I am installing marble tiles in my master in the classic basket weave pattern for both the floor and shower floor and I will have counters done with a slab of marble.

I was concerned about maintenance and read extensively as well as talking with friends who have them and decided I was fine with what appeared to be relativelyeasy cleaning and maintenance. There is also professional cleaning periodically if necessary.

I am opting for honed as I prefer the softer look and it also is lower maintenance since there is less concern about potential etching.

In the end, i am not a farmer or coal miner so my bathroom isn’t being subjected to that kind of dirt being trekked in. :-)

There is nothing that made my heart sing quite as much in terms of the look I’m after. If I were going for a very sleek contemporary look, I might have gone with a manmade material but they seemed a bit sterile for what I am going for.

See, I agree with you, too, Helen. This is exactly the back-and-forth pull I'm dealing with internally. I'm already spending $25,000 on the remodel, so why not spend a tiny bit more for the floor of my dreams? This will be a master retreat that shouldn't see much grime in the first place, and I only use natural cleansers, anyway, so using a special stone cleanser doesn't bother me.

On the other hand, I don't want to be cursing myself, if the maintenance turns out to be more than I anticipate and/or the floors get stained. I do have a baby, toddler, and two elderly cats, so there are risks there.

I completely understand and I went back and forth because I am NOT a person who babies their surroundings.

I went to a high end place which had all sorts of the artificial stuff but it didn't speak to me. I can't quite explain but it just didn't grab me. When my designer brought me samples of the Calacutta floor tiles, I just immediately responded to it. The marble slab I got is very non-marbled looking but there is just nothing that replicates the beautiful creaminess of authentic marble - I went for a Calacutta with warm undertones rather than gray.

My friend has had marble for years and said she didn't have any particular issues.

I pondered back and forth regarding which I would regret more and I thought I could live with higher maintenance versus always second guessing myself about not getting what I absolutely wanted. And also - from what I have read - unless you absolutely destroy the marble - a good professional cleaning and restoration whips it back into shape - ditto the grout.

I don't have babies or toddlers but I'm not sure they would be problematic for a master bath floor or counter :-) As for cats, I guess you are afraid of their urinating on the floors because they are incontinent? I would probably just keep the bathroom door shut if they are prowling around in there :-) I've only had to deal with elderly dogs and wood floors :-)

ETA - I'm doing small tiles on the floor as my bathroom is going for more of a period feel but I also think the small tiles will be safer. My housekeeper moved the bathroom rug one morning in my old bathroom and I took a wicked fall when I stepped out because the floor with large tile was incredibly slippery when wet and I had anticipated stepping onto a non-slip surface.

Yes! Such a great point! "I thought I could live with higher maintenance versus always second guessing myself about not getting what I absolutely wanted." I agree that there is nothing like real marble. I went to the stone center to pick out a quartz countertop, but changed my mind as soon as I saw a marble sample.

Also a great point about the safety of smaller tiles. More grout to maintain is a downside, but the traction is an upside.

I'd love to see pictures of your tile and counter selections, if you have some to share. I'm leaning toward the basketweave pattern if I go with marble. The sample I posted is with white dots, but there's another sample on the way with black dots. Not sure which would look better with my other selections.

I have a black marble basketweave in the water closet, and honed 4x16 marble floors. for sure do honed,,,they will etch, even with water droplets or when reaching for a towel. tell your husband (or any man who uses the toilet) to be very careful when he's through peeing. stray drops will decimate that marble floor in no time! again, used honed!

as for the grout,,,white will get dirty, even if you're careful. it just does. do a gray grout regardless of the tile you choose. Natural cleaners will still etch. Ask me how I know this.

this is a good daily cleaner my stone guy recommended. Stone Pro daily cleaner. Amazon sells it.

I love the basketweave. they do make it in a porcelain, but the marble is beautiful. I love my black one. Just know that walking on the basketweave is a little rough. if it doesn't bother you, then it's fine.

I love this layout,,,you could do something like this,,,or even do a 'rug'

Beth, omg that is the nicest floor I've seen in my life.

The last photo Beth posted is my basketweave pattern except mine is Calacutta and I think the one she is showing is Carrera which is more gray and mine is creamier.

In my guest bath I am doing the same tile except in the pin wheel pattern.

Here is a picture of the Calacutta slab I am using for the master bath. As I wrote, it's not very veined but it's exactly what I wanted. I am having a large square of marble done in a soft floral pattern on the shower wall so this pattern really complements the marble on the shower wall.

