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lillo_gw

Mongoct, treasuretheday , Sofla, enduring , raehelen....

lillo
10 years ago

Please help me with my shower stall design . As I am trying to minimize the use of the white polar marble because of maintenance , I had an idea. I only have two walls to worry about , as the third one has a low bench done in white calacata , deck tub height . Can I do half the height with the 12 x 12 porcelain Calcutta in a diamond shape , then I have a glass border , and then continue with the white polar marble 6 x 12 in a subway style . The bathroom floor will be the porcelain Calcutta in diamond shape . The tub deck will have the calacata marble and the walls will be the polar white 6 x 12 subway style. I don't know if I made myself clear . I am including a picture of the material I am using . I have to place the order of the material tomorrow . Thank you again everybody .

{{!gwi}}

Comments (31)

  • KevinMP
    10 years ago

    That seems line a lot if mixing and not necessarily matching, to me, and not just patterns but also materials. I think you'd be better off with subways if you're not going to or cannot use all calacatta. I know that's probably not what you want to hear, but I'm just afraid you may regret all of that going into one space.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The picture got lost from the thread .

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    You are right kevinMP . I think I wil have to stick to all calacata or all white polar subway tile . I am scared that having calacata all over floor , vanity, tub deck and shower floor and walls will be too much . That is why I opted to use the white polar marble in a subway style for the shower and walls.

  • enduring
    10 years ago

    I agree with Kevin, keep the tile choices down. I am looking at your samples above and the shiny 12x12 on the right is very pretty. Is that the porcelain? I'd be careful putting the porcelain next to the real stuff. I am thinking of using a remnant marble as a counter to my vanity, then using a porcelain marble that matches it in the shower. They will be separated by glass and about 4 feet of a contrasting floor tile. But that is it for choices, the marble and the contrasting floor tile. For me I would keep the materials to a minimum. I think with one material, several shapes might work out. But with several material colors keeping the shapes simpler would work better. That's my thought anyway.

    Have you seen the Houzz web site with bathrooms and marble? Some look wonderful. Some are practically all marble. But they are simple in their marble application.

    Best of luck on these decisions. You have a lot of passion for your project, let it help you, (and not let it get in your way), as you make your choices. I think I'm talking to myself with this last statement, I need to listen ;)

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you enduring for your advice and encouragement. I really need it . Yes the 12 x 12 is the porcelain . My DH wants me to do the shower walls and walls around the tub deck with it too . However I think that will be too much ,and it will be surrounding the real calacata marble on the tub deck . So as you said it will be next to the real stuff , that is why I chose the polar white marble for the shower and tub deck walls. I think I will only do the porcelain on the floor ,The calacata marble for vanity and tub deck,the polar white in 6x 12 in a subway style for the shower and tub deck walls . I will add the glass tile as a decorative piece and give some colour going around the shower at mid height . What do you think ? Is that still too much going on ?

  • KevinMP
    10 years ago

    I still think it's too much. You could do porcelain subways with the calacatta slab bench and calacatta accent tiles and trim. I don't really see those glass tiles working with everything else that you have going on, and the polar white looks like the Asian marble that's very crystalline and not like veiny marble (although that may read as white to you and solid, it still another totally different look with everything else). I think the porcelain calacatta on the floor will look fine.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Ok let me tell you what I think of doing now. I will put the porcelain tile 18x 18 in a diamond shape on the floor , which is 5,6 x 11.6 excluding the toilet stall which is 32x 30. I will use the same calacata porcelain in a 12x24 vertically around the tub deck and the shower walls . The glass accent I am using is a little different than this one pictured ( I had to return the sample to the store ) it's subway style glass with crystal and white marble with slate blue and sea foam green glass . My bath rugs are sea foam green and my paint color will be light slate blue . My towels are these 2 colors. So the glass tile is pulling everything together . I hope you approve of this plan now KevinMP . Your feedback ?

  • KevinMP
    10 years ago

    I wouldn't pick glass tile to go with cosmetic things and accessories. 18x18's are also huge for what sounds like a not huge space (mind is also small). So I just don't get the glass. I feel like you'll have too many materials and textures and sheens. But I may be alone. I'm stuck at a var at the Detroit airport traveling for work after two cancelled flights. At least I have this to do even if its not what you want up hear.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    So I should go back to the 12x12 for the floor . What about the 12x24 for the shower ? I think for the glass tile I like to give some color to my bathroom , even if it makes it a little buzier . I am a woman and I like color . White and grey for me is too formal, in French I will say austere . Good luck with your travel , and thanks a lot for helping me through this tedious process.

