Choose a porcelain that looks like stone. You should still squeegee it, though, to make cleaning it easier.

Agree with catbuilder's post above. When you squeegee, it doesn't have to be an exhausting, back-hurting, time consuming affair (as my DH pointed out to me)--starting at the highest splash point, run the squeegee in a continuous motion across the wall in one direction, curve down and around to go back across the wall to hit the next lowest section and repeat the process until all walls are squeegeed. Then hit the floor--1 swipe toward the drain per section ought to do it. Our shower is ~4x7 and it takes less than 60 seconds to squeegee. With my previous method I was in there for about 5 minutes!

My aunt and uncle redid their master bath with natural stone and it was a bear to clean--she was in there for hours with the steamer. It was the only way she found that worked to get the walls really clean. I don't recall what stone they had though (they've since moved). Porcelain is much easier to clean and you don't have to worry as much about what cleanser/technique you're using and whether it will hurt the stone.

Have you looked at the Florida Tile Renaissance line as tile option? That line may give you the look you want. We have it in the Grigio color and love it. Our builder has used it in several of his spec houses in the 'Brun' color and it's gorgeous. The Noce color might be more similar to the Emperador Light you mentioned. Another line from Florida Tile that's similar is Las Olas, but it was discontinued about 18 months ago--but they may still have some in the warehouse, you never know! Plus going with a porcelain stone look-a-like will save you $$$!

Hope this helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Tile Renaissance

This post was edited by mydreamhome on Thu, Mar 14, 13 at 9:02

May have to try Mydreamhome's DH squeegee method. But, honestly, I think of the squeegeeing as a few minutes of exercise (which I sorely need, and rarely squeeze in the time for), and so beneficial as it keeps shower looking so good. I've even added wiping down with a microfibre cloth AFTER I squeegee.

Having said that, from what you are describing, I would recommend against natural stone, and go for a matte porcelain (could be stone-looking). Anything shiny/glossy is going to be more work to keep looking good.

Emser Perspective. Looks just like vein cut stone.