue tiles. I wonder if a few rows of the mosaic accent could be centered in the field of blue, giving it that sandwich I mentioned in my first post.

I will say that I think bold accent stripes, especially thick bands of them, is overused. I'm glad the glass mosaics look softer in the photo you posted today, but is it the same tile? I like the addition of some clear or white glass to soften it and give the watery affect.

Who's doing your tiling? We had DeWolf do our kitchen floor but I'd like to get two bids on the shower. He is also a GC.

That's a lot to digest!

Yeah, I kinda wrote a book, didn't I? And yes, selecting bath finishes is many times harder than selecting kitchen finishes!

I haven't seen any pricing estimates for Corian pans but it wouldn't surprise me at all if they are expensive. Figures. We're already in cost cutting mode elsewhere (big time simplifying our cab plan for the laundry room). At least we chose very reasonably priced tiles for the floors and walls. The glass mosaic is more but considering what it is, it's actually reasonable. I've been told that the glazed tiles (the blue tiles in the pic above) are spendy but so far, no one's told me how much per sq ft.

Oops, I did confuse you, sorry.

Yes, the 13x13 Century is the floor and possibly the walls, using 5 horizontal rows of 10 x 20 (oops, typo above, sorry) of the same tile.

Above that would be the glazed tile, Sonoma Stellar. We wouldn't use the glass mosaic in the shower if we did that. I think that might be too much.

We would use the glazed tile and the glass mosaic tile around the tub. Not sure if we'll have room to also use it for the vanity backsplash (wasn't going very high, need room for mirrors). I'd really like to use the glazed tile. I've always been a sucker for glazed tile. Options are more limited than for glass tile, though.

I will say that I think bold accent stripes, especially thick bands of them, is overused.

I agree. I see that treatment used so often, especially using a mosaic tile, but I don't know what else to do other than that. I'm just not that creative when it comes to using tile.

I can't recall the name of the sub who does our tiling. It's whoever our GC uses. His name is Luis, wife is Shannon - I can tell you that much. Very nice and very good.

Gorgeous vanity! No wonder your DH fell hard for it.

When you say "large horizontal niches" do you mean this?

Family Home gets a Fresh Look · More Info

Aside from suffering from vertigo (have you tried the Epley Maneuver?) , I have a short attention span, and didn't get through the entire post, so I'll just speak to the floor. It seems most don't like tile in the shower. I am the opposite. I much prefer tile - especially on the floor. The grout gives you built in anti-slip, and I also prefer the look. I don't find the floor/grout tile hard to clean (or perhaps I just don't see it).

Good luck with your choices.

Thanks, Sherri!

I've tried the Epley Maneuver but, unfortunately, it was no help. I was diagnosed with Meniere's more than 5 yrs ago but recently, I was undiagnosed, based on test results review by a specialist, a new hearing test (excellent hearing, yay, me) and symptom review. I haven't a clue what's wrong with me (DH would say, I can tell you, lol!). I still have the same symptoms that prompted the Meniere's diagnosis but at least I'm no longer in danger of losing my hearing.

I wish I could find a local hotel that had tiled shower floors so I could stay a few nights and see what I thought. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill....

What type of grout do you have? I think my KD spec'd Laticrete, which is an epoxy grout. Don't know if that makes a difference.

We're using a grab bar for DH's vertigo, and I like how this is used under the horizontal niche. This bar is institutional-looking, but they make sleek chrome ones that look like towel bars.

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Here's how to use the mosaic with a lighter touch, like I mentioned before. Maybe the Aquarius could be used in the 2 x 6 or 2 x 8 for the first row of tile. There is a close-up of the BS but that photo is also crappy.

Master Bath · More Info

Here's a mosaic like yours where they used only about an inch of tile at the base. I love it. Can you run your mosaic straight across the wall above the tub? I like that idea better than it jogging down to the tub.

Larchmont waterfront 10 baths, gut restoration, kitchen, formal and casual space · More Info

I deleted photos that you've seen so they don't bog down your thread.

Lisa, what are you doing on page 3!!? Nobody puts Lisa on page 3! -- Patrick Swayze

I came across this while looking for my shower. I thought you could use a small square of Aquarius with a row of the glass mosaic above it, sandwiched between field tile. I think these are 2" squares, but 2 x 6 subway could work too. Then you would have some connection between the shower and tub rooms if you use the Aquarius in the shower. The Sonoma ceramic gives a small nod to your QS oak.