  • enduring
    10 years ago

    I'm with Kevin on this. I think the floor in porcelain would be fine. Even up next to the counter around your tub if they are matched. If they didn't match I'd scrap the porcelain tile adjacent to the real marble. In general I would try to keep the tiles as neutral as possible. Those are not easy to change. Accessorize with your paint, towels, and other furnishings. The tile will be there for decades but color trends are more trending. So If you keep the tile palette on the neutral side, you gain in flexibility to change your color mood. If you add these color features now with tiling, you are limiting for the life of the tile job, your color schemes. On the other hand if blue is a color that is always your color then you can have blue tile. In that case I would feature the color in a few select locations delicately. But that is just me.

    If you were to wear the same dress and jewelry everyday for a year, what would it be? I just made that up but maybe it would help you dress this room, remembering the room can't change over time, only the accessories. Isn't that why the "little black dress" is so timeless? You can just about wear it any where, dressed up or down with accessories and always look like a million; classy.

    Another metaphor I use to remind me to stay centered is. I have a box full of jewelry but I don't put it on all at once. The room is the body, so design the "body" for endurance and the capacity to wear different jewelry, depending on your mood.

    I think everything you've posted is very pretty but some of the combinations would be limiting for your deco future. Now having said that, I tend to be a little bit of a minimalist. In my bathroom what I love is the relaxing palate that I've got.

    Last, have you looked at Houzz? There are so many great pictures for inspiration and clarification. As I chose my dark slate floor with white ceramic wall tiles, I had to go to Houzz and search that color combo several times just to give myself courage that I was doing the right thing. There will be things that you wont like as you search, but that is instructive too.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Now I hate myself ,I am back at square one . For one last time I put my sample of white calacata next to the porcelain calacata to try to mimic the tub deck and surrounding wall tile . As you predicted enduring they don't match . The porcelain calacata is greyish , while the real calacata is Bright white . I don't know even if I want to use it on the floor . In the day light I couldn't see this big difference in color , but now it's really bad . I will have to make the round of the tile stores again tomorrow , to try to find a matching porcelain tile again. Pray for me .

  • enduring
    10 years ago

    I will and have a few breaks along the way. Remember you can back away and catch a breath.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you enduring for your huge support and advice. Wish me luck today. I'll update you on the results tonight.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Hey enduring , I hope that will work . I am crossing my fingers and waiting till tonight to see the samples at night . I am thinking of getting rid of the glass tile and go with this mosaic for the shower floor and as a trim going through the shower and top of vanities and inside the niches in the shower ( I think somebody on the web used it like this ) . I hope this time I get kevinMP and your approval .

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I think I got a winner tile enduring . I just put the porcelain tile that I had next to the one I got and see the difference yourself.

  • KevinMP
    10 years ago

    Progress! I like the new tile (if it's the whiter one). I don't like the Carrara mosaic. Can't you just get calacatta mosaic since its such a small amount or do something like I did: cheap Home Depot "Grecian white" 2x2 mosaic. It's $10 per square foot and you can pick through boxes at your local store to find the ones that look like your calacatta, etc. I think Carrara is just too gray and splotchy. Is the polar white out now?

    This post was edited by KevinMP on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 22:12

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Yes kevinMP , the white polar is out . Now i have another plan , since you and my DH don't like the carrera mosaic . I will do the new white calacata porcelain 12x12 on the floor . The 12x24 from the same porcelain will go around the tub deck and shower . I don't know yet how to lay it . Vertical , or vertical subway style , or horizontal subway style ? My shower is 5 x 4 with 2 glass walls . The tub deck is 6 .5 x 4 . I am tiling around the bath tub till 36 inch from the floor . Now It's my DH who likes the glass tile, so I will still run it at 36 inch . It will go around the tub deck into the shower and above the vanity . i will try to get you a picture of it , it's not the one that I have in my old selection . It blends better with the marble because it has white marble and clear glass crystals in it . For the shower floor I will go to the marble store where I got the other Carrara mosaic in my old selection and get it in the white calacata . Your feedback ?

