Showing posts with label tiles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tiles. Show all posts

Saturday, November 17, 2012

The shower tile dilemma solved!

Thanks to everyone who commented on my shower accent tile dilemma – problem solved! Dawna Jones made the suggestion of combining this layout with two horizontal stripes to frame the white tiles:

vertical stripesImage via Decorpad

I love this idea, because I really like the look of vertical stripes, but wondered if there would be too much similar stripeage {I made that word up} with the floor tiles. Combining vertical & horizontal stripes is the perfect solution :-)

I did some mock-ups using Dawna’s suggestion and creating slightly different layouts. The narrower wall on the left is the end wall and will have two niches tiled in the blue accent tiles and the faucets in between the niches. The wider wall on the right will have the body jets which will probably be positioned to the right of the stripe. What I love about this idea is that the shorter tiles on each side of the end wall are repeated on the long wall, which balances things out.

LAYOUT 1shower accent tiles 

LAYOUT 2 shower accent tiles 2

LAYOUT 3showe accent tiles 6

LAYOUT 4

shower accent tiles 3 

LAYOUT 5

showe accent tiles 5

I love how putting design dilemmas out there to share with my blog friends can turn a dilemma into a solution :-) So feel free to let me know which of these five layouts you like best! Thanks again Dawna for the suggestion :-)

Happy weekend!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Bump in the bathroom reno road

Our bathroom reno is apparently stuck in limbo till I decide on the layout for the accent tiles in the shower. Although I think that’s just an excuse hubby made up so he can be lazy and stop doing all the grunge work for a while ;-) But in case he's telling the truth, HELP! I can’t decide what layout to go with. Now that the tub is being repositioned into a corner, we won’t be doing tiled niches behind it. So really, the only place where we’ll be using the beautiful blue accent tile is in the shower, and maybe on the backsplash above the vanity.

blue accent tiles

So my original plan to do this layout might have to be canned because it won’t really showcase the accent tiles:

tileImage via beautifulremodel.com

This is how the floor tiles will be laid out – porcelain 12” x 24” dark blue-grey tiles with strips of Bianco Carrara marble creating a sort of basketweave pattern.

floor 6

floor tile layoutTThe tile layout is Squirt-approved!

That would also be a lot of narrow band of accent tile, so I’m thinking I need to go with bigger bands of accent tiles in the shower. I’ve posted most of these inspiration pictures before, but here they all are in the same place – which one do you like best?

Vertical

vertical stripesImage via Decorpad

bathroom by v2Image via DesignTies | Design by Victoria Lambert, Edin’s House

vertical 1
Image via Drab to Fab Design

Horizontal

horizontal 1Image via Young House Love 

horizontal 2 Image via Arte Styling, designed by Kelly Berg

horizontal 3 Image via Houzz, design by Divine Kitchens

horizontal 4Image via Houzz, design by Harrell Remodeling

No pressure or anything, but I need you to help me decide ASAP! Which layout do you like best? Or have you seen another layout that you love and think would be perfect?

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

This or That x 6: Floor tile layout

I’m still getting comments in my pendant light vs. wall sconce debate. And I’ve gotta tell ya, it’s not going to be an easy decision! Just when I think I’ve decided sconce, I read a new comment and change my mind to pendant. And then back to sconce. And then back to pendant. The final decision may come down to which is easier to install. Whichever way we go, new electrical & junction boxes will have to be wired, and it’ll probably be easier to do that in a wall than in the ceiling. So I have a feeling sconce is going to win out.

This week’s This or That is more like This or That or That or That or That or That. I’ve come up with six different tile layouts for the floor, and I can’t decide which one I like best. I have a few favourites, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on them all. I showed you the final tile section in this post – a dark bluey-grey porcelain 12” x 24” tile with an accent strip in a Bianca Carrara mosaic:

floor tilefloor accent tile

image 

These are the six layouts, in no particular order…

#1floor 1 

#2floor 2 

#3floor 5

#4floor 4 

#5floor 3

#6floor 6

Let me know if you have a favourite. You can also let me know if you think they all suck, but I hope they don’t ALL suck!

