How did you decide on your bathroom tile?

sugardumpling

My h and I went into to HD to order what we thought would be it but he had a change of heart when he sat down with tile guy.  Old farm house, small 1/2 bath with washer/dryer hook up. Were going to go with wood look tile in a white wash tone, wainscoting, light blue/grey/green paint.

Then the hubs questioned whether it is trendy and if it would hurt resale.   He then gravitated towards 12x12 white marble, on the diagonal with border of Greecian white octagon tile.  

I want something that is not hard to maintain but fits with the home. I would be happy with plain white tile with a mushroom or black grout. So I ask you dear nesties: how did you decide on your bathroom tile, from material, to layout to color.  TIA!

luvtodanz

We decided to use procelain tile for our bathroom because it is easier to maintain and with hard water it shouldn't discolor. As for color, we wanted something neutral (for painting purposes as well as resale) and something with a little bit of texture. We just did the standard straight layout with no accent tiles or anything, so I can't really help there.

simplein06

Go to a place that specializes in tile, don't go to a big box.  We found that there were lots of better options at better prices elsewhere.  With more options they were better able to find something we liked at a price we could afford.  An experienced sales person is worth their weight in gold. 

If you tell them what you want and the type of house you have they should be able to guide you. 

SSM&JLM

I specifically wanted a non-traditional floor tile.  We already had our vanity, so we went with a hardwood looking tile that's pretty l light since the room is long and narrow.

TarHeels&Rebels

I agree with your DH.  It is very trendy and doesn't belong in an old farm house.

I'm a classicist with tile - put down something plain that doesn't say anything. I'd rather speak with my decor than with my floor.  (Now if I was a millionaire building the next Biltmore, sure, I do fancy Roman style tilework, but I'm not and that doesn't belong in my suburban home.) 

Another poster in another thread said it well - there's dated and then there's dated-dated.  

Dated:

OMG dated-dated

 

You can live with the first one because it's plain.  The second one...needs no elaboration

As for the material itself, I'm not a big box hater.  They can really meet your needs sometimes.  I got 12" square tiles for I think 69 cents each at HD for the bathroom remodels in my reno house thing in my siggy.  For this current house, this is a small town, and while there is an HD, it's small and poorly managed, so I went to a tile store.  I asked them to show me only the reasonably priced things.  I again chose a completely plain tile that looks much like the one in the house in my siggy.  I laid the tile in a normal square pattern in the guest baths and put it on the diagonal for a little visual interest in the master bath.  (It costs more to put tile on the diagonal because there are more cuts for the workers at the edges of the room.)

FoxinFiji

simplein06:

Go to a place that specializes in tile, don't go to a big box.  We found that there were lots of better options at better prices elsewhere.  With more options they were better able to find something we liked at a price we could afford.  An experienced sales person is worth their weight in gold. 

If you tell them what you want and the type of house you have they should be able to guide you. 

I agree go to a real tile store and you'll see much better options and prices.  The marble at HD really, really sucks...inconsistent color, softer than that type of marble should be, chipping, etc... I've read lots of horror stories on home reno blogs about it.  Personally I would never use real marble on a floor because of the maintenance.  There are so many porcelain look a likes that have the same look and need no sealing or special care.  Here's our floor in the main bathroom (sorry for the toilet pic this is the best picture showing the coloring I have online right now):

It's American Olean tile in Catarina Coliseum White.  You can find it any real tile store.  We got the 12x12 were $2/sf and the 18x18 were $2.15/sf at a tile wholesaler who sells to the public.  Much, much less than real tile would cost and requires much less maintenance.

NassauBride

We just selected our bathroom tile this past Saturday. We picked colors we liked and also kept in mind how easy it is to clean. We had white marble tile on the floors in our old house and I will NEVER do that again. It was so hard to keep clean. Here is a collage of the tile and other fixtures we ordered on the weekend.

 

(see link below for more information)