It's stone. I don't see anything out of the ordinary in your photos. Vendor has no obligation to except a return.

Thank you Creative tile. I just needed some reassurance. It seems most of the floors on house the tiles look a lot more similar, perhaps they are able to go and pick out their own tile.

Those all look very typical for a natural material (you're dealing with a natural product and variation is the norm) and even for a higher-end man made tile that has 8+ "screens" (desirable - you generally want each tile to look different so that it mimics what occurs with natural stone).

If you want a more uniform look tile to tile, you need to look at man-made and at all the possible screens for a pattern and pick one that is more uniform in general.

I don't understand your issue. You buy natural stone for the "natural" in it. That includes pattern variation, veins etc. There is nothing wrong with the tile. Laying individual tiles in a manner that allows veining and patterning to please you is a function of doing just that. Nobody gets to hand select tile, piece by piece. All of them are boxed/shipped/ by square feet. All you can ever ensure is a sample box, REPRESENTATIVE of the tile lot. That does not imply, "without variation". No matter how much you pay for that tile. It's from the earth, period.

Exactly this is natural stone. The pics you see could very well be porcelain tile made to look like stone a very different material. Personally I would noyt do that as a floor it is just too busy for me.

Jan, I understand that the tile is natural and of course I don’t want them to be the same. I love the feel and veining of natural stone. When I went to look at slabs there were Calacatta Viagli, Lincoln, gold, Borghini and Betoghli.
When I look at the tiles i received in the first shipment I do see elements from all those slabs. I guess my thought was when you get a lot you get all the tiles that look like Borghini or betoghli, but my first delivery had 6 different types of sublots or styles.
The second delivery was more what I would expect, 160 tiles that have variation but it all seems related. I would not have even had this question if I had not seen the difference between the two deliveries I received.

When I see pics of subway tile Calacatta showers I see that there is much variation and it looks great together. But when I look at pics of the Calacatta floor it seems like the floor tiles have a cohesiveness like my second delivery. That makes me question why the first delivery had such a mix up of tiles.

I had a box each with these styles in the first delivery and to me that does not seem representative of any one lot, so this is 40 tiles and the rest were plain is light beige veining. This looks like 4 very different styles.

Leena the tile looks lovely. I think you have them laid out in a nice variation. I would have done the same. We put a black slate floor in our bathroom and I had several that we did not use because of the difference in some of the tiles. I expected some waste and planned accordingly.
I think you will be happy when it’s all done - it’s lovely!

Id refocus your attention to preparing the durock properly its very rare i use cement board double especially rare for stone floors over wood structure. If you are paying for this work id study up on deflection and proper underlayment for stone and see if cement board has any place in the assembly.. Those pictures say a lot.

TFW- I am not doing the work. I did hire a licensed contractor and know nothing about how the floor should be prepped. I can only control what I know which is the visual look of the tile layout.
I do appreciate your feedback and will read up. I did have some issues with the shower prep and asked a contractor friend for a second opinion. It’s quite frustrating and overwhelming the whole renovation process. I hired someone who is licensed and was able to see his last project for overall finishing but I have no knowledge of what was behind the walls and how that will all play out.
In the Bay Area there is such a demand for contractors that it was like pulling teeth to get people out to come out and bid on the job and then send me their estimates.

Likewhatyoudo- your bathroom looks very pretty and cohesive. Thanks for your feedback.

" I did hire a licensed contractor and know nothing about how the floor should be prepped "

"I did have some issues with the shower prep and asked a contractor friend for a second opinion "

" I can only control what I know "

Well at least you knew the shower prep work wasnt right :):) ....and have contractor friends helping you when you need help.. Interesting

T.F.P - my friend came over for a visit and peeked in to see the process. He noticed something was wrong with waterproofing. I read up on shower prep and approached my contractor who then told me he was not done and was going to do it as I had read up. I hate to bother my contractor friend about it over every detail bc I don’t want to impose on his time unless I’m in a bind. I did pick his brain over the shower waterproofing bc that was a red alarm that showed up while it was still fixable and early on. At this point I am thinking we will have to face any issues over work not done right when they arise in the future bc I just want this done.

Your tile looks lovely and I think you layed it out in a really nice pattern. Enjoy its natural, whimsical look!

"Two different deliveries" mean you had two different ORDERS. An order is generally pulled from stock and shipped as one. An order at a different moment in time could yield very different results. Why two orders if that was the case?

Curious as to why the contractor "friends" are not doing the actual work?

My question EXACTLY, Jan!

"Help! My marble shower is discolored and my floor is cracking" is an easily foreseeable future post here.

