We are onto week 3 of the One Room Challenge! This week I’m sharing all of the hall bathroom tile choices we made and how we got there. If you missed the first two posts about our hall bath you can catch up here:
We started our design knowing we wanted to use classic white subway tile. It’s neutral and very affordable. We used it in our last bath and also in our previous laundry room, so it felt like a familiar place to start. It lends itself to many different styles, and dare I say can go with just about anything. But, to keep it from leaning boring, we made a few strategic choices.
First, we chose to use the subway tile in the tub/shower surround, AND also along the wet wall (the wall that houses the plumbing for the sink, toilet, and shower). An entire wall of tile in this small bathroom might have been a little overbearing, so we decided to use the subway tile as more of a wainscoting outside of the shower. The tile will extend from the shower head wall, behind the toilet and around the sink as a backsplash. Similar to this bath from Rehabitat Interiors.
Second, to make the tile job look finished and tailored, we will be using trim pieces. This chair rail tile will cap the top row of tile along the wet wall. And this base tile will make the transition from the wall tile to the floor tile. Although the base tile is a different brand, the color matched almost perfectly to the Daltile subway tile we are using. But definitely do not assume all white tile is the same!
Third, I chose different materials for the shower niche. In our last home, with only the one bath, we carried the subway tile into the shower niche. With the exception of the back wall of the niche, which was a small mosaic tile. This meant the ‘shelf’ of the niche, along with the sides and top, were all 3×6 tiles. It seemed busy with all the grout lines and I didn’t particularly like cleaning the grout on the shelf. Not to mention the shelf was not completely flat since subway tiles do have a small rounded edge.
After living with that shower niche for a while, I realized there were better options. I now prefer a solid surface for the shelf, sides, and top of the niche, with an accent tile for the back wall. I make this recommendation to almost anyone who asks, as it adds one more detail to elevate any bathroom design. When searching Pinterest, I found inspiration in these two photos:
To pair with the white subway tile, I wanted something still neutral but with some pattern or texture. And I will find any excuse to add marble to a bathroom. First I landed on this marble penny tile for the back wall of the niche. Then I searched high and low for a marble, or marble-look material, for the niche surround. There are plenty of options out there, but I found many were outside of my budget. So, I kept looking for an affordable option that wouldn’t break the bank.
I finally dragged convinced Andrew to take one more trip to Floor and Decor. After looking at this marble window sill in person, we decided it just might work. Spoiler alert, it did! And I will share how we cut and installed it when I post about the tile installation. We only needed three pieces for our large shower niche, so for roughly $115, it was not a budget buster!
And speaking of scouring the internet, I also exhausted all options when searching for the floor tile. Remember my inspiration photo?
Why not just buy that exact tile, you ask? Its $109 PER SQUARE FOOT. Yikes. I’m all about splurging on an item or two that you absolutely love, but for roughly 30 square feet, $3,300 for floor tile was way above my price range.
So back to google to find an affordable option. As I searched online and visited local tile stores here in Austin, I found small scale geometric tiles in the blue family were not as common as I thought they would be. I really liked this 2″ Round Mosaic Tile from Bedrosians but at $20/sqft + freight and tax, it was still a little pricey. Then there was this hexagonal tile and this art deco hex tile, both from TileBar. But ultimately I decided the 8″, and larger sizes, were not the right scale for this small bathroom.
As I mentioned in my week 1 post, this is predominantly a kids’ bathroom, and also the guest bath currently. So, I wanted to introduce a pop of color in a geometric pattern to keep it fun and vibrant with the remaining neutral tile. This Blue Fishscale tile would make a statement, but I wasn’t convinced the floor was the best application for it. In the end, I decided on this 6″ blue hexagonal tile. I found the same tile at Home Depot but TileBar was actually cheaper. Always price shop online!
At first, I was a little concerned about the distressed edges. When I first showed Andrew the sample tiles, his exact words were “These tiles look like $h*t.” Then I informed him they are supposed to look like that. Insert palm to face emoji here. At that point, I entertained all the options above, plus about 4,682 more. But I kept coming back to the 6″ Sasha hex tile. Reading tons of reviews and looking at photos from those reviews finally eased my mind and we made our final decision.
Per the recommendation of the Young House Love Blog, we are using Mapei FlexColor Grout in Warm Gray. This specific brand and type of grout came highly recommended by several tile store experts and blogs I follow. This grout will be used for all of the tile in the bathroom. I think it will pair nicely with the bright white subway tile, play off the warm grays in the marble, and be a nice contrast to the blue floor tile.
Tiling has already started in the bathroom and I can’t wait to show you the final product. You can always follow along on instagram @elleandjaydesign to see sneak peeks of our projects in real time. And head on over to the One Room Challenge Blog page to see all the other DIYers participating in the ORC this Spring.
Tile Picks:
- White Subway tile, Home depot
- White chair rail tile, Home depot
- White cove base tile, Lowes
- marble penny tile, Floor and Decor
- Marble Window Sill, Floor and Decor
- Tile Grout, Floor and Decor, Warm Gray
- Blue Hex tile, TileBar
This is really useful, thank you for sharing!