  • KevinMP
    10 years ago

    Seems alright as you've described it. Don't they sell a mosaic in the porcelain you're looking at?

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Unfortunately no, but I think I will hand pick the white ones , I only need 16 of them . Oh , I have a 12x 12 niche in the shower . I think I will do the inside of it with the glass tile too. I'll just keep the marble octagon for the shower floor . Do you have any suggestions on how to put the 12x 24 in the shower and tub area . They are aligned with the shower glass wall separating them .

  • raehelen
    10 years ago

    Hi Lillo,

    Sorry, have been away from GW for a few days, coaching at a swim meet over the weekend; trying to track down excavators for landscape work we are insanely trying to do at the same time as the BR reno; picking up plumbing supplies; talking to carpenter custom-making vanity; looking at paint samples now that we have our tile...the list goes on, you know, you're in the same boat. My son and his girlfriend arrive tonight, so house cleaning and guest room/BR preparation are an immediate priority (though DH doesn't know why I go to the trouble...).

    Anyhow, I will be the lone dissenting voice. I love the glass tile you showed, and the one you described will probably be even better. Do you have samples that you can show us all together? I am using 12 X 24 tiles both on the floor of the BR and on the wall of the shower area. I have decided to lay them 'soldier style' I think it is called, ie all one on top of one another. My shower is 5' X 3' and I think the brick style (and with 12 X 24 they recommend offsetting by 33 1/3 instead of by 1/2) will be too awkward and involve too many cuts. I am going to centre one 12 X 24 in the middle, and then have a 12 X 18 (we will cut the tile) on each side. I am going to have 2 12 X 18 on the ends. Lots of wastage unfortunately, but I carefully drew it out on paper, and that's the look I like the best.

    I was at the paint store to try and find a match for my tile, as my cultured marble fabricator can make my pan in any Benjamin Moore colour I choose, what looked like a match in the store doesn't look as good at home, so off I go again today...

    Sounds like we're at close to the same spot in our progress, though DH and I are DIY'ing most of it. We have started on the ceiling. DH is thinking he may wait until our son arrives home to help him lift the bigger heavier piece up... so we may or may not get it done tonight after he gets home from work...

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Well raehelen , you probably saw my other thread on the web . I am back for the quest for a white white calacata porcelain . If I can't find it I don't know what I am doing ?. Should I go with all real marble on the floor and shower with a lot of maintenance ? I convinced my DH to carry out this bath Reno , so we can enjoy our bathroom , and when we come to sell the house in the future , it wan't need any Reno . However with marble everywhere , I am scared that it will get spots and etching , so it wan't look good for resale . That is why I opted to go with the porcelain . If I was sure to stay in this house forever , I would have gone with marble from the beginning . We are vey careful with our stuff , and I already taught my DH the lesson about squeeging the shower after using it and drying around the sink and removing any spots right away. I even told him to use his cologne away from the vanity. However , I have a cleaning lady , and connot predict what she will be doing in the bath . That reminds me of an elephant in a china store. I already started today telling her about the vanity , and not to put anything on it and using different cleaning products. Basically babying my real calacata marble . The good side is that the ceiling is already down with the canned lights in it . The electricity is all wired . We had to bring two separate lines from the basement out to the backyard along a pipeline on to the bathroom in the first floor. Today , I had the plumber putting all the shower valves , body sprays , shower head , water outlet for handheld shower . Not the fixtures just the lines . He changed the drain area for the new air tub ( I, am just imagining myself now taking a warm bubble bath in it . JUST imagining ) . He also changed the drain to go from one sink into 2 . He will be back tomorrow 8.30 to finish up . I think next we are moving to replacing the sky light and then doing the floor that I don't have yet.
    Thanks raehelen for supporting me with the glass tile , I really like it . Unfortunately , I think it's in big demand , so every time I get it , I have to return it pronto , because somebody else wants it. I will go to the store tomorrow and take a picture of it , if it 's not with another customer . I need a little prayer from everybody , so I can finalize my floor and wall selection , and move onto custom vanity and paint. Ohhhh , it's a never ending job . Have a good time with your son and his girl friend . My son has his finals next week , and will be back home after that for the summer break .

