I'm doing something similar. I like the band of mosaic but I think it should be three or four rows instead of two. Your choices look really cute and fun for a kids bathroom! What are you planning for counter tops and stuff?

I also like the band, and yes, they can be made flush pretty easily. You might want to emphasize to your installer, though, that this is what you expect, just to be safe.

These aren't quite as bright a blue as yours, and they're more of a rustic looking glass, almost like seaglass, but this might give you an idea of what it would look like with the band:

I think the band would work best, and be much easier to install. You might want to find clear glass tiles mounted on film instead. Even with white mastic behind them you might see the mesh pattern through the tile. I think an 8mm glass tile might match the thickness better than the thinner glass, and give you more depth too.

I would think about using both, a running line *and* 3 or 5 or 7 (depending on the size of the space) little extra spots at different heights, just for fun :) It is a kids' bathroom, after all.

I drew out all my choices and figured out what I wanted from the drawings.

I have a similar issue in my upcoming bath for my daughter -- we're using *large* Crossville porcelain and 3/4" glass tiles as accent. A stripe is so normal, so expected...I'm thinking I may break it up a bit (I'm doing the install, so I can play around with it) and maybe make it look a little more flowing/uneven, without *too* much cutting.

We did this using white 4 x 4 ceramics and Daltile glass mosaics. To compensate for the depth difference, we used the 4 x 4's bullnose style where they butted the row of glass mosaics. Of course bullnose are a bit pricier than plain, but it worked really well. The tiles looked like "normal" ones but they gently slanted in to the lesser depth of the glass. I am sorry I don't have a close-up pic; we sold the house. But you get the general idea here:

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Thanks, everyone - I really appreciate the suggestions. I think we will go with the band, and maybe widen it to 3 rows.

For the rest of our choices, we have an Ikea double-sink washstand in wood with white ceramic sinks and chrome fixtures. The toilet is a white American Standard. The floor will be white 12x12 tile. We're also planning to do beadboard like staceyneil - thanks for that pic! And thanks, Bill, for your pic - that's very helpful - I was hoping you would weigh in. Blondelle - I'm also worried about the mesh showing, so I'll look into the tile-on-film idea. Flyleft, I hadn't considered both options together - I'm putting together a mockup :)

Our glass tiles (Daltile) had the film on the "good" side, rather than mesh on the back. I tiled the whole kitchen backsplash with them (in addition to the stripe in the shower) and it was easy to do. The tiles are very translucent so you do see whatever's behind them!

staceyneil, what an interesting idea! I've never seen that before. who came up with that? And I really like your storage behind your showerhead. Lots of smart things in that design :)

I did decorative bands in all my showers with subways. I had 6 shower stalls to do so I did something different in each bath as I wanted it to have some style but didn't want to blow the entire budget. Using subway throughout helped keep cost manageable.

This is my utility bath/shower and though it is 4 x 4 thought you might want to see it anyway.

Thanks flyleft... which idea were you asking about (who thought of that)?

As far as the storage, we had absolutely NOTHING before except the small original built-in medicine cabinet. I agonized over how to remedy that and in the end we wound up ditching the old clawfoot tub (since there was no place to put a seperate shower and showering in a clawfoot is a colossal PITA) and swapping the toilet and tub locations. That allowed us to utilize the extra space in the corner for storage. The soil stack runs in a chase in the very corner, so basically nothing else could go there.

We DIYed most of it including the demo, to joists which had to be beefed up, moved the plumbing and electrical, framed and trimmed the new storage area, installed the hardibacker. I was going to do the tiling but I was really "over it" at that point and we needed a useable bathroom fast, so we hired a tiler on a recommendation. He used my materials and my design and charged us I think $600 to do the shower and floor. Best money I ever spent!

We were on such a tight budget that I could not afford to use nicer tiles than the white 4x4s from Home DEpot. But I wanted it to have more character and style than that. I had the DalTiles left over from the earlier kitchen reno, so I used them to continue the beadboard's horizontal line around the room.

bathroom "before":

acountryfarm - yours are some of my inspiration bathrooms! I absolutely love what you've done - they're consistent but different, and very beautiful.

Sorry, could I have been vaguer? :)

I meant the idea of using bullnose tiles as transition to lower height glass tiles. I'd never heard of that before, bullnose used in the middle of a span rather than as true edge to non-tile.

And WOW, $600? Where do you live? Would he fly out? :)