choosing tile

The basement bathroom is coming along. Slowly but surely.

We have gone back and forth a little bit about the materials we wanted to use throughout the bathroom. We know there's a possibility of this room getting water in it from the basement walls, or through the floor if there's a high amount of rain...so we have to choose something that won't get ruined if it gets wet, and won't mold.

For a while, we were talking about putting a bunch of loose rocks at the bottom of the shower. Hey, rocks don't mind water, right? But then I came across a polished sheet of rocks at The Tile Shop and have started to build the room around them. The grout will be a concrete mixture...which also doesn't mind water on it. Rocks and concrete. It might sound weird but it's shaping up beautifully!

I have chosen three tiles so far.
The rocks for the shower floor:

We want the walls to be light and bright...and cheap! We don't want to spend much in this little bathroom. But we also want it to look great. After searching through cheap ceramic options, I fell in love with a white ceramic that has a very subtle gray stripe in it (almost impossible to photograph - but beautiful in person). It's bright, and still interesting. The price is also right. Retail it's only $3.99 per square foot.

 

Then I wanted an accent tile to put about eye-level in the shower. I thought of something sparkly, like glass but couldn't commit to a color. I didn't want clear glass. I love the look of blue or green glass in a shower, but wanted to stay as neutral as possible so I wasn't stuck with that color scheme forever. I stumbled across a mirrored mosaic and it seems perfect! Although, you should have seen the look on the salesman's face when I asked if it would stand up ok to being in a shower. Ummmm...you want mirrored tile all over your shower? Ha! Yes, but it's an accent - I'm not mirroring the whole thing! I think it will be interesting and reflective to put a couple rows of this tile around the whole shower.

It's very pricey - but since we're using such a small amount it should work just fine.

Here are the three together:

I still need to choose a main floor tile. It will probably be a dark ceramic or maybe even a slate like our kitchen floor. We will be using a gray grout everywhere, even with the white tile. We've learned how difficult it is to keep white grout clean in our other bathrooms. I'm still happy with the white grout with our marble tile, but I don't want to fight and fuss with keeping white grout pristine in a basement. So, gray it shall be.

I'm starting to think about light fixtures for this bathroom too. We are reusing a pedestal sink and mirror from a bathroom we gutted, but instead of reusing the ugly lights, I'm leaning toward a mercury glass fixture similar to the look of our bedroom pendants.

I love the design process. I just wish I was spending someone else's money. :)