Bathroom Remodel: New Tile!

I bought a nice beige Italian ceramic floor tile ($2.20/sq ft) at Lowe's as part of our big $1000+ purchase with the 10% discount coupon. It took us two weeks to find wall and accent tile to accompany it - we went to three different stores and settled on an inexpensive 8x12 wall tile we found at Home Depot for about $1 per square foot. Two things I love in bathrooms: glass tile, and travertine! My mom used thick, large travertine tile in her new bathroom and that was the first time I really noticed it. Stone tile costs a lot, though, and I wasn't sure I wanted something that would be more difficult to install, and more tricky to care for.

Both glass and travertine made it into the installation, and the travertine is up high enough that I don't think it will need to be sealed more than once (while we live here anyway). I really wanted light turquoise glass tile accents but if I got exactly what I wanted with the first bathroom I've ever done, I may just never remodel another bathroom! Check it out:

Hard to tell but it's 90 degrees INside. Wall tile halfway done. You can see the bright blue waterproof layer that I painted right onto the Hardibacker. It's a rubberized undercoat by Laticrete that is approved for swimming pools. I can guarantee this shower would be waterproof even without any tile - there's a thick bead of caulk joining the waterproofed cement board to the tub. I had extra waterproof paint so I did half of the floor too!

Wall tile is complete. First tile job - more tedious than I thought it would be but much more fun than laying subfloor or cement board!

"Take a picture of me, daddy!" So here's some of the floor tile too. Obviously not done - I need to buy a new diamond blade for the wet saw I'm borrowing from Dave. Not sure if I was pushing it too fast or if it just wore out.

New stained and sealed solid oak threshold, leveled and cemented in place. The old one was a solid piece of white marble that I intended to keep but it broke in half during the demolition :(

12x12 sheets of accent tile from Home Depot. At about $8 per sheet, they're much cheaper than the $30 sheets we were considering at Best Tile.

His mouth is still full with a bite of YUMMY home-made chicken/feta/tomato/spinach pizza!

Yep, fully functional bathtub. If you don't mind the hose-style faucet.

Detail shot. Why I love glass? The internal shadows and reflections are like little individual swimming pools (especially if we had gone with the light turquoise). I love natural colors. Don't worry, we'll paint over the pink walls soon enough!