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the tiny tiles in your last pic would not be my choice. I don't like tiny tiles or lots of pattern on the floor - anywhere I'm walking. it bothers my eyes and can throw me off balance. I like very plain flooring. my shower floor/walls are a fiberglass surround deal. I love it. Easy to care for. the floor has some texturing, so not slippery.

on shower tiled walls I still like plain but do like a small amount of accent tile going around it - not midwall height tho, higher up a bit.

I'd go with what would give the least amount of grout. I think that is horrible stuff to clean.

We hired a contractor to do our bathroom, so I don't know what kind of grout was used. I'm sure you know the smaller tiles are used in the shower to facilitate the slope to the drain with minimal lippage. If you want larger tile (and I'm not sure you want tile at all!) you should consider [linear shower drains[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/linear-shower-drain-phbr0lbl-bl~l_37748).

I have this tile on the floor and in the shower but in the Seynor color palette. I actually held up the project for a month because I was worried about "too busy" After seeing some pics on Houzz. I weighed putting a solic tile on the shower floor but realized that what bothered me the most from the Houzz pics was all the 12x12 tile sameness. We like the visual cohesiveness of pattern "sameness"; I am glad we did not do a solid tile shower floor now. My worries about busy evaporated once the floors and the first row of shower wall tile went in.

What I would change is the paint color; I was in a time crunch and could not find a blue-grey that worked and the BM French White I tried had a reddish undertone that I did not like. Here are some quick pics I just took.

One more

Another

Sorry I haven't check in. Neighbor's 3 yr old daughter was hospitalized for pneumonia and I was helping out in any way I could. She's out and doing so much better, thank goodness! But now one of the twins is running a fever.... oy.

Lisa, what are you doing on page 3!!? Nobody puts Lisa on page 3! -- Patrick Swayze

LOL, mayflowers, you crack me up!

Thanks for the additional pics. I really like the long, horizontal niche and the horizontal grab bar below it.

The vanity backsplash will only be, at most, 5 5/8" high so there's really not enough room to add any glazed tile (Aquarius) below it, not without ending up with a really tiny row of mosaic tile. The mosaic's mix of colors makes it so easy to coordinate paint and drapes so I want more than a tiny strip of this tile.

I talked to my interior designer (ID) yesterday about the tub and vanity backsplash. We're going to add a quarter round of the Aquarius above the mosaic along the top and side edges in both locations to finish it off neatly.

We talked about running the tile in a line from vanity to tub to
window (it would dead end into the window) but we both decided that
would be waaay too much mosaic tile.

We then discussed using
Aquarius below the mosaic for the tub area but we'd still end up with the line of
tile getting interrupted by the window. With trim, the window is 5'7" across,
leaving only 8 1/2" of wall and tile on each side of the window. Plus there's the additional horizontal lines created by the cafe curtain, neither of which ends up on the same line as the top line of tile. It ends up ending slightly above (or was it below?) the bottom of the cafe curtain so it would look like we tried to get the 2 to line up and missed.

If I reduced the height of the tile around the tub to be the same as the height of the tile along the vanity, we'd end up with a tiny sliver of painted wall between tile and window trim. We both
thought that might look like we ran out of tile instead of an
intentional design choice.So right now, DH and I are strongly leaning towards what I drew up and posted above. I measured again and it will only be a total of 8" of tile between tub deck and window trim.

The Aquarius tile needs to be sealed to be used in a wet area so we're not going to use it in the shower. Pity, because it's gorgeous but I just don't want to mess with sealing it or worrying about it absorbing water.

Thanks, Desertsteph. It's good to hear the concern about how pattern can bother people because it can sometimes bother me. I was worried about that until I looked at my hutch backsplash again. It's really tiny tile, tone on tone pattern; I love it and it doesn't bother me. Whew!

I stopped at two bathroom showrooms today to stand on their tiled shower floors. Not helpful. The tiles were at least 4" squares and were either slate or tumbled travertine with wide, deep rows of grout. Ugh. That would drive me crazy! But that's not a good representation of what we'd end up. I'm going to ask our GC if we can visit a past client to see their shower.

