Wow - I came home from work to find such wonderful ideas and photos! Thank you! MtnRdRedux - we already bought the RH medicine cabinet last year (this has been a very long DIY project) so I'm hoping we don't have the same problem you experienced. They are not inexpensive so that's disappointing to hear. I love the limestone and saw some today that could work. Also love slate for the walls and lukkiirish's photos but I'd like to stay lighter for this bathroom. The fireclay tiles are very interesting - I might need to look into those for a kitchen backsplash if not the bathroom. Not sure about metal panels, although that sounds very cool. The good news is I went to Arizona Tile today and might have found some tumbled marble 4x8 tiles that could work with my other selections. I need to pick up the slate and pebble order this week to be sure because I didn't take home the samples but I'm really liking this tumbled Carrera and Manhattan marble. The Manhattan has less pattern and some pieces are almost solid white while others seem a bit warmer with grayish blue or green undertones. There was also a larger 16x24 honed Soto marble piece that might work for the shower seat and curb/threshold. I also looked at the crema marfil, which seemed more ivory than pink - but the salesperson did say this stone could have pink undertones depending on what's in stock. (Thanks for the warning, cpartist!) Slate and Pebbles Carrera and Manhattan Tumbled Marble Soto Honed Marble Crema Marfil Tumbled

Yes and no. We caulked where the walls meet the floor, which has been an improvement there. Unfortunately a few months after this post a hairline crack started from the corner towards the drain. It was several inches long. I had the contractor come out to fix it and he just dremeled the crack and put more grout. Told me that would fix it. Literally 2 weeks later the crack was back. After having used him for many remodeling jobs over the years, I found out after the bathroom was done that he'd only done a handful of bathroom remodels and usually hired out a tiler, but decided he'd "do me favor" to lower the price doing it himself instead. I'd never have hired him for it had I known any of that. Calling him again for more ineffective patch jobs on this seems pointless. I just want it fixed properly at the point. Since then I had another contractor redo a different bathroom and asked his opinion on this. Within 5 seconds he could see the slope wasn't steep enough for the pebbles. He thought the entire pebble base would have to be removed to fix it, which would be a nightmare as we have a marble bench on one end and it would likely damage the marble walls. I don't have the time or $ do literally redo a remodel so soon. He said maybe we could get some kind of custom colored grout/caulk mix from the tile company to fill the crack and keep it from spreading. With other renovations & a new baby I haven't had time to try that yet, but every time I look at it I worry that it's going to get worse and get so frustrated that something that cost so much has been such a problem from the beginning. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

@ bry911 "We have had indoor toilets that spray fecal matter particles in our bathrooms for the past 100 years without any reported epidemics caused by this great imaginary health risk." "Who said anything about a health risk? I said something about the rather ridiculous assertion that if your toilet is separated from your sink by a door handle that you have an increased risk e.coli... -- Curb your arrogance. I did not mention you and I was responding primarily to the comment made by loobab regarding e-coli transmission in a home bathroom environment, however, your response to loobab "You can't really be worried about touching fecal matter on a door handle while not being worried about airborne fecal spores." suggests that airborne fecal spores would impose the same risk. I may be missing something, but in my mind, any concern regarding transmission of e-coli in a home bathroom environment would be a largely "imagined" health risk I cannot think of any other concern other than health that relates to the transmission of the e-coli bacteria. "you along with 99% of the population." I hate to be picky, but nope... First, only about 70% of the population even have toilets. Next, squat toilets are usually separated and since squat toilets outnumber sitting toilets 2 to 1... Most of the world craps in a different room than they brush their teeth in. -- Speaking as a statistical data analyst - A "statistic" (99%) is a characteristic of a sample drawn from a defined population. The "population" references a group of phenomena that have something in common. Since we have been discussing bathrooms with flushing toilets and I had stated "We have had indoor toilets that spray fecal matter particles in our bathrooms for the past 100 years" that would infer that the population that is being referenced is the population of households with flushing toilets.

Sativa has a good idea for a high contrast design but I might be overwhelmed too much dark black. It would need the balance of lighter floors and the natural light from the windows which could make it stunning. I bought the same pebble tile at our local H H Restore to re do our tiny shower. I want bright white tile like your subway tile but hubby still wants a large format porcelain. The mix from the pebbles can work with many things. Remember when it is sealed the colors will deepen to what it looks like wet. You could use a midtone like the charcoal grout for your floor tile if you are keeping the walls lighter like a warm white, tape or grey from the pebbles. If you go with dramatic black walls, you need a lighter grey ,taupe or warm white for balance. With either color scheme choose a basic floor tile with a bit of texture to prevent falls. A rectified porcelain with touches both cool grey and warm whites and taupes would work with lots color schemes. Keep in mind you may change your style in a few years. So pick a classic with lots of options. It will be easier to change a dramatic paint color than a busy tile pattern.