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Hi Lillo, trying to catch up with your decisions here. We are the same, I could never build a house, I would have to have two houses because the materials I like often do not go together.
    I would use the white calcutta on the surfaces, tub surround, bench, and vanity and tops of any pony walls or window sills.
    I would not use the porcelain next to it. The porcelain calcutta looks nice on its own but I would not but it up to the real marble. They will not be the same white in certain light. This leaves you with a dilemma on the front of the tub surround. I would go with a white subway tile for the shower wall in whatever size you wanted and the white 2 x 2 from home depot, cheap and easy to clean for the floor like Kevin suggested. I have it on the shower floor in my rental and it never gets cleaned and still looks new. If you want the marble for the shower floor because its yours master and you want the real deal, then swallow it and go with the square mosaic calcutta marble and seal it or white carerra. I didn't like the shower floor pattern example above, looks like the 70's. linoleum people pulled up. Also use the white mosaic calcutta shower floor marble or white carerra on front of the tub surround as long as its just the squares and not busy with inserts and a pattern. The white porcelain floor 12 x 12 is fine as long as it doesn't butt up against the tub surface. It will work fine, w rugs and I think you will forget its not the real marble and love its ease in cleaning. On another note, I have italian porcelain almost a commercial grade rectified throughout my home because I wanted easy cleaning and durable. Well, its shows water spots easily , looks hazy in areas and has a chip when a bottle fell out of the wine cooler. Point is no matter how we plan for durability and ease of cleaning nothing is perfect, so get what you love.

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Yeah , I know so many changes due to the fact it is difficult when you are considering too many factors . Matching colors, matching materials, durability , good looking and easy maintenance between three areas . Oh , I forgot good quality , may be this can go under durability , whatever . Any way, I think you missed on one step that I posted on another thread . The nice looking polished white tile , cannot go on the floor because it is ceramic not porcelain !!!! So now i am still looking for a nice floor to match the white calacatta . Which white tile would you choose for the shower and tub deck walls . Fortunately , I don't have to worry about the the tub deck surround because its going to be wood like the vanity . The 2 inch squares from Home Depot are they porcelain or what ? What color ?

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    I don't see why ceramic cannot go on floor. The floor I pulled up during my master redo was same ceramic as on walls carried to floor. Lasted forever, no problems w maintenance and no chips. Perfect condition. The tile on my rental property is also ceramic,held a nice shine and in excellent condition. What is the reason you are told not to put it on floor because its not rectified?

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I don't know why . My contractor told me that. When I went back to the tile shop where I got the sample , I found out that it was under the selection of wall tiles . There porcelain tiles are under the floor tiles. I think I has something to do with cracking and bearing of weight . I'll ask my contractor tomorrow .

  • sofla
    10 years ago

    Did you see the porcelinosa crystal white porcelain?

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    No I haven't checked that. The problem is that the tile stores that I checked ( 5 or 6 ) didn't have any selection of white tiles on the floor except the subway or plain white tiles . They didn't even suggest anything from a catalogue . I only checked one porcelinosa tile that I saw in one of the finished bathrooms on this web . It has like small printed squares on it . They were supposed to get me a sample , but nobody contacted me until now. I did order today the one on the right that has ridges . I'll lay it subway style till mid shower , glass border and then I'll lay the top soldier style . I was thinking to use silver grey grout or should I go with white ?oh , this will be for the shower . I am going tomorrow to get the white calacata marble tile for the floor . What kind of sealant did you use for your floor ? How may layers? I hear people do 2 or 3 .

  • peony23
    10 years ago

    Lillo

    I just came across your post as I'm now planning a similar bath. What is the 12x12 Calcutta porcelain in your pictures? I'm looking for a marble look without the upkeep. Do you have pictures of your final results?

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I ended up not using the Calcutta porcelain because it was turning grey next to. The real Calcutta marble used for the tub deck and counters . I went with the real stuff , the real Calcutta marble . I have attached the picture . The white look alike is a ceramic for the walls and it was from a store called the Tile Shop . Check my other threads you will see the different options and names of other fake Calcutta tiles . There are other threads by other members that are discussing this option . Good luck .

  • MongoCT
    10 years ago

    My apologies for missing your thread the first time around!

    Happy Thanksgiving to all...

  • lillo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    No problem Mongoct . You are always a help to a lot of people on this site . I am almost done with my MB . I am getting another contractor to correct the mistakes made by my other lousy contractor . Hopefully I'll be done next week . I'll post the reveal as soon as it is all done .
    Happy thanksgiving to you too

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