I love all your choices. I'm new to a bath Reno - so I'm hoping to get some ideas here as well. I look forward to seeing pictures of you finished bath.

Good luck!

Thanks for the compliment but I was hoping for an answer to my question, too. ;-)

Bumping up....

Thanks!

I would have thought the opposite - that vertical was more modern and horizontal was more classic. Our style is more traditional - clean-lined traditional or contemporary traditional or whatever. I've never been able to figure out what our style is.

But maybe I'm using the wrong terms.

When I say vertical, I think of this:

[modern bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2105) by seattle kitchen and bath Dawn E. Ryan, AKBD

And horizontal is this:

[contemporary bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103) by toronto interior designer Somers & Company Interiors, Gillian Somers

Both of the above show staggered grout lines, here is one of each with grout lines lined up:

Vertical

[contemporary bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103) by other metros kitchen and bath Cheryl Kees Clendenon: In Detail

And horizontal:

[contemporary bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2103) by detroit kitchen and bath Xstyles bath

Both of the above are described as contemporary even though one has the tile going vertically and the other is horizontal. Maybe it's because the grout lines line up that defines them as contemporary? Or not. I found one with vertical tile with grout lines lined up (as you suggested above) that is pegged as traditional.

[traditional bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by portland kitchen and bath Artistic Stone Design

Maybe it's the tile and other elements that define traditional or modern and not the way the tile and grout lines run?

I just noticed that in the last photo, the floor tile is run lengthwise with staggered grout lines, just as our floor will be. And here I was thinking that I'd have to both areas the same. But it seems that may not be true.

Any more opinions? I need to make a decision by Sunday. Thanks!

You have the floor tile of the same proportion and dimension running with staggered grout lines. You have a backsplash with the same proportions running horizontal with staggered grout lines.

So now...would it best to repeat that again with the horizontal and staggered grout lines, which, like you, I consider the more classic approach? I am not sure, but I think that could be too much, and maybe it'd be good to go vertical...and your last photo confirms my hunch.

Lisa...now you've entered my domain... I'd go vertical, staggered... Horizontal with the 12x24s is much more common these days and I would go against the grain. But where are you putting the accent tile in the shower? My second option would be to go horizontal, but not staggered.

Thanks, rhome and twn! I've tallied your two votes for running the tile vertically.

The more I look at that last photo, rhome, the more I like the way it looks. Were you thinking staggered grout or lined up grout as in the pic? I forgot to mention that the grout we chose is very, very close in color to the tile so it may not really matter whether we stagger or line up the grout lines. It will be similar in look to the 1st photo I posted showing vertical tiles. If we line up the grout lines, that's less cutting for the tile setter - that should make him happy - and less waste - that makes me happy.

twn, the 5.5" band of accent tile will run around the tub/shower area above the shower niche (linked below in case it affects your decision) but below the shower head. The shower niche is on the same wall as the shower head because the other two walls are exterior walls. I'll have to draw it out with the tiles running vertically to see how things work.

(twn, I often march to my own drummer, too. For example, I've always preferred honed to polished stone.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Noble shower niche

given that the accent tile is staggered and you are running it horizontally, running the tiles vertically AND staggered kind of makes my head spin. Id do it vertically and not staggered. or you could go ultra modern and run the accent in a wider vertical strip or even several narrow vertical strips in the shower.

I did 12x24 horizontally stacked soldier patter with glass accents. My floor tile is on a diagonal. Here are the best pics I have of it:

remodelfla - I love the way your bathroom turned out. Could you tell me the name of your 12x24 as well as the glass tile. Also, did you need to use any borders around the shower tile?

remodelfla, your bathroom is gorgeous! Thanks so much for posting pics. It really helps to see how you dealt with wrapping the tiles around the corner, too.

Last night, I was trying to figure out how the tiles would lay, mentally running them horizontally and vertically (without staggered grout lines, twn, good point). The tub is 32" x 60" and the tiles are 12" x 24" and 4" x 12" (bullnose pieces). Either way I run the tile, I'm going to have too little to cover the end walls and a little too much to cover the long wall, even with minimum grout lines. I need to measure the height of the wall above the tub and figure out where the shower head, niche and accent tile band will fall next. The accent band may tell me which way we run the 12" x 24" tiles. And I'm okay with that. ;-)

What brand and make is your tub, remodelfla? We plan to redo our master bath next and I want to replace the humongous jetted tub (used maybe a half dozen times in almost 18 years) with a one-person soaking tub that would get used more regularly.

Lisa, I just posted a pic of a bathroom layout that you may like. I also want to use 24"x12" in a 3-wall alcove (60"x34") and cannot figure out a pleasing layout. I came across the pic that I posted and I think I like the short wall with the full tile and smaller tiles on the sides. I do not want to do vertical, stacked or otherwise...I like horizontal stacked with minimal grout lines. I'm thinking on the 60" wall doing 2 full tiles with 6" tiles on the sides folding into the smaller tiles on the shorter wall.

Wadda ya think??

Oh, don't tease me! You said you posted it but I don't see it. Where is it?

Is this the post (linked below) that you mean? I thought you meant that you posted in my thread.

It's a nice looking bathroom but I'm not sure how it relates to my situation though. It's two different tiles and possibly different sizes (hard to tell).

Here is a link that might be useful: Tile Layout ?? w/Pics

The pic was just to show you how they did the shorter wall with one full tile. If you like the pic, you could do the same thing on your wall using the 4" bullnose, a full tile and then a 4" piece. You could then do 2 full tiles on the back wall with 6" pieces on the sides.

How were you thinking about doing the short wall horizontally?? As I said, I'm doing the same layout and am trying to get ideas.

Oh, I get it now, sorry. When I first looked at that pic, I couldn't tell whether the end wall was skinny tiles or large tiles made to look like skinny tiles.

We've decided to run the tiles horizontally with railroaded grout lines because it works out best for positioning the niche, shower head and accent tile. Not sure how we'll address the corners yet but we'll figure that out when the tile setter's here. Our friends who hired the same contractor said the tile setter is awesome and was very helpful with these kinds of decisions.

Now I need to figure out which kind of grout to use (contractor uses 2 kinds so we can choose which we prefer). But that's a subject for another thread.