And as I posted earlier, I am going with honed so that etching isn't a concern - I see that Beth made the same decision. I'm not afraid of staining the counter. As for grout, I talked to friends with grout (not white) and they said maintenance is not an issue - and one can always have a professional come in if there are issues every few years.

I saw on another thread that Joe the counter and sink maven recommended a new product called Stoneguard so I am going to have that done for the marble slab in the bathroom. I think it's only used for slabs and not tiles though.

Helen,,are you sure that's a genuine Calacatta slab? I've never seen calacatta look like that. Just so you know, only marble mined in the Calacatta region of Italy can be called Calacatta. I have a feeling you have some China White marble that's being passed off as a much more expensive calacatta. (ask for a country of origin where this was imported. if they say Italy, they're full of poop!)

here are calacatta slabs

this is a cremo delicato calacatta

This is the design board showing the marble feature I will have on the long wall of my new shower. It's much softer in person than it looks in the sample.

You can kind of see it in that black and white tiny thing that looks like a picture :-). It will be framed by the copper small tiles.

Yes - it is. It's from a reputable stone yard and my designer and I picked it out from their Calacatta section. It is very unusual which is why I liked it as I didn't want the very intense marbling. I can double check but I would doubt that they are deliberately scamming people to sell one slab of marble :-) I had to kind of whine to get the exact slab I wanted as there were about five slabs that were clumped together - about five or six slabs would be clumped together in the aisles. There was a hold on all the other slabs in that clump but they let me swap for the exact one I wanted.

it's calacatta, not 'cutta.. I'd still ask to see the country of origin. Even stone yards are known for telling less than the truth. calacatta is much more expensive then regular marble. It's a beautiful slab, but it doesn't make sense to pay that price for something other than the true calacatta that you see w/the gorgeous veining.

You have some beautiful selections.

Thanks for the info. The slab is still at the yard so I can verify it.

ok. i'll be a monkey's uncle if it is. those pics i posted are C. Gold. The whole point of the gold is to get those gold veins. if you don't like those veins, look into a white quartzite or something similar so you won't have to pay the C.Gold prices!

I will definitely verify and I didn’t see any quartz that had the same kind of organic feel as marble. I didn’t want prominent veining.

gotcha. see if they have any Taj Majal . this would look nice w/your tile choice too

this is the C. Oro (gold). this is what people pay the bucks for. if you're not getting any of this veining, I wouldn't pay top price for it.

Definitely didn’t want that prominent veining. :-)

I will verify that it is actually Italian marble because otherwise it’s a scam.

However, I don’t mind paying the price for the slab I got because I liked it better than any of the other marble slabs I saw so it’s immaterial to me whether someone else would pay more for veins that I don’t want. I would pay more to NOT have the veins LOL.

i didn’t ask the price of the slabs except for the gorgeous Blue Butterfly Laboradite which I lusted after for my guest bath. I only need a small piece and I couldn’t justify $5000 for the full slab. :-(

The small tiles at the extreme lower left are the Calacatta tiles I am using for the floor. They have the same kind of creamy non veiny look as the slab.

nice,,,and the flower water jet mosaic tiles? where are those going? the blue/green glazed tiles are really pretty too.

Dottie,,, did you decide on which floor you want? they have the bardiglio marble

this is my black against the 4x16 tiles

or you could do a black border around the carrara basketweave

Helen, your bathroom design plan is extraordinarily beautiful! The soft, complementary colors and lovely flower designs are so unique and yet classic. I hope you post "after" pictures because they are sure to be stunning. I think your marble slab is gorgeous, like clouds. I also prefer more subtle marble looks, which is why I chose a soft, hazy Carrara, though I know veining is typically more sought-after in the design world.

Beth H., wow, that floor! I agree with stratagery, that's the most beautiful floor I've seen. I'm interested in the idea of a "rug" somewhere. I wonder if it could work to have the marble mosaic surrounded by porcelain tile (not sure what type would look good) - the best of both worlds. I'm still undecided, but leaning toward the marble basketweave (either white or black dots), especially after seeing your pictures.

Oh, I forgot to say, I would be getting honed marble for sure. My countertop will be honed and the floor samples I have are also honed.

Dottie,,,there are quite a few here on Houzz,,,or go to Pinterest and search "marble basketweave'

PRO

Beth H. :

nice,,,and the flower water jet mosaic tiles? where are those going? the blue/green glazed tiles are really pretty too.

