I've installed several. I don't know that I'd WANT one, but they sure do look nice.

This is strictly my opinion, but, I think the river rock shower floor is trendy and the look will become dated very quickly. They look "cool" for now though:-)

My opinion: they feel great under my bare feet (can't speak for others on this of course). However, I've come to terms with the fact that I really don't like the way they look. I can't put my finger on why... I love the nature and organic-ness of them, in concept. Just not so much in practice.

nbptmomto3, my tile guy is in the process of installing a river rock floor in our shower as I write. It's gorgeous. My husband and I really loved the look of the stone, and we looked at a lot before choosing.

We were cautioned by one tile sales rep to be careful not to go too large with the stones, because you don't want to end up with huge areas of grout between the individual stones. It's good advice.

Apparently, maintenance can be a little more challenging than a simple tile or stone floor, but I think if you thoroughly rinse off the floor each time you shower, you won't find this floor harder to deal with than any other.

Aside from a river rock floor's beauty, it's also wonderful to walk on  like having a foot massage every time you shower.

If you like, I'll try to post a picture of our rock floor once Vince finishes laying it out.

IF I could have convinced DH to rip out the tub we never use river rock would have been my first choice of shower floor. I love how they look and I'm sure it would feel wonderful on bare feet.

I just put one in and we love it. It feels great and gives a nice organic touch to an otherwise modern shower. There is quite a bit more grout and we used Spectralock to help with the porousness. It may be trendy but we decided to do our bathroom to our taste and not for anyone else in the future.

pictures?

That last one looks like natural terrazzo :).

We have onyx *slices* in our shower--a bit less likely to collect water in the crevices in between. We sacrifice the foot massage but it still looks cool. We also used it as a vertical and horizontal accent strip in the shower and around the tub (and over by the vanities).

It does look alot like exposed aggregate terrazzo.

I don't care for the river rock on the floor only, when it seems totally unrelated to any other elements in the shower/bath.

I love the look! I really like the first picture that Bill posted above... the lighter colored stones. We're thinking about using them in our guest bath shower.

My sister has had river rock in her master bath for about 4 years and loves it. We have installed in our soon-to-be finished guest bath, which is basically my husband's bathroom. He really enjoys it as well. I don't believe that in either bathroom it'll go out of style very quickly, but then again it was only used in a small portion of the whole room and seems appropriate to the style of each bathroom. Here's what it looks like in our bathroom (I fully intend to share photos of the rest of the room, once it's done).

This was a display at a tile store. It's ceramic, not natural stone. You'll either love it or want to run screaming from the room, but have to admit it's original.

great pictures. Thank you. Still undecided!!!

In case nobody's noticed, I love my shower floor :-)

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and, BTW, I did running bond with my 5x5" tiles (ref other thread).

Pick what you love, cause then you'll love it!!

Pepperidge Farm, I love your shower floor too! I love all the river/pebble floors. Especially yours and the aqua one above the the one where the pebbles run out onto the floor. :)

LOVE that floor, pepperidge farm! I can't see any 12" squares, as you sometimes can with these kinds of things. And nopushover, I'll now be eagerly awaiting your bathroom pics. Very cool and sophisticated color/pattern choices--my eye keeps being drawn to the pony wall, of all places. Just a simple cutting and mounting choice turns plain tile into something fascinating.

Pepperidge farm, your floor is GORGEOUS!

A quick look at Vancouver's newest curbless shower.

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My main man Riccardo renovated this bathroom and built a beautiful shower for his family in their home - here in Vancouver, BC. The bathroom had a dated 1970's cast iron tub with a dropped ceiling. The entire room was taken down to the studs and retooled from the framing members up.

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The shower has both a rain fall head and a hand held mounted to the rock wall. A single frameless panel of 10 ml 3/8" glass acts as a water shield to most of the bathroom. The floor grades into the shower and the drain has been recessed below the subfloor to meet required 2" clearances. Very little overspray exits the shower and that slowly makes it's way down the drain.

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A large shampoo niche holds the every day items his parents and younger sister need. The glass shelf floats and is supported by a U Channel at the back and simply clear silicone on the edges. We order these shelves 3/16" - 1/4" smaller than the finished opening and brace the install with sticks and painters tape for a day.


Nice work Ricco!

You must love it Slyvia!

