ha, b's mom -- I think of a backsplash because I am a hopeless *mosaic and tile addict*! : ) Guess you haven't seen my daughter's bathroom LOL. It's a riotous yet controlled explosion of Pratt & Larson seconds/overruns that I facemounted on mosaicmount and worked into the design of the entire room. I only have in-process photos, no current photos of it because my daughter is 14 and we don't have a housekeeper, iykwim. Anywhere I can tile I generally try to,and if I find some nice tile at a salvage, I have a tendency to buy it and then figure out where to use it somewhere down the road. It's even happened one or two times : ). I was actually thinking of wainscoting in the room, but I want to find a tile that is the same color as the paint. We actually have some two-or-three-fist-sized rocks of labradorite that we will have cut to make slices to work in somewhere, probably in the shower. I can't cut it because it fractures too easily. I may try to get the fabricator who has sold us the countertop piece to see if he can cut these rocks. I'll try to imagine the room without a backsplash...honestly, I've had bathrooms in other houses without a backsplash and it can work...I'll keep an open mind. I love the mirror frame idea to have that be the reference to the gold floor -- a combination picking up the chrome tone would be cool. Thanks! You know, I could probably even do it myself, I imagine, with a couple of shades of rub-n-buff? After a little observation and practice? And thanks, kp -- I appreciate your vote. I'll find a way to highlight the counter so it doesn't disappear into the wall color. Glad to know that someone else besides me notices through-composed floors! : ) And stinky, I do think the lighting fixture is beautiful, as you say -- once again, found at salvage, but I then searched online and found it at retail back in 2007 for about $200...the shades look like large crystal block ice cubes. The pantry is a combination of Ikea metal-mesh shelving (I like it because it's see-through but much tougher than that plastic-coated'ventilated' shelving with the ridges which I despise (it's just me -- other people may love it but it's like fingernails on a blackboard to me) -- we tried both, solid wood and the metal mesh, and I vastly preferred the metal because I could actually see what was on the higher shelves) and wood* on one wall because we couldn't get the metal in sizes we wanted, and the marmoleum counter. There will also be a mahogany (to match the Ikea Hallarum) sink cabinet and mahogany countertop edging (vintage floor moulding I've stripped and stained to match the Hallarum) as well. I'm completely in love with the marmoleum -- a kind g'webber pointed me in the direction of great wood tints and I've warmed up a light blue (again, salvage) to a joyous spring blue-green. I think if I could live my entire life in the nexus of brown, gray, gold, blue and green I'd be happy : ) *Yes, the wood is a salvage find too, an extremely high grade *new* plywood that we bought scads of random offcuts of...it's a very light off-white maple (I think) plywood, and we had no idea how it got to the salvage but one day we went to the Museum of Contemporary Craft here in Portland and saw the current exhibit on one of my idols, Betty Feves, and lo and behold, all the display stands for her pottery/ceramics were made of *exactly* the same wood! There's no mistaking it! So I'm one degree closer to Betty Feves now! I was thinking just to paint the plywood, but not after we discovered its noble provenance : ) Well, maybe after the vicarious thrill wears off and I want more uniformity in the room...but not now. o.k., just for the fun of it I'll link to the exhibit, just have to spread the Feves gospel wherever I can : ) Here is a link that might be useful: visceral, glorious Betty Feves

I really wanted to reface the vanity, but it was going to be $850, which I thought was too much. I will probably do something later, but may reface it myself instead of getting someone else. For now, I painted it, added new hardware, and now just have to paint and attach the shoe molding.

It is difficult to perceive true colors on a computer monitor - so you ill need to make the final choice. Here are some basket weave floors. There a several companies that make it and in some different color tone variations, so be sure that the wall tile and floor are working well together. You might want to get a sample of the SW Sea Salt and paint a large piece of foam board to set your samples on and look at it in different lighting. The Sea Salt can change colors in different lighting. I think you are thinking of the white ice up the walls, like a wainscot: I have mosaic tile floors, though not the basket weave as it wasn't out when I did mine, and white subway tile walls in two of my bathrooms and plan to do the same in my master someday. They remain more timeless looking than my master, done in early 2000's. I did a decorative trim in one bathroom, and a simple bullnose in the other. I wish I had not done the decorative trim piece, tough it is a bit more ornate than what you are considering.

I'd do a gray grout. it will hold up better. if you want something lighter for the shower, try Mapei Warm Gray. have you thought about doing a warm wood vanity? with all of that gray, it will look rather 'cold' without something to give it some warmth. I love this warm gray oak one w/your tiles do a marble counter, or a white or gray quartz. if you don't want wood, then go for a black vanity. Or maybe this midnight blue one In fact, try looking at some of the wood vanities. Restoration Hardware. Black would look great too. I have marble in my bathroom and did black from RH or they have a metal wrap vanity if you want something more modern, try this white one