I have a larger porcelain basket weave tile in my half bath. I like it, and it does seem more modern than the traditional ones. The base board is marble.

As for marble tile in a shower - especially a floor, go to the top of this page and do a search of "marble shower" in the bathroom forum. Read for a while and decide if that sounds like your idea of fun.

I also loved the marble mosaics for a bathroom floor, but I live in a realistic world of aging bladders, aging dogs, and accidents that might spill something that stains on the floor. So I got porcelain. Urine and dog vomit are both acidic and will etch and stain your marble.

Nancy, that is the most real and helpful comments I have ever read. We are planning our forever house and I hadn't even thought of that!

Courtney, we have discussions about using marble here all the time. So many of our pros advise against it. One called marble tiles "hard sponges." Some argue for it, saying that it is timeless and that etching is just "patina" and I can see that point of view. But now that I have an unreliable bladder sphincter, I gotta say that being realistic suits me better. Poor sphincters often go along with inability to go down on the floor to do poultices for your marble stains.

I can definitely see the reason against it!

Paul Mlchow, I have read that there is a definite quality difference between the marble that was quarried when the monuments and federal buildings in Washington were built and what we can get today. Today's may be softer, less dense, or something similar to that. It is less durable and more easily stained. The best stuff was quarried early.

I have Calacatta marble basket weave in my master bath (honed) and I have Carrara dog bone in my guest bath. This is both floor and shower floor.

I absolutely love it and have been using it with no issues for over a year.

My shower was built properly so there is proper slope so there is no water puddling anywhere.

I also have a lifestyle that doesn't include washing dogs in my shower; dying my hair in my shower or cleaning off from my labors in a coal mine.

I take reasonable precautions - e.g. I use shower gel instead of bar soap and I have products that are safe for ALL my surfaces. At the advice of Dragonfly, I bought MB Stone Cleaner which is also used for my mirrors and marble counter and a non-acidic toilet bowl cleaner from Majestic.

Prior to my remodel I researched quite a bit and also asked friends with marble what it was like to live with marble. None of them had any problems or particular horror stories. They showed me a bit of etching (aka patina) but frankly it was hard to see unless the light was shining and I squinted. FWIW, honed is essentially etched which is why I opted for etched in the master which theoretically gets more use. I also went with honed for aesthetic reasons because it was softer looking.

It's obviously a personal decision. When I was looking at various options in terms of counters and floors, I did look at the manmade stuff like Neolith, Dekton, quartz but they didn't appeal to me aesthetically as much as the "real thing". Other people could come to a different conclusion.

I wanted to add that my bathrooms were done in somewhat of the same aesthetic as you appear to like. While I did not create a reproduction of a "period" bathroom, it incorporates elements of styles that I love - Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, Prairie and a bit of Hollywood Regency.

My floors (shower and bathroom) also have the black "border". It was an aesthetic decision and I am am completely happy with that design decision. When I was looking at inspiration bathrooms, the white marble basket weave with black border seemed to be a common design element in Pre WW II bathrooms - especially the ones built in NYC and I think it is a classic as well as elegant design as well as referencing the vintage styles which were my inspiration.

I have had a 1 inch honed hex mosaic on my master shower floor for 12 years. The shower is also quite large. I have never resealed it, and have never used anything special to clean it. As a matter of fact, I use soft scrub on it. I have not had one ounce of problem with it and would not hesitate to use it again.