I also stopped at a local Lowe's since they carry Onyx, a cultured shower product (base and walls). None of the colors worked with our tiles. They were either too yellow or too gray or too blah.

I'm starting to think that we may end up with a tiled floor because I'm having a hard time finding a color that coordinates well with our tiles, wall color and drapes. We're using an epoxy grout for the shower floor (and possibly the walls, can't recall) so that will help.

The plan is to use 2 x 2 tiles for the shower floor, Sherri. We would love to do a linear shower drain but we can't afford to add that to the budget. Although now that I think of it, I don't think our GC gave us a quote on that. Might be worth asking. Thanks for the reminder!

Very pretty, rantootoo! One of our schemes for the tile on the walls is very similar to what you did.

While I wait to talk to our GC and our KD, I played with tile patterns for the shower walls. So, here for your entertainment value is my latest Paint fun. These are for the long wall across from the shower door. 4' long, 8' ceiling.

There won't be any niches on the long wall in A, B or E. There will be a soap niche on one of the short walls (to the left in these images) and a shampoo niche inside one of the half walls (front right) so that most of our shower stuff will be hidden from view.

My ID suggested A. At first I wasn't keen on it but then I drew it up and found that I liked it a whole lot better than I thought I would. We'll have to plan carefully so that the bottom line of tile lines up well with the half walls. We'll also want to check whether the stripes are interrupted by shower head and controls.

B is the ribbon of mosaic coming down from the skylight. My ID said that she thought it might be too modern for our home but that was when I was planning to run the field tile vertically, too. I drew that up, too, but I much prefer it run horizontally.

C and D are MOL the same: mosaic tile inside a long niche. C has the field tile running horizontally. D has it running vertically. The only things that may end up inside this niche are soap and my razor. The rest of our shower stuff will be in the hidden niche on the opposite wall.

The downside of C and D is that we won't know if either is doable until the walls are opened up. I don't think there's anything running inside those walls but I don't know for sure.

E is the frequently done pattern of running a stripe of tile along the top 1/3 of a wall. I think it will run just under the shower head and above the control. I made the stripe fairly tall but it could made shorter.

btw, my ID said that she's used both the field and mosaic tiles in projects before. She said both are really beautiful installed, subtly patterned so easy on the eyes. She hasn't used our floor tile but I have seen it installed in 2 bathrooms on a remodeled home tour a few years ago. Loved it! It has more pattern than the wall tile but it's wasn't overwhelming at all.

Sheesh, I wrote another book!

What! Not on page 3 again. ;-)

I am looking at bathroom tile myself as dh is bugging me to decide how my half wall in shower will be and where any niches will go. To distract myself I played with your tile a little.

Would something like this work to connect the strip from the vanity to the bathtub? Then as it goes under the window, I think the small strip of wall color will look fine because is mimics the small strip under the two vanity mirrors. Or could you do a fatter trim under the window sill?

I just kept feeling like something was slightly bugging me with the mosaic stripe not being the same thickness and not connecting when that close together. If the shower was a little different that wouldn't bug me though. Go figure! Haha!

lol, rebunky!

I never thought about running the tile over the edge of the counter like that. Definitely worth considering, thanks!

Did I say on this thread or the one in the bathroom forum that I figured out that the tile will only be about 8 1/2" high. My elevation made it look much fatter than it will be. In fact, it's likely closer to what you did above.

I met with my GC yesterday and my KD today. They were both very productive meetings so I'm feeling a whole lot better about this project.

GC said, "yep, we can do the angled bench, no problem" which put the Kohler shower pan in the running. Yay! He also had great cost-saving ideas. Yay, yay!

When I met with my KD today, I reviewed everything with her, especially my concerns about a tiled shower floor. She said, "do the Kohler and the angled bench" without missing a beat and we headed off to a local showroom to look at color chips. Found a winner in no time: Sandbar is perfect! It's a wonderful color with my other choices but there's enough contrast that it's a great compliment, too. I'm a happy girl!

DH and I liked A and B the best of the tile patterns for the shower. GC said his favorite was B and that it would be a cheaper install. KD voted for B as well. So B it is!

