AAACCCCCKKKKKK!!! Picking tile or...

[malkin]

I know why people hire a designer!!!

I really, really have to make up my mind about tile for 2 bathrooms (floor and walls for one, floor, shower walls and shower floor for the other) so it can be ordered, purchased, etc. and I don't really have the skills needed to do this.

I am to the point of telling myself that if it is this hard to decide then it probably doesn't matter.

How bad is it? It is so bad that I am 'inspired' by the tile in the opening credits of 'Shameless.'

[OakLeaf]

Tile is the easy part.

Trust me.

Wait until you get to cabinets.

..... more to it than "just" the bathroom, but a year later, we're going to have to have everything re-quoted and hope it's still available so we don't have to re-choose ...

[Crankin]

My only advice is don't do it in a rush.
I have mostly left these kinds of decisions up to DH. He came into our marriage, 32 years ago, with this kind of knowledge. Don't ask me how a 23 year old guy knew about picking tiles and window treatments. When we started the remodel on this house, I decided to be more participatory. I mean, DH and I have the same taste, but...
So we picked the cabinets, tile, etc for our kitchen and powder room, no issue. Those got done first by the contractor. DH did 2 other bathrooms on his own. Then, after about 8 weeks, they started on the master bath. Sometime in about the 4th week, we had to go and choose the master bathroom tile, granite and cabinets; this was a total reconfiguration/rebuild. It was after work and I was hungry, and the place was closing. We chose the tile, no problem, but I just couldn't decide on the cabinets and granite. So we told the guy, just choose the same as in the kitchen. Also, I was shown a plan for the bathroom, and said "fine," without really looking. I ended up with a ceiling to counter tall cabinet, that divides the double sinks in half.
I got used to that, but inevitably, everyone who sees this has the same reaction as me: that's weird. And having the same cabinets and granite as the kitchen is just boring. It's very high quality, but I wish I had chosen something different.
Next time, I'm going back to leaving it to DH. I just don't have patience for this stuff.

[Irulan]

Don't rush it. We buy samples and lay them out in the area we are working on, and look at them at different times of the day in different light. Slowly, by the process of elimination we make a decision. Sometimes it takes us a couple of weeks to decide. Be sure to lay them out in the light you'll be installing them in, and with any counter or other tiles you'll be using. Here's two of our jobs.

[jessmarimba]

I will say, you make me quite happy that I have NO tile in my bathroom

I would like to - someday - tile my kitchen counter. But since I want it to match the period when this house first had a kitchen installed, it won't be that hard to choose a design.

[OakLeaf]

I will say, you make me quite happy that I have NO tile in my bathroom

Still gotta pick fixtures, flooring, cabinetry, lighting, wall covering and ceiling paint... It isn't "tile or nothing," it's "tile or shower insert and flooring and paint and/or wallpaper."

[Irulan]

I love my tile. Looks great, durable, easy to clean.

It was after work and I was hungry, and the place was closing.

Why would you even put yourself in this position for decision making? At least, we don't. If one of us is even on the verge of bonking or whatever, we leave. We eat before we go out looking, and plan for enough time. I feel this is critical so you are in a good state of mind for these things.

[ny biker]

When I renovated my kitchen , I thought choosing cabinets and making other decisions would be much harder than it turned out to be.

The best advice I got was from my brother, who told me to get a few magazines that show kitchen remodels. Home Depot and Lowe's sells them, and probably anyplace with a wide variety of magazines would also have them. The same magazines had articles on bathroom remodels, too. There were lots of pictures. They helped me make some basic style decisions.

BTW Google Images is another good way to look at pictures of different styles so you can get ideas and decide what you do and don't like. For example, google "bathroom white subway tile" and you'll find various pics. I recently wanted to see how brown curtains would look in my niece's lime-green bedroom, so I searched for something like "lime green walls with brown" and found some good pictures.

Another good source of ideas was the websites for the different contractors I got estimates from. They have lots of photos of work they have done. And listings for houses that are for sale also have photos that will show you the full range of gorgeous and tasteful to dated and what-were-they-thinking.

I decided I wanted white cabinets, blue walls, a gray floor, and in general cool tones rather than warm ones (e.g., silver gray rather than warm gray). Thanks to the magazine photos I decided I wanted white subway tiles for the backsplash. Unfortunately the white tiles sold by Home Depot and Lowe's had a warm beige-ness to them (they didn't look right next to the samples I had for the cabinet, paint and floor colors), so I had to keep looking.

I visited a flooring store (to investigate the Marmoleum I wanted for my floor) and discovered that they also carried tiles for walls. I found a tile that would work, jotted down the manufacturer name and other info, found the manufacturer's website and used it to find other dealers in my area so I could shop around for the best price. Through this process I found a couple of places that sold nothing but tiles. I got lots of information and ideas looking at their product displays and talking to their salespeople. It took a couple of afternoons to visit a bunch of stores to get price estimates, but it was actually kind of fun and it gave me a chance to explore parts of my area that I hadn't been to before. Most of the stores gave me a free sample tile to bring home. I used painters tape to label the back of each tile to keep track of where I got it, what it was (manufacturer and color name) and price.