I am not sure what the water jet mosaic tiles are :-) if you mean the cream mosaic flower mosaic which is on top of a cream square, they are both the same but the top one is the actual marble and the one it is lying on top of is what it looks like when complete as it has a softer feel when actually done as opposed to the sample according to my designer

I am not 100% sure where the the green tile will go as it might be for the kitchen backsplash as this was my first board for my whole remodel. However I am fairly certain this will be the tile on the walls inside the shower enclosure as well as the regular walls. My bath is not a reproduction but inspired by Arts & Craft, Deco so the teal green seemed to work as a suggestion of the Art tiles but not quite them. The kitchen backsplash will also have green blue tiles with some movement but those have a bit of iridescence to pick up the copper I will have the kitchen as I will have a copper sink and copper coved ceiling with some copper metallic accent tiles on the backsplash

I have just finished demo so building it starts this week hopefully but I will be keeping a photo record to document any disasters lol

Thanks Dottie. When I initially met with my designer, I told her no beige, no gray LOL and that consistently I have been attracted to Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, William Morris and sent her a lot of inspiration pictures. When the design board came back, it was nothing I could have attempted to design for myself and I loved 90% of it. Most of my tweaking has been regarding function rather than design since I wanted some stuff based on personal needs like my being short but that’s more in the kitchen than bath.

Beth. I just got off the phone with my designer and I was mistaken about the marble slab. It is French Vanilla and not Calacatta Gold. We had originally gone looking for Calacatta Gold and even went to a second yard for a larger selection. We were steered to the aisles with Calacatta Gold and there was this clump of about five slabs in there and I fell in love with the more ethereal quality without the prominent veining. She is checking the invoice to determine the country of origin.

I also assumed it was Calacatta since the flooring tile is Calacatta instead of Carrera and I have to get the Calacatta tiles from yet another place. :-) LOL

In terms of pricing, I think she said it’s about equivalent to regular Calacatta but not as expensive as the really expensive Calacatta.

Thanks for your input as I now know exactly what it is called for future reference. :-)

Based on the shirt research I just did, it seems as though French Vanilla is probably quarried from Greece rather than Italy.

. Though marble deposits exist all over Greece, the largest and best quality deposits are found in Drama-Kvala-Thassos region. It is also referred to as the Carrara region, which has large deposits of special white and off-white marble.

The Thassos white marble of Greece, which is regarded as the whitest marble in the world is so pristine that is appears as snow. The next grade of white Grecian marble is the Skyros Gold, which is white with a little golden tinge. French Vanilla is another popular shade of Greek marble, which is not as white as Thassos and contains tinges of light gray and beige

This was the design inspiration for my master bath - My tile work is nowhere near as elaborate and I have a shower with frameless glass replacing the horrible tub/shower combo so this was just a jumping off point rather than what I am replicating :-) And I don't have those gorgeous mosaic Moorish tiles LOL but this would be a bit overblown for my small condo master bath :-(

I have cleaning help. I'm on my 2nd cleaning woman in the nearly 34 years I've lived here. Neither has been really very good, but they're what I could find/afford. I must, however, be realistic about their limitations. Just telling either to use a particular product on my bathroom floors/walls etc and providing it and keeping where their cleaning supplies are kept, does NOT mean it will actually be used if they find something else "easier" or preferable to them. I cannot watch them like a hawk all day - sort of defeats the point of having them. I try, but they have both been sneaky.

Bathrooms and kitchens are places where "nasty" things happen. Things that need to be properly disinfected. Often, that involves Clorox. Clorox on marble is NOT a good thing at all. So much as I adored the look of a great Carrera marble, I had to rule that out immediately - I knew my cleaning help would ruin it.

So, I chose a honed-look finish on a porcelain tile that mimics Carrera marble pretty darned well. My Master Bath already had a very old piece of honed Carrera marble on the top - I was keeping it. The Carrera and the porcelain Carrera-look "play" very well with one another. Most people think my bath (walls and floor) are Carrera. I re-did this bathroom about 6-7 year ago. I have no regrets. It was a good choice for me and I have not murdered a cleaning woman for ruining my floors.

Helen- I thought it looked sort of Thassos-ish! lol. Carrara is only Carrara if it's mined in Carrara Italy (northern portion of the country in the alps) ,otherwise, it's Grecian marble if from Greece. they can name it whatever they want, but carrara is actually from Italy. that doesn't stop other places from using the name though, as it's often mined in italy, shipped to afghanistan for cutting, and then sold from Pakistan under "pakistani marble'. so, it's hard to keep track of where it's actually from. Cheap labor determines where it's cut and sold. Often China. Sometimes Italy. Even the US has marble quarries. But true Carrara is mined in the Italian Alps.