On the bathroom forum thread, mayflowers voiced concern that the mosaic tile reads too brown in my photos. My sample doesn't look brown but I stopped at a local showroom and asked about it. Oh, yeah, there's a lot of variation and I could get a batch that has a lot more brown than blue. Not good. I want blues not browns and especially not a golden brown since that would look awful with our other choices.

So I stopped at a tile distributor to see what else I could find. I brought home 4 choices, 2 of which were discarded when I got them home in my light. One was neon bright in my light. Oops, not what I was going for. The other was wishy washy.

But I have 2 very good choices to replace the glass mosaic. I may need to swap out Aquarius glazed option for another in that line for the 1/4 round but that's not a big deal.

Choice #1 is Lunada Bay, Tozen series, in Iodine, in 2 finishes.

Here it is in silk (non-glossy).

We have a winner! Lunada Bay, Tozen series, in Iodine, silk. It looks great with our wall color, the drapes and our other choices. I am going to see if I check other color choices in the glazed tile to see if there's one that comes closer in color to the new tile.

Here's the shower wall. We're going with 1 x 1 tiles so they'll be smaller IRL than they appear in my elevation drawing.

Here's the new elevations for the vanity and tub area (I wrapped the tile around the corner, per your idea, Rebunky, thank you!).

The photo of the drapes is deceptive. There are a lot more greeny blues in it than show in this little snippet.

Thank you, Mayflowers, for voicing your concerns about my original choice for the mosaic tile. We ended up with a much better tile because of you.

Awwww. See, I was trying to be subtle about it by suggesting other ideas.

I'm glad it works with the fabric as that was going to be my next question.

Did you look at the other Sonoma colors when you were at United Tile? I had a sample of the Lunada Bay and I think it looked a little less colorful than the sample at CFM. Can't remember which one and I just threw it away after two years! But Tozen sure sounds familiar.

Did you see a Kohler shower pan at Keller's by chance? I just found out there's a Kohler showroom in Portland. We should get moving on our shower.

Just reread--I missed that you're using 1 x 1 tiles. I'm thrilled. I seem to love squares and I think that they will have more staying power than the rectangular mosaics.

Yep, we went to Keller's showroom in Beaverton. Haven't been to the one downtown but I heard it's larger. They had a 60 x 36 shower pan in their showroom so I got to stand in it and see how it felt. Nice! They also had honest to goodness cast iron chips in all their colors so I know exactly how it's going to look. The showroom salesperson gave me sample chips of our top 2 choices to bring home so I also know how they'll look in my home's light.

There are a lot of colors to choose from in the Tozen series. As it happens, I chose the same series, same finish in Strontium for the laundry room. In 1 x 1 tiles. = )

The salesperson at United Tile told me that she purposely chose a sample board that had wide variation in colors so that I knew to expect this. She said some people expected more uniformity. I'm okay with the variation. I think it adds more interest.

I didn't think to look at the other colors in the Stellar line but I can stop at Contractor's Furnishing Mart tomorrow to see what else might work. I'll have to order a sample, which takes about a week, so I wish I'd thought to look at other colors while I was at United Tile. Oh, well.

When we were at UT, they had several samples in the Stellar colors so you could lay them out and get a good idea of installation. We have a CFM a mile or so from our house. Isn't it great one-stop shopping? Ours closes at 1 on Saturday.

There's a Kohler Signature Store on Glisan. Their website says Get 25% off list. I also read a Baths post that said some of the shower pans were backordered two months. Did you encounter that? I know you don't have two months!

http://www.kohlersignaturestoreportland.com/

Backordered 2 months? Ugh! I hope that's not the case for the color we chose. But if it is, oh, well, I guess we put the project on hold.

Thanks for the heads up about the sale. I'll see whether my contractor's price beats that (he doesn't upcharge items) and if not, perhaps we'll buy it ourselves.

CFM is great! I should have realized but didn't that they'd have more than one location. Good to know since the one near me closes at noon on Saturdays.

The bathroom should be a serene and relaxing place. I can advise one good website (http://www.qbicwashrooms.co.uk/hand-dryers). A little bathroom should have all the components that a big bathroom has. I bought there a lot of equipment.

lisa_a I am wondering what color grout you used with the Lunada Bay Tozen Iodine Silk as I am struggling to find one that blends rather than overpowers.