Picking Bathroom Tiles, More Progress, Some Encouragement...

Subway tiles seem to be the most popular style
at this time. These tiles are on a sheet that gets installed 
all at once.  These are white and have a slightly transparent
quality to them. They are nice for a glitzy look.

It seems like the ball is rolling again. Every time the ball starts rolling it is stopped by some unforeseen catastrophe. A broken water line, a failed heat pump, a grown child with a house maintenance problem of their own....that we get suckered into....Finally there has been a bank of time that has helped more this project along. We missed the summer, that came and went while we were wrapped up in this nonsense. To me it is just not worth it anymore. I have done this house renovation for too much of my life and I am done with it. I'm ready to be a tenant!

Another subway tile...there are lots of variations...
this one is a ceramic with a textured look. It would be
pretty boring alone so it needs something to pep
it up a bit.

The progression is giving hope to the final product. The final product is looking very seductive. A new clean level bathroom is a luxury we haven't lived with in eight years since we bought this old place. This eight years has given that clean and new look a gravity it has never held before. I want to wake up in clean and neat places, no spackle dust, no building materials in my face. Needless to say, we are not there yet. If you are considering a project like this measure its effect on your life.  It has a way of taking it over and you don't have a life. That gets to be discouraging and painful. Think about it many times before you take up the saw, sledge hammer and crowbar. You could save yourself a lot of time, money and happiness, and maybe even your relationship.

This flooring tile is sold to match the larger subway tile above.
The squares go on the floor and the subways on the wall for a nice
contrast and interest between the two

As for the bathroom aspect of the project, it  is decision making time. We went out to shop for ceramic or granite tile, and found many possibilities we thought we could live with. I'll show you some of them in this posting.


In the style of subway tiles, we found two neutral tiles that would work. But, after looking we decided we want something more traditional. These are ceramic and we have decided that they are too modern for an old house.

This is a sample suggested combo being shown in the store.
These are shown at Home Depot.  We have done well with
Home Depot for many of our purchases,   This tile is
marble, yes, marble. We decided that it is an older more
traditional material and that we should try to lean that way in
our choices. There are many items to choose from.

I really like this combination of shapes colors and details.This is a sample that was posted in the store as a suggested combination of elements. Each gets purchased separately and then is combined at installation. There are squares about 3"x3", longer bar shaped molding pieces above and below a sheet mosaic of smooth river rock.  It is all mostly gray and white, but a big variety of values are seen in the marble tiles. None of it is regular, because it is a natural product,only nature controls those colors. The irregularities are the attraction and yet undesirable to some folks who like a very uniform look in their tiles. We like the river rock and the bar moldings, but we felt the small squares were going to be too difficult to clean  in a shower.  We have chosen a large 12" square marble tile for the walls, river rock mosaic for traction on the floor of the shower and the moldings with some blue pearl granite bars in between the marble moldings. A picture of that molding and tile combination is shown below.

White marble tiles, blue pearl granite bars in between marble moldings..All forms a border at the top of the shower stall. The
little tabs in the photo are the spacers used for placing the tiles in the right spot on the wall, and holding it there.