Choosing Bathtub Surround Tile

Hey Guys!

In our “old” bathroom, we had tile on the floor, the tub surround and halfway up all of the walls. It was a lot of tile. It was intense. In the new bathroom design, we’re scaling down the amount of tile used in the space. Only the floors and tub surround will be tiled. The jury is still out on floor tile. That’s just not a decision I want to make right now. But I had a lot of fun choosing the tile for the bathtub surround.

I had the opportunity to work with Jeffrey Court for this part of our remodel so all the tiles I’ll be sharing with you are from their line at Home Depot. It is my honest opinion that the line is gorgeous and I’m head over heels in love with it. While I was provided product, I am not being compensated in any other way. All opinions are my own.

At first, I really wanted to jump on the hexagon bandwagon. I had set my sights on the Geohex Mosaic Tile. But we weren’t yet sure if we were going to attempt to save the tile from our failed floor tiling adventure and it was a hexagon tile. So as sad as I was to set aside that option at the time, I now know it wouldn’t have worked with the overall design, anyways.

 

 

 

So then I thought, “Go big or go home, right?” I figured if I was going to be doing this, I wanted it to be what I wanted it to be. And I wanted color. Specifically blue. I felt like the Tiffany May Glass Tile would be stunning for the bathtub surround. So reflective and such a pretty blue with the slightest hint of grey. It feels fun yet sophisticated. But the reality of resale value has been hanging in my mind and I wasn’t sure if blue tile would appeal to everyone.

 

 

Instead of color I set my sights on interesting. I came across this pretty Dovetail White Mosaic Tile. Such an interesting shape, right? I love the uniqueness of it. It’s a balance between feminine and neutral and I think it would look stunning as a bathtub/shower surround tile. But I’m reminded of my Crushing On Vintage Bathrooms post and I pointed out over and over how I don’t want to deal with a lot of grout cleaning. So as pretty as this tile is, I talked myself out of it.

 

 

When browsing further for options, I came across the Xoxo Ceramic Mosaic Tile. This one is also so unique and interesting. I’m such a sucker for using materials and decor that I haven’t seen used elsewhere. I like that it kind of nods to Moroccan but isn’t the traditional tile that comes to mind when I think “Moroccan tile.”. Again, I talked myself out of this one because of the amount of grout.

 

 

Then in the tile deciding process I decided to swear off mosaic tile completely. And I found the gorgeous Royal Cream Beveled Wall Tiles. They’re like the classic subway tile, but the beveled edge makes them edgy and interesting. I was seriously so close to pulling the gun on this tile (and I’m thinking I might be regretting it a little!). Maybe something like this will make it’s way into our kitchen remodel when the time comes?

 

 

And finally, the tile that I did decide on, the Marrakech Ceramic Mosaic Wall Tile. I ended up going with a mosaic anyways! Seeing them in person, I have to tell you, my grout concerns are completely gone. The individual shapes are actually quite big. So it’s not actually a lot of grout.

And the tile itself is a lot prettier in person. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you have the option of seeing it in person (whether that be in a store or through sample ordering), definitely do it. It worked out for me because this tile is so gosh dang beautiful, but I didn’t realize from the picture that there’s an inverted bevel outlining each tile. It adds a lot of visual interest and I like that it makes this tile stand out from the standard “Moroccan inspired tile.”

And, the really cool part of all of this is that we’re using STAINMASTER Glamour Grout in Turquoise. Isn’t that so fun? I figure the grout is an easy thing to have fun with. I’ve seen grout tints and paints so I think it would be relatively easy to “conceal” this feature if the time were to come to sell the house. And until that time, white tile with turquoise grout sounds like such a pretty combination.

So the whole theme of the design for this space is “Global Craftsman Boho.” I think the Marrakech wall tile paired with the turquoise grout is going to fit this theme perfectly. Marrakech for the global and the blue grout for the boho (I like fun boho).

Please, tell me what you think! Did I choose a terrible tile? Does the reasoning make sense? Which tile would you have chosen? I still have a lot more decisions to make, and progress with the bathroom to share, so make sure you’re following along for updates! You won’t want to miss this after 😉