Monday, August 27, 2012

The final tile verdict

We have floor tiles! Well, not literally in our hands, but I ordered them on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who commented on my moonstone vs. porcelain dilemma. The winner is…

floor tile

…the porcelain Volcano tile. And the icing on the cake – it ended up costing $4.50/sq ft, so a lot less than half the price of the moonstone. Which means we can splurge somewhere else :-)

We’re still working on some options for the floor accent tile, but we’ve decided to use single strips of Carrara marble mosaic:

floor accent tile

Maybe something like this:

floor mock up

The shower walls will definitely be the wavy tile:

wavy tile 2

And the niches in the shower and accent will be done in this blue mosaic:

blue accent tiles

I really like the accent tiles in this shower:

tileImage via beautifulremodel.com

We’ll use the small blue mosaic tiles to do the same in our shower (the mockup represents the wall that will have the faucet and two niches, and the long side wall):

shower wall with niches and stripes 2

This is the written-in-stone final tile decision, honest! Hubby plans to start demo at the beginning of September – can’t wait!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A bump in the bathroom makeover road

Our bathroom makeover plans were going along great – and then we hit a bump in the road. I’m the queen of finding bumps and potholes, just ask my poor little smart car ;-) Remember the beautiful moonstone tiles we were planning to use for the floor?

SR moonstone floor and niche

Saltillo will have to order new stock from their supplier, and the tiles won’t arrive for at least ten weeks. Booooo! Hubby doesn’t want to start the reno until we have the floor tiles on hand, seeing as they have to go in before we can do pretty much anything else once the demo is done. Which means the reno won’t start till November – I want the reno finished by November!

So last Friday, I embarked on a hunt for the elusive 12" x 24" moonstone floor tile. I had a list of 10 stores to hit, and I made it as far as… one. Lewis & Clark, I ain't. My expedition ended at Westboro Flooring. They don't have moonstone tiles, but they have lots of beautiful porcelain tiles. These are two that caught my eye – Midgley & West Volcano on the left and I-can’t-remember on the right.

tiles

I like that they both work with the striped accent tile and the Super White quartzite that we’re going to use. But now I’m thinking that it might be better to use the “sunflower” mosaic instead of the glass tiles for the accent  so I can still get some moonstone in the room.

As much as I love and want the moonstone floor tiles, I think we’re probably going to go with the Volcano tile (or something similar) for a few reasons:

  • They’re half the price of the moonstone tiles (big thumbs up from hubby!)
  • Quick availability (7-10 days after ordering)
  • Textured/honed finish is for better traction
  • Porcelain is more durable than moonstone, which scratches easily

The only real negative is that they’re not as pretty & unique as the moonstone tiles.

A big reason for doing the bathroom reno is for resale value. So pretend you’re a potential buyer and let me know – would you prefer a bathroom floor that’s pretty and durable and not slippy, or a bathroom floor that’s beautiful & unique, but scratches easily and is slippy?

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Fit to be tiled

It’s amazing how many tile choices are out there. It’s also annoying how many tile choices are out there – how do you choose?! I’ve picked up about 20 different samples for our bathroom makeover from Ceragres and Saltillo Imports, and now I need to narrow them down to a few. One thing for sure – moonstone tiles are going on the floor:

floor tilesImage via HGTV & Sarah 101

And I’d like to do a floor similar to this one in the shower using moonstone and Carrara marble tiles.

shower floorImage via Sarah’s House 1

And then things get complicated – I need to choose tiles for the shower surround and the niche behind the tub and the vanity backsplash. I’d also love to do Carrara marble wainscoting, but that’s a lot of tile, and it isn't cheap. So we’ll have to see on that one.