You need to do a lot more research. And not about matching marble. About nuts and bolts. Pay for the consult help of your contractor friend to give you an inspection visit. You curiously didn't choose to wait to use them, and I'm wondering if it was them or you that didn't want to pair up.

I ordered them all together, it was 200 of honed and 160 polished. Once I opened them up the polished batch looked very different from the honed. I was able to exchange the polished for honed, hence the second delivery. They assured me it’s all the same lot so it would match. It was a matter of a week for the exchange.
I am not sure where contracot “friends” came from. I have one friend, he is a contractor and he offered an opinion. I made a decision not to do business with a close friend, that is a personal decision.
Note not to come to this forum if my marble cracks or any future issues. I thought this was a place to get some opinions without future headlines being predicted. That is just plain mean.

My contractor friend has been very nice about offering me advice as I ask. Perhaps you all don’t feel that way, but in my opinion sometimes it’s best not to work with a close friend. Now that I see how stressful a bathroom is, I don’t regret that decision at all.
In my opinion as a homeowner, when I hire a contractor all I can do on my end is make sure it’s designed how I want. I don’t think it’s my job to second guess the contractor. Not everyone has the foresight to hire a designer. I would not even know where to go to find one. I thought this was a place to come collect ideas, and get suggestions. I do feel like if the pros comment they should not be judgmental about things not being done they way they would have done them.

Unfortunately, Keep It Nice, when you post problems here you are going to get honest answers from pros and non-pros alike. Sometimes an honest opinion can be painful, and yes, judgmental as to doing things the correct way to avoid future problems.

I guess my comment is most direct at Green Designs. There is no need to say it in the way she/he posted it. Predicting headlines and assuming a friend would not choose to wrk for me. Why does anyone even need to go there?
I posted a question asking about variations in marble pattern. I have no issues with people pointing out it’s a natural material and that is what I get. That is what I was asking about and gives me an answer.
Why does someone need to ask why I am not working with a certain person and it must be bc they don’t want to work with me. More than one person has pointed out that I should not worry about the variation bc I have bigger problems. That could also be brought to light in a better way.
As I said, I am not doing the work. Why all this negative energy and jumping to make assumptions about my personal life. I spoke with more than one contractor who told me they appreciate us not working with our friend and they choose the same route bc it can lead to problems. I even felt the need to reach out to my friend and let him know we were doing the work and why we were choosing not to get a bid from him. My husband felt he may feel pressure to give us a discount and we wanted to respect that this is how he makes a living and not put that on him. Our friend walked me through the process of getting bids and has been available to answer questions.
I am not someone who likes to post things publicly and this series of posts was my first time posting on houzz. I was nervous about putting myself out there to ask questions and expected some harsh works about being too not pick about the tile. I do think it’s unacceptable to make judgement about people’s personal lives and make character judgements.

T.F.W- I did get a second opinion and the person told me they are on with laying marble tile on cement board. If I do a quick internet search it also brings up cement board as a n appropriate underpayment.

I think for more consistent pieces you need to waste a lot. I culled about half my marble tile for a small bathroom. It’s normal to go through tile and decide what not to use. Tolerance for variation will vary.

Keep It Nice, I understand your feelings and sympathize with you on being judged on anything other than your design/space. Personal attacks are definitely not warranted. I was commenting on the advice you received regarding your tile and bathroom.

I agree that you have laid out the tiles that you like very nicely. Calacatta is known for having those big blotchy streaks in it, this is just part of that marble. The installations where you have seen they do not appear are probably installations where the homeowner or contractor pulled out the unattractive tiles, just as you have done. At least, with you cutting some of the tiles into subways, these tiles might be partially usable. I believe that I have read that when wanting a more uniform look with marble, you can expect to cull out a good quarter to half of the tiles that you receive. You can use some undesirable tiles under vanities and bathtubs, or as the floor of a closet.

We did calacatta gold in our master bath and got all the tiles from the same lot and they had the same variation as yours. We looked at sample boxes from several vendors, all had that same variation. I believe what you see on houzz is curated, the designer/owner takes the time to do what you have, to lay it out and to expect waste especially in stones like calacatta. The only way to not have that variation is to use slabs.

Thank you Stacy and Nancy,

I appreciate your feedback and it’s reassuring to hear that my layout looks ok. Now that it’s grouted I do see it looks fine in the end after all.
After hours of pouring over old Houzz threads, I have come to learn that many people have the the same concerns once they layout the marble to tile. I’m not feeling upset about my highly varied lot. I def have a lot of tile left over, but luckily I do have a large vanity I can put some of them under.