Tile pattern in shower

[aspentosh]

I am in tile overload. How do people do whole house updates that require endless decisions? Anyway.

This is our shower tile. I love it. It's perfect. But I was having a hard time coming up with an accent tile that wasn't overpowering and worked with the scale of these tiles (4x16).

And now I am second guessing a brick lay pattern. I've come up with a few options but wasn't sure if they were trendy/a fad or if they were classic enough. 

Brick lay pattern with a 2'-ish herringbone strip using the same tile.
I'm inclined to remove this option because of the scale. We only have 8' ceilings, otherwise I'd do a wider accent strip and maybe like it more?


45* turn on herringbone. From floor to ceiling, no accent. Our ceiling height would give us from the highest point at the top of the photo to the tile just under the vanity, so you get an idea of scale.


45* turn on herringbone with a 8"-ish strip of gray/white penny tile. This is also our shower floor tile, which is why I have it on hand. 


H's favorite is the last one. I think I am leaning second because the tiles are so big and the pattern, therefore, is much larger and I worry the accent tile is making it look choppy. But he's digging his feet in with an accent tile (I guess it's his bathroom, too, lol) so curious thoughts. If these all look like crap, then I'll just mope and go back to a brick lay pattern with the penny tile accent. 

Oh, and I think we decided on a large scale (8") white with gray Carrara marble look hex tile for the rest of the bathroom floor. 

[k3am]

I like the middle option best.. I'm usually a sucker for an accent tile, but I don't think the scale of penny tile works with the scale of the tile, and I'd prefer something with more contrast between the two.

ETA: I also had a love/hate relationship with the fact that DH has opinions when we renovate. We have (thankfully... exhaustingly...) always managed to find a nice compromise that we both liked.

[Deleted]

I like the herringbone on an angle with no accent tile. I think it takes away from the tile and pattern.

[simpsongal]

Ditto #2. What color grout?

[kitchenreno]

May 6, 2021 16:06:39 GMT -5 aspentosh said:

I am in tile overload. How do people do whole house updates that require endless decisions? Anyway.

This is our shower tile. I love it. It's perfect. But I was having a hard time coming up with an accent tile that wasn't overpowering and worked with the scale of these tiles (4x16).

And now I am second guessing a brick lay pattern. I've come up with a few options but wasn't sure if they were trendy/a fad or if they were classic enough. 

Brick lay pattern with a 2'-ish herringbone strip using the same tile.
I'm inclined to remove this option because of the scale. We only have 8' ceilings, otherwise I'd do a wider accent strip and maybe like it more?
View Attachment

45* turn on herringbone. From floor to ceiling, no accent. Our ceiling height would give us from the highest point at the top of the photo to the tile just under the vanity, so you get an idea of scale.
View Attachment

45* turn on herringbone with a 8"-ish strip of gray/white penny tile. This is also our shower floor tile, which is why I have it on hand. 
View Attachment

H's favorite is the last one. I think I am leaning second because the tiles are so big and the pattern, therefore, is much larger and I worry the accent tile is making it look choppy. But he's digging his feet in with an accent tile (I guess it's his bathroom, too, lol) so curious thoughts. If these all look like crap, then I'll just mope and go back to a brick lay pattern with the penny tile accent. 

Oh, and I think we decided on a large scale (8") white with gray Carrara marble look hex tile for the rest of the bathroom floor. 

I posted some in progress pictures on your other post, but now I see we have similar ideas in other areas of the bathroom remodel too! I'm doing gray herringbone tile on the bathroom floor.  And I have marble-lookalike hexagon (2 inch) on the shower floor.

.  

I like #2 or #3.  I think #2 is safer but #3 looks nice too.  Maybe see how it looks with an even wider penny tile accent?

[Susie]

Agree that #2 is my clear favorite.  

#1 is my 2nd choice, although the brick lay pattern feels like it interrupts the herringbone for me in a way that I don't love.  It's just not as obvious as the penny round because it's the same tile.  If you need a compromise position, maybe this is it?

I have a strong dislike of the result when people try too hard to make an accent tile work, and I'm very much getting that vibe about combining the penny round with the herringbone.  The advice about getting dressed and then taking one accessory off can apply to home decor too.

[silvercrayon]

I love the middle one!

[aspentosh]

May 6, 2021 18:08:17 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Ditto #2. What color grout?

HAHAHAHA, lol sob. I DON'T KNOW. But realistically, probably lighter. Not white, but maybe a light gray or silver. I'm all about contrast in grout but this one feels like dark would be odd looking.

[aspentosh]

Thank you for affirming my thoughts on scale and choppiness. Now to convince the other one who will use this bathroom

[aprilsails]

My DH LOVES the idea of accent tile. It’s like his favourite damn thing. I am not so keen, but we needed to reach a compromise.

