Marble does not stay looking new when exposed to acids, present in soaps and shampoos. Acids permenantly etch marble. Further more, marble is soft and will easily ding if a bottle falls on it. Additionally, marble is porous and can easily stain with hair dye and stays wet looking much longer than porcelain. Lastly, if your water has any iron it it marble will oxidize and turn orange. I would never use it on my shower floors.

I have a marble counter and porcelain "marble" tiles in the shower. It all works. I agree with roarah about no marble in the shower. Can you return the marble?

Luckily I didn't buy it yet. It was in stock so there was no need to order it.

Checkout Daltile's new marble attaché porcelain tile. Great look, low maintenance.

I have polished Botticino marble (beige) in my two main baths in my apartment. Marble floors, walls, vanity top and shower--marble everything other than the wood vanities! It was installed about five years ago. It still looks great. There is some etching on our countertop but it is not bothersome. If I had to do it again, I would have used honed marble like I later used in my kitchen, rather than polished, to reduce the visibility of the etching. But the marble itself is beautiful.

Lots of differing opinions. There are buildings with marble facades that look beautiful hundreds of years later...and 2 week old kitchens with marble counter tops that are stained.

I actually would highly recommend against it. I know someone who also used white marble and it started looking rather bad really fast. It seems a lot of people have different experiences though.

60 year old calacatta gold master bath. Solid surface, not tiles. House had three owners. Marble still in beautiful shape on walls and in shower and tub surround. Floor was marble tiles but replaced as there was etching and staining from rugs and could not be restored. Marble can be used and yes, requires careful maintenance. As others said, there are now many options.

I just got a useful spam email from Livingstone. Fabricators can get 1st quality solid surface delivered to their shops for about $6.00 per square foot. That's an amazingly low price.

My sister has an all marble bathroom from the 1920's. Still looks gorgeous. I'm doing all marble in my new master bathroom. Honed though as I do think honed holds up better.

in the 1920's the worlds quarry selection of marble was superior, as was old growth lumber.....there was also real craftsmen/women in the trades

I would use marble on walls in a heartbeat but notice in dragonfly's bath it looks like floors are not marble....

I decided against marble as I have cleaning help and would have had to stand over them while they cleaned a marble bath, otherwise they would use products I had forbidden being used. Since that's not something I want to do, I went with a marble-look porcelain tile. It looks great 5 years later and I don't have to worry about it.

Yes, what Tundra says. A lot of cheap marble out there. Money to be made.

Joe, here is where I work. I wont say where, but this is an old operating room. Its a group therapy room now. Its lovely, cold, lots of holes, and beautifully matched, lol. The ceiling details are still there were the skylight was, to let in great lighting. Its been covered by a 6th floor years ago, but they left the glass in :-0 I found that out when I took a long handle and tapped on the ceiling, considering arranging for new lighting for the room. They also left the glass in that dark gray area too, LOL and there is a 6 story extension/addition on the other side of that wall. Crazy! Click on the pics to get them to pop open large if needed.

Do a search of this forum for all the people who have had issues with their marble bathrooms.

Our MB has a white thassos mosaic on the tub surround as well as the backsplash (over the sink). All three bathrooms have white thassos select (higher grade, "cleaner" than the mosaic) framing out the niches and as shelvies in two of the niches. Our MB and hall bath showers are used daily. As far as I can tell, the white thassos is still in perfect condition.

I think the advice daisy gave is a pretty good idea to be honest.

Hi there, I agree that marble do not look new when exposed to acids.