HOME TOUR

Picking tile for a new bathroom is perhaps one of the more expensive purchases you’ll make for it. I for one love a good tile but I’m not here to convince you to spend an arm and a leg if you don’t have it. The options for lovely designs are there for less but I do think it is one of the easiest ways to elevate a design and a worthy place to allocate funds if able. I have an eye for expensive things (or so I’ve been told) so I find myself gravitating towards the handmade and real stones which come at higher price points given their fabrication. But how do you decide what to buy and where to buy it?

PICKING TILE

I think the most practical first step is determining your budget because that dictates where you go with your design. This one feels like stating the obvious. If your budget is tight you aren’t going to go to Ann Sacks. In this case, for my own home, in a space that could essentially become a Primary Suite rather than guest room, we opted to allocate more of our budget towards tile because I specifically wanted to make a design impact with it. After budget, I decide where to buy tile based off my design. What am I looking for and were can I find it? Visit showrooms, peruse Pinterest, visit tile sites. I wanted real marble and Zellige tile. What the heck is Zellige tile? It’s that beautiful, shimmery tile you’ve been seeing all over Pinterest and Instagram for the last 3+ years. Here’s an article in House and Garden.

SHOWER WALL TILE DESIGN

I knew I wanted to do a striped pattern. Some form of stripes and I polled you all on Instagram to help me figure that out. My first thought was a single row of horizontal stripes alternating colors. I laid out four options just to be sure and then went with my first one, go figure.

ZELLIGE TILE SOURCES

I started with my Zellige tile hunt and went to the main websites I could find:

Riad Tile

Clé Tile

Zia Tile

I ordered samples of anything that caught my eye from these retailers above because I thought, for a brief moment, I wanted to go bold. As in colorful which is having a big design moment right now. However, when those samples came, I went with what actually had my heart–the creamy tones. And it dawned on me, what about a subtle stripe? Statement design doesn’t always come from color but from subtle patterns and creative tile layouts.

That idea excited me more than the bold ones, at least for this bathroom. Riad Tile won my vote because they make Zellige tile in a thin thickness, ie what feels like regular tile. Often with handmade tile, the depth is very thick and that means you prep your floors and surfaces in a very specific way to accommodate the depth. With Riad Tile’s thin Zellige, you don’t really need to do that. I ordered the 2″ x 6″ x 1/2″ thick tiles in Natural White (the darker stripe) and Snow White (the lighter stripe).

SHOWER & BATHROOM FLOORS

I matched the shower floor to the lighter stripe of the walls (Riad Tile’s Snow White color) but chose the hex shape (3.5″ x 4″). I carried the hex design onto the bathroom floor but went with a 5″ Eastern White Honed Marble Hex. When it came I was a bit disappointed by the number I needed to pick through and pull out. There were very specific white ones and very specific grey-toned ones. I pulled anything dark because I wanted a more subtle feel to the floor. I ordered through Tiles Plus More in Natick, Ma.

GROUT–THE DECISION THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO CRY

This decision makes everyone want to die. You’re not alone. You get this beautiful tile laid and you’re so happy with it and then WHAM! You need to pick the grout which can very potentially ruin the whole darn thing. Your recourse if you select wrong is grinding it out. Yep you heard me correctly. The cost and the time makes me want to cry just thinking about it. Some people will literally paint or stain their grout to avoid this. First world problem but a pain in the freakin’ *ss. I wish I had more tips for you on this one. Keep the grout colors and analyze them in different lights. I also HIGHLY encourage a darker grout selection, at least on floors, because mildew and dirt suck and will show more quickly on light grout, avoid white. My shower walls in particular, were tricky because I have two tile colors. I ended up matching the grout to the darker of the two tiles. We used Laticrete grout “frosty” on the bathroom and shower floor and “Light Pewter” on the shower walls.

Hopefully at some point I’ll be able to show you a finished space. We’re still in “trying to get subcontractors to come back and finish” land. It’s been exhausting.