hello Jillianfl. Top photo is the one I used to remodle my last bathroom. I loved it and got lots of compliments on it. I'm now renovating a new home, and I have the same concerns about the shower flooring. Did you end up getting some advice? What did you end up going with? Thanks in advance!

Marble is a higher end look and a luxury finish that almost all luxury projects receive. I specify marble for all of my high end clients and this is what they expect. Initially, it will need to be sealed several times, possibly 10-15 times for some white marbles! You can opt to use an epoxy grout, which is used in restaurants, to help avoid having to maintain that along with the marble. Then you will need to clean and seal the marble again every 6 months to a year. It is very easy to do on your own with a little time and care. If you are uncomfortable with the long term maintenance of marble, then there are now some decent porcelian tiles out there for consideration but you will have to have a contrasting countertop material. There are large format porcelain tiles that can be used as tile and matching on counters but they are much more expensive in labor to fabricate and the edge often won’t appear as realistic. It can chip and is more difficult to repair than marble or solid surface. Marble can be filled with epoxy and it can be custom colored to match any varation in color or veining. Even with all the hype about low maintenance porcelain tile, I still chose marble for my own home, and that includes white marble kitchen countertops also! I absolutley love walking into my kitchen every morning.

I have the Bellweather tub in white with herringbone marble tile floors. They look great together. The whites aren’t a perfect match. It doesn’t matter to me. I also have a Kohler Memoirs toilet and a Kohler Kathryn console sink in the room with white subway ceramic subway tile. I love the way there is a slight variation in the whites, from the color of the marble, to the tile (Sonoma Pure), to the cast iron finish of the tub and the fixtures. And then my trim paint. Accept the imperfections!

Mary, if you start your own post you'll get more help. But white subway/white hex can fit a lot of diff looks. what's the vanity? the countertop? the walls? how big is the bathroom? is it shower or tub or both? These are all white subway w/either a white hex or a black hex, w/diff sizes and diff tile layouts. notice all of the other items in the room. it doesn't have to be simple if you don't just use plain, generic white on every surface. instead of a white hex floor, try some blue pennies, or the white/blue pattern tile or, go w/a black hex notice the stacked layout of the white tile. gives it a more modern look (Bedrosians Makoto tile) wood vanities and gold or black fixtures bring in warmth/texture. even the shower tile layout gets a more interesting look