My solution was to run the accent tile in a vertical strip and to run the tiles vertically as well. So we have oversized subway tile running vertically and then a strip of the accent tile going up the wall 1/3 of the way in from the side of the shower. I like this best because I can basically turn my back on it and ignore it, lol. It doesn’t run the whole way around the bath right in line with my sight line which I would have found super annoying.

We still haven’t put in backsplash tile in the kitchen. I really want to do a dark painted glass backsplash (very minimal and modern), but he desperately NEEDS something over the range as an accent piece. No DH, that was cool when your parents did it 22 years ago. Anything we pick will be dated and busy and annoying in 5 years.

[aprilsails]

Here’s a visual of the bath tile installation:

[aspentosh]

May 7, 2021 7:50:42 GMT -5 aprilsails said:

Here’s a visual of the bath tile installation:

That is what we did in DD's bathroom. And I feel like even though we did a large tile (12x24) with glass mosaic, the scale worked better because we had a larger strip of the accent. I am just not sure I want to do a larger strip of the penny and disrupt the straight herringbone. We tried to lay out the penny tile with the straight herringbone and it was funky. But I do love the vertical design you have going on!

[kitchenreno]

May 6, 2021 18:37:29 GMT -5 kitchenreno said:

May 6, 2021 16:06:39 GMT -5 aspentosh said:

I am in tile overload. How do people do whole house updates that require endless decisions? Anyway.

This is our shower tile. I love it. It's perfect. But I was having a hard time coming up with an accent tile that wasn't overpowering and worked with the scale of these tiles (4x16).

And now I am second guessing a brick lay pattern. I've come up with a few options but wasn't sure if they were trendy/a fad or if they were classic enough. 

Brick lay pattern with a 2'-ish herringbone strip using the same tile.
I'm inclined to remove this option because of the scale. We only have 8' ceilings, otherwise I'd do a wider accent strip and maybe like it more?
View Attachment

45* turn on herringbone. From floor to ceiling, no accent. Our ceiling height would give us from the highest point at the top of the photo to the tile just under the vanity, so you get an idea of scale.
View Attachment

45* turn on herringbone with a 8"-ish strip of gray/white penny tile. This is also our shower floor tile, which is why I have it on hand. 
View Attachment

H's favorite is the last one. I think I am leaning second because the tiles are so big and the pattern, therefore, is much larger and I worry the accent tile is making it look choppy. But he's digging his feet in with an accent tile (I guess it's his bathroom, too, lol) so curious thoughts. If these all look like crap, then I'll just mope and go back to a brick lay pattern with the penny tile accent. 

Oh, and I think we decided on a large scale (8") white with gray Carrara marble look hex tile for the rest of the bathroom floor. 

I posted some in progress pictures on your other post, but now I see we have similar ideas in other areas of the bathroom remodel too! I'm doing gray herringbone tile on the bathroom floor.  And I have marble-lookalike hexagon (2 inch) on the shower floor.

.  View Attachment

I like #2 or #3.  I think #2 is safer but #3 looks nice too.  Maybe see how it looks with an even wider penny tile accent?

Attachments:

[ellipses84]

Is there a reason you need an accent tile with the layout? If it aligns with something else, or helps the scale and makes sense, I can understand doing it, but I’m a firm believer that you don’t need to have accent tile. I see a lot of installations where tile doesn’t go well together. You can do a border around the whole field with the same tile. Out of your options, I think 2 looks the best but I feel like chevron pattern (which is what herringbone will look like in a band) is overdone. How about using the same tile rotated 90 degrees? A brick pattern for the field and one soldier course for the accent band.

ETA: I can’t find a perfect example of the soldier course accent. Another option is to do any layout of the same tile for the accent band but separate it with a tiny sliver of another accent band on the top and bottom. Use a small square or skinny rectangular tile, less than 1” high. I do think the herringbone band looks nice with the extra trim when the tile is all the same color.

[aspentosh]

ellipses84, no, there isn't a reason other than my husband thinks it looks boring without one, lol. In this instance I am firmly in the belief that it would look better without.

That being said, your last photo is what I was trying to simulate in my first photo because I LOVE how that looks. But I think the tiles we have are just too big for this to work on 8' ceilings.

[ellipses84]

May 7, 2021 13:43:44 GMT -5 aspentosh said:

ellipses84, no, there isn't a reason other than my husband thinks it looks boring without one, lol. In this instance I am firmly in the belief that it would look better without.

That being said, your last photo is what I was trying to simulate in my first photo because I LOVE how that looks. But I think the tiles we have are just too big for this to work on 8' ceilings.

I think it could work with 8’ ceilings. Just put the band lower than you might normally see it, with the bottom starting around wainscot height.

[libbygrl109]

Sad confession - for some reason #2 was coming up with #3, so I couldn't make sense of everyone's comments  I like #2 the best. The accent tile makes it the design look choppy.