Powder Bathroom Progress: How We Chose Our Marble Floors

Today I am sharing our powder bathroom progress & how we chose our marble floors. This project, as you might know from my instagram stories, has been taking up most of our time. While I am enjoying every second of the “in progress-ness” about this space, Will has been shutting the door every time he sees it open! He can’t stand the disorder, but I thrive on it. I have been so thankful for the creative freedom that he’s allowed me to have in here. So, to go in order of how this room came to be, I started with the vanity. You can read about that here.

Then, I moved on to the floors. I knew very early on that I wanted marble floors.  It is a classic choice and I knew if we were doing this, I wanted to enjoy it for a very long time. I thought briefly about what kind of finish I wanted and weighed the pros / cons of each and came to a decision of a honed finish. Polished floors + wet feet (if we ever get a pool) are a recipe for disaster, so honed was really a no brainer for me.

Next, I wanted to pick a color. Black? Gray? White? Hmmm.  I usually like to keep things monochromatic (like white countertop/white floor) just because that is safe and easy and I feel is always a winner. But after I kept thinking about it, it was boring me. Our breakfast area, kitchen cabinets, and hallway right off the bathroom are all white and so I just wanted that space to feel different. I was actually tired of seeing white!!

Trying to break away from my monochromatic taste is what led me to the decision that if I do black floors, then I want a white countertop, or vice versa. When I pictured the bathroom and how it flowed off the kitchen area, I really wanted your eye to be drawn there. I can’t explain this reasoning because it was more of a “feeling” than anything, but black marble floors didn’t really scream to me “LOOK OVER HERE!”. Don’t get me wrong, I love a black floor and would love it in a laundry room or shower, but our powder bath just didn’t feel right!

Once I decided on white/gray, I searched every tile pattern I could find for weeks and weeks. I will list a few of the ones that captivated my eye and why I decided against it.

Love, but afraid warm tones would appear like dirt.  

     Classic. Will’s fav. A little too vintage for me.

 

My favorite!!! But Will nixed it. Not sure why!  

    A little too busy for such a small space.

Gorgeous. Small grout lines. Way too expensive.  

  Love the subtlety of it. Wasn’t sure if I’d love longterm.

 

As you can see my favorite was the hexagonal pattern with the black details. I LOVED this one and still do. It reminded me of black and white penny tile but with a different spin on it. Will immediately said no when I showed him so back to the drawing board we went!

One day, I showed him this plain hex marble and he liked it! I went as far as ordering a sample and while it wasn’t his number one choice, it was a good compromise for the both of us. I tried to keep the floor relatively simple because A) I wanted something more classic B) Wanted something more subtle so that the other stuff could shine: Vanity, Lighting, and Countertops. This pattern wasn’t too busy for my eyes, wasn’t too geometric for my taste, and seemed to have a great amount of variation in the coloring, but not too much.

Once we decided on the tile, it was time to prepare for the actual installation AKA the fun part!!  For now, enjoy the progress picture!

And the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The completed tile!!!

 

 

I love how it turned out. The transition from floor to tile was my biggest worry and I think it turned out perfectly. I really wanted to avoid adding any sort of transition piece and I’m so thankful we didn’t have to do anything. The floor depth is actually even closer to the wood floors than our previous tile was. The grout color is perfect to me. If you haven’t been seeing instagram stories, I had a difficult time deciding between a light gray or medium gray grout. I’m SO happy we ended up going darker.  It looks even better than expected. I know it will dry slightly lighter and I’m still excited about that too. I will get another post together talking about choosing the grout color, what I used, and the installation process.

Thank you for letting me share my thought process on how we came to this special tile. I hope that maybe it could help you out some day if you are deciding between tile because it’s not an easy decision! I don’t know about you but a new tile floor is the best possible Christmas present a girl could have! haha Enjoy your Christmas holiday season,

More Reads

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A Little Bit On How I Got Here

2022 Goals For Hayden Interiors and 4 Ways to Love Your Home Right Now