Part of the tile decision is choosing a color for the grout, too. There are only a few companies (Mapei being one of them -- a familiar name from an old cycling team). I was able to get sample cards from the tile stores showing the various colors available, so I was able to set everything out at home -- tile sample next to grout color next to paint chip next to cabinet sample next to floor sample -- to make sure everything worked together.

I went with a silver gray grout, which contrasts with the white tiles just enough to bring out the subway tile pattern.

When I renovate my bathroom, I'm thinking of also doing a white subway tile there, but using larger tiles with white grout. It's a small room and a larger area will be covered by tiles than in the kitchen, and I think this will work better than the 3x6 tile with contrasting grout in the kitchen.

[ny biker]

How bad is it? It is so bad that I am 'inspired' by the tile in the opening credits of 'Shameless.'

I just reread this and noticed your last line. If what you see on TV is what you like, go for it! I used to have a friend who bought houses to renovate. He used movies and TV shows for decorating ideas.

[grey]

Relax! This is what I do every day. Enjoy the creative process!

Get a few magazines. My favorites for great ideas without being weird or insanely expensive (i.e. Ann Sacks tile!!!) are House Beautiful and Traditional Home. Pick up a few special edition bathroom-only zines too.

You can also just go through Pinterest. Pin the bathrooms you like, but this next step will be harder online:

Tear out pages you like.

Lay out said pages afterward. See a pattern? Are you liking white tile? Accent tiles? High contrast? Sandy colors?

Have a plan before you pick the tile. Say you like gray-white marble on the floors, and white Subway tiles for the walls/shower. You notice you like dark, straight-line cabinets, and are drawn to bathrooms with light paint and brushed nickel finishes. Done. Write it down. Don't lose track of it. Create a plan, stick with it.

If you can't see a pattern to what you like, ask a (as in ONE) friend whose taste you trust and who knows you. I said ONE because the worst thing you can do is what we in the industry call Design By Committee. It's design, a creative process, so there is no one right answer - but if you take one answer from Friend A and one from Friends B, C, D, and E, you'll have a mess. I've seen it over and over again.

Enjoy! We're hoping to sell our house this year, and get another that needs help - I am SO excited at the prospect of remodeling another house for ourselves!

[pll]

The whole discussion about bonking while shopping had me chuckling with the image of someone pulling a gel or some sort of bar to avoid it.

Some day I hope I get to play remodel. I love this site for ideas: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

Have fun, Malkin! Maybe you can post your candidates in a thread in TE, for us to "vote".

[Crankin]

Irulan, we had to put in the order that day. It was 5:30 and they closed at 6. I think we got there at 4.
It was complicated because, even though we had no problem picking the tile, each one we chose was not available, so after we had gone through 3 or 4, we found one that could be ordered. But that took extra time and then we had to pick the cabinets and granite. And it had to be done before we left.
It really comes down to the fact this stuff annoys me. I love nice things, but I don't have the patience for picking out stuff, I don't "research" these things the way DH does, and all I care about is the end result. When I was younger, these things struck me as somewhat typically female interests that I didn't have. There quite a few"designers," women who owned the window treatment or carpet places, who couldn't get over this when it was obvious my DH was the person in charge. We've had 5 houses, so I guess this time I decided to be an equal partner. But, it still annoyed the hell out of me, which got me impatient, so I lost focus.
Also, before this house, I had always lived in brand new houses, and one that was 10 years old and just needed cosmetics. Most of these things were decided by the builder, or by DH in a meeting with the builder. This house was 25 years old and in terrible shape when we bought it. We saw the potential and went ahead. But, I kind of regret it. I like the house well enough, but it's been a money pit to get it where it is. While I wasn't a good fit with my prior "Stepford Wife" neighborhood, it's in the town where I have community ties and I should have thought of that. I only moved 9 miles, so it's not critical, but I guess since this was my first experience with true remodeling (other than finishing a basement and building a porch, which I had nothing to do with, except watching), it just plain got on my nerves.

[withm]

If you can't see a pattern to what you like, ask a (as in ONE) friend whose taste you trust and who knows you. I said ONE because the worst thing you can do is what we in the industry call Design By Committee. It's design, a creative process, so there is no one right answer - but if you take one answer from Friend A and one from Friends B, C, D, and E, you'll have a mess. I've seen it over and over again.

!

THIS IS SOOOOO TRUE! I was the person in charge of rebuilding our family summer cottage. I have 4 sisters, each of whom had a different vision for the project; no one would compromise. And no one could/would agree on anything. The house is finally finished, but, well, it looks like the product of 5 "designers" who could not agree.

[FlyingScot]

The whole discussion about bonking while shopping had me chuckling with the image of someone pulling a gel or some sort of bar to avoid it.

This actually happens to me pretty frequently even if I eat before I go out. My best friend/shopping partner has learned to recognize the signs (I start getting short with her) and makes me eat my emergency granola bar even in the middle of a store! It took us a few episodes of it to figure out what was going on. She just thought I was being mean and would get peeved at me. I felt terrible about it.

[missjean]

One of the things I do is window treatment consulting. Designs, fabrics, hardware etc.
Well, last summer, we gutted our master bedroom, put in an additional window, new walls, new ceiling, etc. Choosing the paint for the walls & ceiling only took about a week, but finding fabrics for the drapes? Not so easy! Just yesterday I found one of the two I need for the design I have in mind.
I am the client that drives me crazy!