Bill,

Your showers with the river rock look great.

Can you tell us which tile and which river rock is in the first picture.

Thanks

I love the look of river rock, it's beautiful in the right setting. But I think it would be very very hard to keep clean. How would you keep the soap scum cleaned off, the mildew away? I think it would take daily scrubbing with a big brush.

We have it in our master and guest for two very different looks. Every person who uses the shower in either room comments on how great it is under foot.

In the master we used a light color that matches the considerable amount of Botticino on the walls perfectly, so the look is subtle but lends a contemporary edge. Still it is so great under foot and complements the exceedingly classic Bottcino so well I can't see it dating - it is not a strong enough statement as used.

Our guest bathroom is one big statement - lol. My vision for it was a stream through the wood because it opens to the outside and I wanted it to feel like you could be outside. I found an amazing bronze vessel sink with dragonflies that became my design muse. It is a long narrow room with the shower at the end. The entire bathroom floor is river rock. In this room the shower walls are slate and the river rocks are a multi mix that matches well. The installations was not the best - seeing Bill's picture makes me cringe a bit. It isn't horrible but I wasn't there for it - miscommunication of timing - and the grout was not cleared away as much as it should have been. ALso I used Costco pebbles for this bath and it was not as high quality - the stones were not as dense per sheet as the higher cost. I am still happy with the overall look. In some ways while aesthetically I notice it could be a bit better, practically it works better for people using the bathroom who have heeled shoes. But it does take someone with some experience with river rock to install it well. I supervised the master bath and it is much better.

As far as cleaning - we have had it a year now and it still looks great - it is unsealed and really doesn't take much effort at all. In the master we use oxy clean to keep the lighter grout looking good but the rocks don't seem to require anything special. We don't use bath products with much residue but it doesn't seem that upkeep is necessarily a big concern with using river rock.

chefbecky-- Unfortunately, I can't tell you what the name of the river rock is-- it was bought by the homeowner at a showroom down in Mass. somewhere close to Andover. As for the tile, though, that I can tell you-- it's carrara marble.

Bill, we love the look of that dark pebble floor shower, photo #2. Do you know what that wall tile and pebble is?

And I am curious, why do you say that "I don't know that I'd WANT one, but they sure do look nice." Why wouldn't you want one? We are considering a pebble floor, so I really want to know!

The pebble floor was bought at a local custom showroom here in Portland (Maine). It was a company I didn't recognize from Korea that mounted the sheets. As for the wall tile, that's a Dal series that's been discontinued called "Alaska Series".

The reason why I wouldn't want one is that unless it were a flat cut rock (as opposed to an actual pebble floor)it would bother my feet, which are extremely sensitive.

From a mechanical standpoint, I'm with Dianne. I'd be afraid it'd be tough to keep clean.

Mine are the flat cut rocks, and they are quite pleasant on the feet, but surely they are felt, so something to consider. Only on the floor, not sure about the walls and how that would go?

Haven't had a cleaning problem about 1 year out. We adhere to the *no bar soap* which I understand leaves more residue, so all our products are liquid (or Dove bar which is not problematic like the other bars).

We squeegee the walls, a little on the floor to grab the excess water down to the drain.

Mongo had mentioned that with river rock, one should pitch the pan a little more to aid with drainage, but we used a preformed base and were not able to do that, so far no problem.

With our great exhaust fan, the floor dries quickly too.

Very rarely, if I use a very heavy conditioner and get out immediately after rinsing, I think some doesn't get rinsed down, but by the next shower it is totally gone.

I sealed it with Miracle enhancer, and repeated in 6 months... I know it's not a measure, but it still beads up.

i like the look ...sometimes. it definitely screams trendy though. jmo.

Maybe we don't use very "scummy" bath products, but our pebble shower floor has been going strong for 2 years with basic cleaning--and I must sheepishly admit--certainly not as often as a shower SHOULD be cleaned!

Gldnfan, I'd LOVE to see photos of your bath, it sounds amazing!

I'm happy to hear the pebbles don't seem to require special upkeep, as cleaning is NOT by strong suit!

Given that, how does one minimize upkeep needs? Does a dark floor as seen above with dark grout stay cleaner looking? What about epoxy grout? Maybe it is overkill but I love the pebble look and want to minimize maintenance. Dirt prevention is the name of my game.