Here are the tiles I’ve narrowed the choices down to. I use the term “narrowed the choices” loosely! I love this wavy tile, and think it would look great as the shower surround. But I also like the idea of Carrara marble… oi!

wavy tile

Here’s the wavy tile with some of the possible accent tiles. I’m seriously in love with this striped tile. It’s 6” x 24”, so there wouldn’t be a lot of grout lines, which is great for the shower – the less grout, the easier it is to keep clean!

wavy stripes 2

These are moonstone & thassos “sunflower” tiles. They’d be a nice hit of pattern without being too in-your-face.

wavy sunflower

I love the sparkle of glass tile. These are two colourways – the one on the bottom would bring a little bit of goldy-green into the bathroom, which might be nice. The same goldy-green is in some of the moonstone tiles, so this glass tile would tie in nicely with the moonstone even though it’s a completely different material.

glass tiles long 2

These white square mosaic tiles are so pretty – you can’t see it too well in the picture, but they literally sparkle. They also come in a large format (10” x 20”, I think), so could be used as the main tile in the shower.

 sparkly sunflower

Then there’s these sweet little blue mosaic tiles. The colour is a great match to the blue in the moonstone, and I love how the tiles look like square drops of water.

blue squares sunflower

There are two different mosaics that include moonstone. This stacked layout:

DSC_0596

And this circle layout.

wavy sparkly circles 2

I really like them both, but I don’t know if I want to introduce tan into the  room. If I do, then I may have to re-think the Super White quartzite for the vanity countertop, which I’m pretty  much set on.

super white sunflower

Do you see my problem? So many beautiful tiles, so many possible combinations – I don’t know how I’m ever going to choose! Maybe if I can settle on which of these showers I like best, it’ll help me decide. I like the two vertical stripes in this shower. I think the glass tiles would be the best choice for this application.

vertical stripesImage via Decorpad

Going back to the Sarah Richardson bathroom, I could do something similar to this shower and niche with the sunflower tiles.

sarah rImages via HGTV & Sarah 101

I like how the accent tile in this shower wraps around the bench. I’m thinking I could do the same thing, but carry it along the floor and up the opposite wall which will have the faucet & shower head. The small blue mosaic tiles could work well here. They have a lot of grout lines, so they’d provide good traction on the shower floor.

tiles on benchImage via Houzz | Design by T.R. Construction, Inc.

Hmmmmm…. but now I’ve eliminated the striped tile, which I love and just HAVE to use! OMG, this is TOO HARD! Maybe it would work in the niche. Or niches. One big one or two small ones?

shower niche 3

shower niche 2Images via Trends Ideas | Deisgn by Candice Olson and via Houzz | Design by Michael Tauber Architecture

OK, onto the wainscoting. This one is particularly beautiful – but I’d do it in reverse, with light main tiles and dark accent tiles.

wainscotingImage via Decorpad | Source: The Tile Shop

I like how the wainscoting in this bathroom is carried right into the shower. If we do Carrara marble wainscoting, the top part of the shower wall could be done in moonstone to replicate this look.

dark tiles top light tiles bottomImage via Decorpad

I’m also drawn to the simple tile wainscoting in these two bathrooms.

simple wainscoting

simple wainscoting 2Images via Decorpad | Source: Graham Moss and via Houzz

And then there’s the backsplash. I love how my friend & former blog partner Victoria carried the backsplash tile right up to the ceiling in this bathroom that she designed. She used the same tile for the accent stripes in the shower.

bathroom by v bathroom by v2Images via DesignTies | Design by Victoria Lambert, Edin’s House

And this is a tiled wall I recommended for a friend & client of mine.

tiled wallImage via DesignTies | Design by Kelly James, JAX Decor & Design

I’ve seen a lot of bathrooms with a low backsplash , or no backsplash at all.

small backsplash gast architects

no backsplashImages via Houzz| Design by Gast Architects and via Trends Ideas | Design by Candice Olson

I have a feeling that deciding what tiles to use and how/where to use them is going to be the biggest dilemma of this whole project. What tiles and layouts do you like best?