Tile Help

[mrslch]

My husband and I are in the process of updating our small hall
bathroom.  The walls are painted BM Revere Pewter and the floor is a
dark greyish porcelain tile. I'm at a loss as to what sort of tile to
use in the shower.  I originally wanted to do white subway tile, but my
husband has some weird aversion to it and said absolutely not .  What say you D&R?  Here's a mood board of what's in there so far.

[wawa]

Is he objecting to the shape, shape, color, finish...? Is all white out the door, or just white in that specific size?

Because I think white tile with what you've already got would be great. it'd be a very neutral base, but that's good for something as long term as tile. Maybe a larger format white tile? Or something with a bit of texture? Off to window shop...

[Blueper]

My husband has an aversion to white subway tile as well because it is "too expected". I'm probably going to do it anyway, since I'm the tiler in the family.

If you want a white shower you could do partial subway tile and partial square tile like this www.houzz.com/photos/87165/Case-Design-Remodeling--Inc--eclectic-bathroom-dc-metro

Or you could pull a color out of your floor tile and do something like this
www.houzz.com/photos/100284/Port-Credit-Townhome-contemporary-bathroom-toronto

[mrslch]

He says it reminds him of a locker room

I didn't even think of another sort of white tile though. Why didn't that occur to me?! Off to look for a different sort of white tile...

[mrslch]

Jan 30, 2013 15:14:39 GMT -5 Blueper said:

My husband has an aversion to white subway tile as well because it is "too expected". I'm probably going to do it anyway, since I'm the tiler in the family.

I think he wants to do something similar to the second pic you posted.  Also, DH is a contractor, so he's the one who will do the work.  I don't think I can get around it

[wawa]

I kinda love the linen textured tiles.

You could do a light gray or a white with this. It'd push the overall bathroom toward more of a modern vibe. Not sure if you're ok with that.



You could do something like House*Tweaking did with their shower (again, this is a bit more modern)



Or there is a whole world of white porcelain in other shapes...
www.tileshop.com/shop/index.aspx?cx=006213354531596860626:rnssskijiiw&q=tile&restrictBy=producttype(text)=Tile,material(text)=Porcelain,color(text)=Whites&PageSize=54

[decoraholic]

My husband had an aversion to white subway tile until I showed him some really good inspiration pics, lol. We ended up doing a white beveled subway tile which adds a little something extra. If you do a niche or corner shelves, you can do those in a different color too.



This was the inspiration pic that brought him over to my side







This is how ours turned out.

[wawa]

I too love the beveled subway tiles. It's what we used in our downstairs shower (though in a natural stone becuase I'm a glutton for punishment).

I will say, if you are doing the install yourself, grouting is a GIANT PAIN IN THE ASS with those things. Grouting regular tile is a cinch. Mix, smush, smear, smush, smear, smush, smear, wipe, wipe, wipe, done. Grouting beveled tile requires striking every.single.grout line. (i.e using the edge of your grout float to run down each line individually to pull out the extra grout sitting in the bevel) It's annoying. They can also be a bit hard to use certain brands of spaces since the "leg" of the spacer has to be long enough hit the actual edge of the tile past the beveled area. But they look great when it's all done. So...yeah, worth it if you like the look. But there is an extra step involved.

[decoraholic]

Jan 30, 2013 16:34:47 GMT -5 wawa said:

I too love the beveled subway tiles. It's what we used in our downstairs shower (though in a natural stone becuase I'm a glutton for punishment).

I will say, if you are doing the install yourself, grouting is a GIANT PAIN IN THE ASS with those things. Grouting regular tile is a cinch. Mix, smush, smear, smush, smear, smush, smear, wipe, wipe, wipe, done. Grouting beveled tile requires striking every.single.grout line. (i.e using the edge of your grout float to run down each line individually to pull out the extra grout sitting in the bevel) It's annoying. They can also be a bit hard to use certain brands of spaces since the "leg" of the spacer has to be long enough hit the actual edge of the tile past the beveled area. But they look great when it's all done. So...yeah, worth it if you like the look. But there is an extra step involved.

Our ceramic tile had built in spacers I can't attest to the difficulty of grouting since we hired it out. I do remember hearing them talking about making sure not to wipe out too much of the grout, though, since they did have wipe between each tile. In a shower, especially, you want to make sure you have a good solid grout line.

[wawa]

Jan 30, 2013 16:39:06 GMT -5 decoraholic said:

Jan 30, 2013 16:34:47 GMT -5 wawa said:

I too love the beveled subway tiles. It's what we used in our downstairs shower (though in a natural stone becuase I'm a glutton for punishment).

I will say, if you are doing the install yourself, grouting is a GIANT PAIN IN THE ASS with those things. Grouting regular tile is a cinch. Mix, smush, smear, smush, smear, smush, smear, wipe, wipe, wipe, done. Grouting beveled tile requires striking every.single.grout line. (i.e using the edge of your grout float to run down each line individually to pull out the extra grout sitting in the bevel) It's annoying. They can also be a bit hard to use certain brands of spaces since the "leg" of the spacer has to be long enough hit the actual edge of the tile past the beveled area. But they look great when it's all done. So...yeah, worth it if you like the look. But there is an extra step involved.

Our ceramic tile had built in spacers I can't attest to the difficulty of grouting since we hired it out. I do remember hearing them talking about making sure not to wipe out too much of the grout, though, since they did have wipe between each tile. In a shower, especially, you want to make sure you have a good solid grout line.

Yeah, you have to get the right balance between wiping out enough to reveal the bevel while still leaving a good solid grout joint.  It took some trial and error.  My husbands thumb actually ended up being the best tool we had for the exact right amount of grout removal.  (my fingers were too skinny)  His hand was very tired by the end.

And poo to your built in spacers.  See above about natural stone and punishment.  I had no idea what i was getting myself into falling in love with the pretty pretty stone.  Porcelain would have made my life so much easier.