I, too, was once the victim of a bad tile job in our new basement bathroom several years ago - so I do understand the anxiety of deciding what is "good enough". On this forum after I posted pics, Bill and others said something that resonated - as long as they can do poor tile jobs like that and still get paid 100% of their money and move on, they will continue to do so. Then I realized that if I bought a $50K car and the doors didn't line up, I wouldn't accept it - and they would have to fix it or give me a new car - period. What is the difference? In the end, the tile was done and redone THREE times at the installer's expense. Natural stone ain't cheap. And guess what? I love my bathroom and am happy I stood my ground every time I walk in there. My GC for the basement remodel no longer uses that tile installer so maybe I saved someone else some heartache down the line. Thank you, again, to Bill for being such an amazing resource! And I still donate money to help ensure that bulletproof and stabproof vests are available to police dogs :), which is the only thank you I've seen him request.

Monrovia mom, I have a feeling you may be overthinking this. I have to preface this by saying this should be done to YOUR taste, not mine. But I'm thinking you may be disappointed afterward, doing what you're proposing. One stripe at say eye level, and maybe even a second at knee level if you really want to see a lot of the glass. But to have a stripe going horizontal, and another going vertical, and still more in the niche-- may become so busy as to be distracting. If you really want to do a lot of the glass, try something like this: As for doing the niche, and it showing as being off center, I think once you've had it there for a while, you won't even notice it, unless you're someone who is extremely detail oriented (read that as OCD :-)) Seriously-- overthink this, and it can drive you absolutely nuts. As for the water solubility of the glue, almost ALL glass is mounted with glue that will soften with water. Makes it a little touch on the installer, but not even close to impossible to work with. Once it's set, though, the thinset will hold it in place in spite of the mounting glue.

Big edit for this post, you posted the Kerdi shot while I was typing. So... 1) The flex in the floor that is causing the grout to crack: It's possible that the Kerdi Tray was not properly bedded in thinset, so as the slightly flexible tray flexes, the inflexible grout is cracking. It's also possible that the small size of the penny rounds is resulting in point loading on the foam tray. The foam compresses ever-so-slightly, the tile moves, the grout cracks. The floor...Is your guy using thinset as grout? Grout as thinset? With the penny rounds, it almost looks like he's doing an all-at-once installation. Setting the tile, promoting between-the-tile-squeeze-through, then grouting. All at the same time. A negative with that is that he's grouting and cleaning the grout before the thinset has fully cured. When I grout I'm pretty aggressive with the grout float in order to get grout into every nook and cranny. I don't want to leave any voids. If your guy took it easy when grouting so as to not displace the unbonded sheets of penny rounds, he could have left a few voids beneath the surface. If he wanted to be gentle while cleaning the grout, he might have used too much water during cleanup, that can also weaken the grout. I don't know why the floor is being grouted piecemeal. That's an easy way to get uneven grout color on a floor. As he continues to tile, he'll have to chip out parts of the hardened thinset/grout at the edges fo the already installed sheets to get the subsequent sheets of tile to mesh with the already installed sheets. He'll need to be careful to not ding the Kerdi membrane. It's also a recipe for mismatched spacing at the edges resulting in being able to see the individual sheets of tile versus the floor being one harmonious surface of penny rounds. With him sliding the floor tile under the bottom course of wall tile, I do hope he's not leaving any unfilled voids in the floor-wall corners. 2) Bullnosing. He bullnosed the tile after they were on the wall? Yeah. Probably not going to get a good outcome. Should be an easy remove and replace. The bowed wall? The tiler tiles on what he gets. If he gets a bowed wall courtesy of the framers, he can put the blinders on and tile right over it...or he can address the bowed walls with whoever hired him...the GC? The homeowner? Then the tiler can either tile right over the bowed wall, OR he can have the contractor fix the wall before he tiles, OR he can repair the wall himself and then tile. One added item...I can't tell what exactly is going on int he bottom left corner of the already installed tile. Could simply be that the tile spacing is skewed and he lost the pattern. After this floor is done and everything cured, I'd recommend having the GC pull the drain grate, install a plug, and flood the floor. As the floor tile is covered with water, watch for air bubbles. They'll indicate voids under the tile or in the corners. Once flooded, pull the plug to see how the floor drains. Make sure it drains completely and that water is not held in the corners. With a Kerdi Tray, the slope of the floor and a properly draining floor should be a no-brainer. But based on what I'm seeing and what you described regarding the bullnose, this could be a "no brain" installation. Sorry for that. Remediation after-the-fact is always a tough spot to be in. Good luck.

Mosaics like the tile you have come pre-spaced on sheets. A good tile setter might adjust a tile here or there, but please don't hold them accountable for reconfiguring a bad sheet. Maybe they should have culled some sheets, but that delays the job and the cost to return when replacement materials are available ultimately comes out of their pocket.