After finalizing our solid shower walls, we then had to address the shower floor tile. We wanted a tile small enough that we could have a non-slip shower floor, but big enough to have as few grout lines as possible.
I don’t know how to explain what I’m about to tell you—maybe I had a terrible fall as a young child—but I somehow have a fear of hydroplaning while standing on tile. Even just writing about it makes me want to grab hold of the edge of this desk to stabilize myself. I don’t know why, but there it is!
THE SURPRISE COLOR CONUNDRUM.
We wanted the floor tile to match our walls, but that was easier said than done. We soon discovered that since we’d gone for the beautiful porcelain slabs for our shower walls (a fraction of the cost of real marble), it was impossible to find a marble floor tile that matched it. And we tried. Oh we tried.
You see, the new shower wall material isn’t a bright white. Instead, it’s more of a creamy white. Which you wouldn’t think would be hard to match.
We’d already tiled another marble bathroom in the past, and I didn’t forsee this as a problem. What a surprise it was! We tried all kinds of marble tiles with more gold veining in them, but no. It was all about the “background” white being completely different.
The below tile pattern was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous, but I also wasn’t too excited about all those tiny grout lines, either. Thinking ahead to practicality usually wins!
I’d been leaning towards a herringbone pattern, but again…all those tiny, many many grout lines like this one. (Not to mention the wrong coloring with the shower walls.)
NON-SLIP SHOWER FLOOR BRILLIANCE.
After weeks of searching, we were hit with a stroke of brilliance. We had leftover porcelain from the three slabs; why not ask the fabricator if he could cut us some custom-size tiles from that porcelain? It would
- match perfectly!
- be exactly the right size! (Not too small and not too large = hard to find!)
The fabricator said yes, he could do that, and we promptly requested 2″x6″ pieces that we could lay in a herringbone pattern on the shower floor.
It would have been IMPOSSIBLE for us to get this exact size we wanted in the exact color we wanted for floor tile, had we not thought of doing this. Let’s test it out to see how it looks:
Approved? Approved! With all my heart!
Next step: finish tiling the floor then install our gorgeous hardware so that Matt and I can both dance around in this double shower—together!—and knock nary an elbow.
Click below to see a step on our bathroom remodel:
- How we changed our floor plan.
- What we used to DIY our bathroom floor tile for (almost) free!
- Where we installed wainscoting.
- How our tub makes our bathroom feel bigger.
- Why we created grout-free walls in our shower.
- How we designed our own vanity!
- Why we chose a wall mount faucet.
Or, you can see every single one of our house renovation projects HERE!
Hi
My guess is that you may have used Calacatta super white?? This is what I plan on using in my shower but it is a 48 x 48 8 millimeter thick porcelain, which does not have to be fabricated. They also have a 4 x 24 the exact same porcelain so my question is why did you not use that to cut up for the shower floor? I know these are new items at production, so maybe they did not exist at the time ?
**Can you please let me know if you used honed or polished tile for your walls?
Susan
I love the shower slab. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, do you know of any fabricators what will install this? Also, I’m assuming any granite and marble warehouses would have these porcelain slabs? Are they hard to find?
Thank you,
Sheri
Hi Sheri! We found ours at a local stoneyard in L.A. and they recommended the fabricator! If I were you, I’d start asking at the place where you find your slabs, as they’ll know best what’s local to you! 🙂
Cheers!
Jess
Hi Jess, I just found your site today so I’m making my way through all your brilliant ideas! Question about using these gigantic but thin slabs —
HOW / WHO did the rough framing and how did they get it as EXACTLY LEVEL and SQUARE as I am assuming it was required to be to accommodate the entire slab???
Thanks!
Gail
Aw, thanks Gail! 🙂
For the slabs we used a local fabricator because we didn’t want to attempt it just the two of us😆—they made sure it was exactly level and square themselves and I can only assume it was experience hard work on their part!🙂 (Or magic!!😂🤣)
Cheers,
Jess
Thank you so much for doing this post. Your bathroom is beautiful! I came across a large tile similar to yours yesterday and asked about it they had larger slabs and she said they did. I thought it was beautiful and solved many of my concerns if it would work and so came to search online and found this. I’d love to know which tile you choose (the name, brand if one). Also, I wondered what we would do for the floor as I have a sensitivity to mold and so one of the reason I wanted an easy to care for, groutless shower. Is it prone to mold? How do you care for it? I usual only natural cleaners as well but concerned they don’t always seem to prevent mold as well as the chemical ones. Also, what tub did you order? They are ripping out my bathroom tomorrow out of necessity (leak, moisture, resulting mold) so I have a lot to figure out quickly!
Hi Bon! I believe we have direct links to the tub we ordered here on our Shop page. Our hasn’t been prone to mold; I use a lot of baking soda usually. 🙂
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Best of luck!
– Jess & Matt
I’m wondering if it is non slip like you wanted? Seems like it would be slippery?
Not at all! In fact, I think I could have gone even bigger on the size of the floor tiles! 🙂
– Jess
I am looking to do the same for our shower. I have 2 questions.
1) Who was the fabricator? was it some one who does the counter top fabrication?
2) Did you install the slab yourself or you had a special installer for the large slab?
Thanks,
Harshad
Hi Harshad!
1) Yes, the fabricator also did countertops.
2) We had that same fabricator do the installation of the large slab.
Best of luck with your project!
Matt & Jess