Bloved -- the floors have held up marvellously. I did have to replace one small bit, but that was from removing a ghastly knee wall someone added in the 1960's that had a leak in its plumbing. We don't have kids, but the bath has withstood 3 young families since the 1920's, being the only bathroom in the whole house. We used Waterlox with Fabulon oil-based poly on top, and this combination seems pretty bulletproof. Water stands on the surface until it evaporates. Your mileage may vary -- if your kids are really sloppy and you don't want the fuss of having to mop up, you might consider a different surface. But we've found the wood warm and comfortable, especially when stepping out of the shower or bath! :-) Thanks Kem! I found vintage fir wood at an architectural salvage place and designed the double chair rails to match the rest of the house trim. (Honestly, I couldn't afford the fancy ogee tile I really lusted after to finish off the top of the wainscotting, so had to improvise.) One great resource for tile -- and floor -- ideas is Jane Powell's Bungalow Bathrooms, if you haven't seen that book yet. Many great color combos and inspiration tile layouts (Amazon.com lets you look inside it for some sample photos). I might go with black for the versatility, but a darker period blue would be great too. A nice vintage effect is a simple black pencil liner with tiny bits of white (cut from white pencil liner) between each one. Someone on gardenweb did this; I'll scour the history to see if I can find that photo for you.

I didn't know that about cork! I did some online research but didn't know that about the underlying layers. Back to the floor drawing board. (I have cork in my kitchen and thought it wuold be nice in the bath since it is right down the hall from the kitchen was all). I did some... poking around.. and the hole literally goes through to my crawl space. Maybe I should have posted in the "disaster forum!" I think I need to do some more digging (no pun intended) to figure out what to do next. Thanks for both of your advice!

Steamshowers, you mentioned Kerdi, when I do Kerdi it's over cement board. Not Hardie. Durock is my first choice, Wonderboard my second. You'll need to Kerdi all six sides of the shower cube. Ceiling too. And you'll want to gasket the shower valve hole and the shower arm hole with Kerdi so moisture doesn't escape into the wall from those openings. You mentioned recessed lights in the shower. Look for "vapor proof" lights. Not just "damp" or "wet" proof. Vapor proof lights are gasketed and sealed to prevent moisture vapor from getting in to the housing and trashing the light from within, or from getting through the ceiling hole and into your framing bays. They can be expensive. Speakers within the shower. Same thing. They have to be able to withstand the steam environment. Ventilation, the same. Some put a "standard" vent outside the shower just above the shower door to keep things simple. Music? If you don't already have a set-up, look in to Sonos. It's my whole-house (and outside in my yard) music system. I love it. You can gradually expand it to other parts of you house should you desire. And there's an app for your android. I recommend porcelain tile in the steamer. Leave natural stone out due to moisture issues. Steam condensation can drip down on steam users. Some slope the ceiling to help avoid that. Grout lines can act as drip points. Just something to be aware of if you're not already. Good luck!

Unglazed has that "matte" or "honed" natural stone feel to it. So there's a little bit of texture on the surface that the glazed doesn't have. That micro-texture can hold grime, but again the tile is not porous, so the grime isn't going to penetrate into the floor. And your tile is dark, so dingy showing as dingy probably won't be an issue. When you clean it, it'll clean up like new. So yes, to address your questions? Glazed is easier to clean. Unglazed may look dirtier quicker.