Thank you so much to everyone for the advice. That's what I was afraid of...too many elements. It's an older home and I want to keep the "charm" of an older space. I was planning to use honed black granite for the counter tops. It's going to primarily function as a kid's bathroom. I am using the antique brick in a few other areas of the house. I recognize the riskiness here, but was hoping it would come across with a charm that is original to the home. The antique brick blends better with the other elements in the home than the carrara does. I'm still not sure how to bring it all together. I know that the white porcelain is timeless. Will the carrara/black and white bath be outdated, considering it's been such a popular choice the last couple of years? What about the subway tiles? [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by New York Architects & Designers Jane Kim Design [Eclectic Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2104) by New York Architects & Designers Jane Kim Design This post was edited by TXBluebonnet11 on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 4:04

I was going to do a medium-grey soapstone (still sad I'm not doing it, actually) and I think that would look great. Or obviously if you don't want soapstone you could get something like either grey or charcoal-colored Ceasarstone which is pretty nice I think. Whatever you do, it shouldn't have too much in the way of speckles, sparkles, swirls, veins, in my opinion. If you get a soapstone, I'd get one that has very little veining. We've made the crazy decision to do stainless w/ marble subway tile backsplash. I would NEVER have gone for this (I want a period kitchen in my 1913 house) had I not seen very inspiring pictures online and in magazines, that show a stainless counter w/ white farm sink in an old house, with marble backsplash, white cabinets, wood floors and an island with either a marble top or something that contrasts with the stainless such as butcher block or soapstone. I prefer to have my island's top be a nice rich wood, just cause it warms up the coolness of the stainless steel, and was often seen near the steel counters in the early 1900's homes (only back then, instead of stainless, the counters were zinc...so really, stainless isn't too far from period). Anyway, I digress, obviously (still trying to talk myself into the decision I've already made!), but wanted to point out that if you're not going to be as nutty as me and do stainless, any greyish color that's pretty simple/uniform would be beautiful. I even think wood would work, if the marble had some tan in it. Here's a nice gray caesarstone: http://www.caesarstoneus.com/catalog/product.cfm?ProductID=111 Here's the marble subway tile that inspired me (when I thought I was getting dark grey countertop): http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0222343629720.html Here's the stainless pic w/ marble backsplash that most inspired me (although I prefer subway marble): http://picasaweb.google.com/quapaw/Our1890HomeAndKitchenRemodelRestoration?feat=embedwebsite#5252790674989404962 This is my favorite soapstone link (from gardenweb). It's got veins but very subtle: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0110311030000.html?11 And here's some beautiful marble minibrick subway tile, w/ black or dark grey countertop: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg101250599127.html HTH, and sorry I don't know how to put in proper links (sorry you need to cut/paste)!

Don't get me wrong, we love wood floors. But 10 years later they look bad...very BAD. I mean it's embarrassing to have people over it's so bad. It just seems a shame to put something in that 10 years later will require my parents to move all the furniture out of their house again so that the floors can be refinished! We definitely like the marble floors with minimal veining - it's way too much for us to have all those gray carrara stripes going in all directions. She actually was thinking we'd have to get the heated flooring. I guess we just need to look for a warmer grayish floor that won't clash with the carrara counters. We also thought of marble floors in the kitchen and wood everywhere else? It's a total open floor plan, though, so we would need nice transitions. Anyone ever used these metal edges you see in the tile stores (link posted below)? I just held the marble tile up to the store display...you have to imagine a matching wood floor on the other side. PS - How do I paste in an actual photo? The instructions/help indicate there is supposed to be a "browse" button on the "preview" step of posting my message. Am I blind? I don't see anything indicating posting a photo when I preview... Here is a link that might be useful: metal edging

You could, but it's a checkerboard for lack of a better word... I don't see it in your space at all. Your kitchen floor/cabinets are warm, your counter is cool even though beautiful. You don't need grout, "jumping" out from the tile.... "popping" out from the tile color. Too busy in my opinion for what I think you want. Herringbone in that size would take a TON of cuts and you would need a person to install that is STELLAR and well versed in doing herringbone with such a large tile. You may want to look for, "herringbone" there is a lot at tile bar. Not going to be as large in scale though. Given the width of the space between your counters and cupboards that size would be a ton of waste going with 12" even if you found a stellar well versed tile person. If you lean herringbone you might look at their samples at tile bar or even a chevron which is not to terribly different. Not just tile bar, but fire clay is another site or Zanger. This is from the Zanger website... it's chevron. Remember, your cupboards and floors are warm and you chose a cool tone counter. I don't know their sample program at Zanger as well. http://www.walkerzanger.com/collections/products.php?view=style&mat=Zen&coll=Shift