I love the teal tiles. you really should look at FireClay tiles (they have the most amazing Azure and green glazes on the planet!)

and also CleTiles. look at these teal and cobalt beauties!

or,,and since you like those tones,,,Encore Ceramics is another one w/the most beautiful crackle glazes

http://encoreceramics.com/by-hue/

Beth - thanks for making me realize what kind of marble I was actually buying LOL.

And the tiles are gorgeous - I think the 2nd and 3rd are a bit too contemporary in feel. The fourth tile is gorgeous and reminiscent of the actual tile sample I have on my design board but I will check it out especially since I am looking for a similar but less expensive tile for the guest bathroom :-)

I will also check out the Fireclay tiles but (at least from the ones posted) they also have a shinier more contemporary feel.

I sent a picture of the Encore tile in the green blue to my designer and it turns out that is the tile she selected and I approved for my master bath. Lol

lol,,,,,well, great minds think alike ;)

Beth, it's so interesting to hear about the different characteristics of marbles based on the origins. Makes me appreciate the material even more.

Helen, you and your designer are pulling together some beautiful combinations. I wish I'd worked with a designer from the beginning (like I did when decorating the main rooms of my home). I thought the bathroom would be simple, since I know what I like, but goodness, the choices and decisions! Oh well, live and learn.

Anglophilia, do you know the name or source of the porcelain look-alike tile you found. I haven't seen any good-looking carrara-style porcelain mosaics, except one that was more expensive than real marble! I never use bleach to clean anything, so that's not a problem for me, but I am looking into different stone cleaners and how effective they are.

Dottie,,if it's any consolation, it took me well over 6 months to finalize my tile and layout for my master bath redo. (if you click my name, you'll see the post). My problem was I wanted too much and had to narrow down my choices. And I wore the other hats on the project, so I was in a million different directions. So many beautiful options to choose from,,,I ended up importing my marble straight from China just to save some money! (the markup here is unreal)

Dottie...StonePro for the cleaning is the best for marble

Okay, so I'm 90% set on the marble basketweave mosaic, despite the advice of more reasonable users. :) I need to make a decision tomorrow because the tiles would take 10 days to arrive and demo starts May 3.

Big questions:

Should I use a medium gray grout?

I'd prefer to use porcelain for the shower floor. Would a white hex porcelain mosaic look too busy with the floor?

Any other thoughts?

(Here's the marble countertop sample, white subway tile, wall color, and marble basketweave mosaic)

the white hex porcelain is a good choice for the shower floor. for both of your tiles I would use the stain proof grout in Warm Gray,,,Mapei, FlexColorCQ.

you don't want white white. you could even use a darker gray if you prefer. the eye really doesn't read the 'gray' in the grout lines, so don't be worried about it.

warm gray on the walls w/the white subway and on the floor w/the marble. the black stone got charcoal grout

get your sealer before the tiles and have it ready. you should seal your marble (tops only,,,do NOT let it drip down the sides) once or twice before they set it. I did it w/my marble too. use a good penetrating sealer. 511 or Aquamix are both decent brands.

Thanks so much, Beth! I'll ask the bath company to bring the grout samples at the walk-through to be sure, but the warm gray color looks perfect. My estimate says "Flex grout color" so I assume they use the FlexColorCQ brand you mentioned. It's supposed to resist staining, mildew, etc.

I was planning to go with white grout for the subway tiles on the shower wall and tub surround. I love the look in inspiration photos (not drawing too much attention to the grid) and I figured it was safe, since I can scrub the tiles. Bad idea?

Here's an inspiration photo I'm using for the shower:

Hm, now that I look at it again, maybe that is gray...

Here is a photo from the stone place showing a larger grid of the basketweave tile:

I realized that the black basketweave sample I'm waiting on is polished, so that option is out.

ETA: Thanks for the Stone Pro cleaning tip!

found a pic w/white grout...

for your flooring, since it's all whites, I'd do the gray. otherwise, the basketweave pattern is going to be washed out w/the white grout. it will all meld together.

here's a close up of the warm gray.

i love the basketweave layout. you saw my black ones? what do you think about doing a border around the edges w/some larger carrara tiles?

i don't know how big your floor is, or how it's laid out,,,but something on this order

above looks like white,,,below looks like gray.

you saw that your tile comes w/the gray dots as well?? don't know if they have these border pieces in the white, but this would also be an option to run around the border of the room o

oh,,and they come in the green dots and blue dots!

this is blue macaubas....i love this

If it means anything, I am having the basket weave marble on both the floor and shower floor. I am using a slab of the French Vanilla (not Calacatta Gold LOL) for the curb of the shower.

I checked with people who had marble on their showers and they said they had no issues as long as it was higher quality marble which didn't have the iron oxides. I don't dye my hair in the shower so I am not worried particularly about staining it.

Dottie - I could not have done this without an educated designer - it's not just about the design choices although I would never have come up with design choices as my brain isn't hardwired in those kinds of visually imaginative ways. I can appreciate things but I don't know how to pull them together and I wouldn't have the ability to figure out where to even start in terms of the sea of vendors. I am good about researching appliances and functions but get lost in the sea of visual possibilities :-)

And I can't even imagine dealing with codes and such since Los Angeles is code crazy - I wanted to move some floor electrical outlets up a bit from the floor as I found it difficult to reach them when I had some hip issues so I was thinking about for the future - I was told that if I move a plug, the whole thing has to be rewired back to the panel box. And the darn kitchen sink has to be approved by the UL LOL - who would think a kitchen sink could be dangerous.

Helen - Ah, yes, codes. I am working with a full-service bath remodel shop, with a project designer and project supervisor, so that has been super helpful in handling those details and sourcing vendors, but the design service is basic.

Beth - These border and trim ideas are gorgeous! I'm going to check out the trim options you mentioned. I wonder if this type of tile work would be much more expensive? I'm at the top of my budget already. I will check tomorrow. My bathroom is a narrow but maybe big enough for a basic border vs a full "rug."

Here's my attempt at drawing a floor plan and what the room looks like at this moment (yes, the former owner sponge-painted the walls):

dottie,,you could run a simple 6" border along the entire border of the room, under the vanity, etc,,,just to frame your basketweave. if you got the larger 6x12 or 6x14 tiles, the tiler could just lay those against the wall and such. it's not difficult,, you could do dark gray or even a black. just depends on what you like. take a look online for basketweave floors and see what you like

The inspiration photos I like best with basketweave all have borders. Maybe this trim together with my current sample, as you posted above. Most examples I see have larger tile -> trim -> basketweave, but I think that's a bit much for the size of my bathroom. I think this border would look okay up against the wall without larger tile on the outside?

Last one is my current sample with white dots. [Gray dots as main mosaic is a no-go: not currently in stock. I prefer the white dots, anyway.]

I would need to get those trim samples fast and/or call to verify that they all match up.

Dottie, it was made in Italy and was discontinued shortly after I bought it. They were very large tiles (maybe 12x24?) and for porcelain, they are pretty realistic. I mean, it's my bathroom - I don't spend hours each day sitting in their staring at the veining!!!

For me, being matte finish (honed look) made them look far more real and the veining was quite subtle, which I preferred as this is not a huge bathroom.

Okay, I've decided to use the carrara basketweave with white dots, combined with the trim with gray dots. Warm gray grout.

1) Trim bordering the entire bathroom, kind of like this:

2) Trim bordering only the clawfoot tub, kind of like this:

The price difference is about $600. I'm willing to pay the higher price, but wondering if anyone thinks one design would look better than the other.

This is my bathroom now (lovely, I know) and rough sketch of the floor plan.

Tomorrow is the final walk-through before demo next week. I'd love to hear any opinions. :)

will it go behind the tub on the bigger option? prob easier to do it that way. I like it around the whole room. if you just do the tub, you really won't see much of it except the front part.

I am so glad you chose the basket weave. My favorite among your options! I would stay away from blue/green paint as it is not a flattering color in bathrooms. I love the idea of black trim but around the perimeter would mean too many jogs. Highlighting the clawfoot would be the better option. Since your sketch is not to scalle, I am not sure a "carpet" design inset at center would work. You simply create a series of rectangles/design in the black border.

Beth, you're right, there wouldn't be much trim to see bordering the bathtub. The border would only go around three sides of the tub. The tub will be pretty close to the back wall because there will be a wall-mount filler.

Storm Interiors, I'm happy to hear that the basket weave is your favorite! Good to know about blue/green paint. I decided to use the pink-gray paint color. My sketch is poorly done and it looks like the closet and shower are staggered, but they are flush in one straight line. The only jog for the room border would be around the vanity and the wall between the shower and the tub. Do you think that is too much? Also, since the trim is gray, the border wouldn't be as prominent as the inspiration photo. I love the look of "carpet" designs, but I like using fluffy bath mats, which would cover much of the design.

I know it's been awhile but curious if you have some photos to share of the finished room?? I'm about to start on very similar project in similar bathroom - would love to see how your borders turned out!