The Forest Modern is getting so close to tile install and I’m excited to start sharing some design boards of the bathrooms. The Master bathroom design has been one of my favorite rooms to work on. My design inspiration all started with this chandelier. One question I get asked frequently is how do I start a design in a room? Most often, my inspiration will come from just one item that I absolutely love, and then everything else is designed around it.
We have two floor to ceiling black steel looking windows surrounding a fireplace and the clawfoot tub and chandelier will go right in front. I may never leave my bathroom again once its finished. Even though I have a lot of modern design in the home, I love to mix up styles with the unexpected. This vintage inspired clawfoot tub does just that. Every room needs a conversation piece and this black clawfoot tub is definitely that conversation piece.
I originally had a different tile in mind for our floor until I came across this gorgeous honed marble. The inlay X pattern almost appears like driftwood which is really hard to see in the photo or online. In person though, they are so pretty and such a game changer for me when I saw them.
My dilemma. I’ve designed our shower to be a zero entry shower. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s where the bathroom floor flows directly into the shower floor. No shower pan and no shower door. Just one continuous floor. I realize that marble in a shower means maintenance, but I didn’t quite realize it could be more of an issue with well water. We are fortunate enough to have our own well on our property, but that may mean our water could be harder than city water. This could be an issue with our marble floor maintenance even more than normal. Sooooo…..what to do?
I’d love to know from any of you if you have marble floors in your shower. Did you regret it or do you love it? My tile installer said they would have to put a good sealant on the marble floor which would need to be reapplied once a year. I can handle that maintenance. The question is, will my marble floor still take a beating with well water? ugh…
As far as the shower walls go, I’m leaning in the direction of carrara marble in 12 x 24 tiles. I’m hunting and searching for the best deal out there and hope to have it nailed down by end of this week.
One more thing. Have you seen the Brizo Litze bath collection? TO.DIE.FOR. I’ll be going with these in our master bathroom. If there is a room to splurge in, I say do it in the master bath. Here are a few of the pieces going in our bathroom.
*click on image to shop. Affiliate links used at no additional charge to you
I love everything you picked out! The bath tub is gorgeous!
Thank you Sharon! I love the tub too!
Would you be able to get a water softener? Along with sealing the marble it’s worth a shot to look into it. I think the combo of that and the sealer you should be fine!!
Hi Stephanie,
We will be getting a water softener and having our water tested. Hopefully with that in place and sealing we’ll be ok!
Shauna,
I have honed marble in 5 different bathrooms, all of which have marble shower pans. (3 showers belong to kids) We do reseal them annually and have city water but have never had any issues. I would never put a polished marble floor in a bathroom due to slipping, water splashing and potential spotting once dry. Honed hides water spots better in my opinion. I would go for it! Love your choices, and look forward to seeing the finished product.
Best of luck,
Dawn
Hi Dawn, thank you for your feedback. Even having marble in the kids’ showers! I bet it’s beautiful!
Shauna, your choices are beautiful. We are on well water also and have marble on our bathroom floors, shower wall, and shower bench. But the shower floor is travertine. The travertine holds up better to the hard water than the marble. The bench takes the worst beating from the hard water, leaving awful water spots. We also have a water softener which helps but doesn’t eliminate the problem. I have to admit, I don’t seal regularly, which is another issue.
Hi Denise, thank you for your input. I think sealing will definitely help! So many decisions 😉
I love your choices. I’ve had cararra marble on the floors, walls, and bench in our master walk-in shower for over 15 years. We have very hard well water and our marble has held up beautifully. I love it so much. It will also by my choice in our new master I’m currently designing.
Hi Sandy, thank you for letting me know how successful your marble has been! It is definitely so beautiful!
I am on well water also and have had issues with the marble. We had our water tested and it is extremely high in iron which tends to leave rust stains in our showers and toilet bowls, even with a water softener and a whole house filtration system. However, with a little scrubbing it does come off and because I love the marble so much – I would definitely use it again.
Hi Liz, good to know that scrubbing gets rid of it. I don’t mind scrubbing showers or toilets 😉
Hello, l am not fortunate enough to have a marble floor anywhere but l do know that Italy is full of it and it has survived well throughout the centuries probably without any maintenance at all. Think of all those buildings with floors and steps made of it, not to mention fountains. There were no products thousands of years ago to apply. It doesn’t wear out but becomes more beautiful. l believe we are sometimes sold a bill of goods by the makers of such products. This is just my humble opinion and I hope no offense is taken because none is meant, maybe the water is a factor and l am simply ignorant of some of the facts but then again…
Your home is magnificent and I love that I can be a part of its creation. Best of luck going forward.
Regards,
Dianne
Hi Dianne, I really appreciate your opinion! I was thinking the same thing for all the marble I see in NYC…floors, bathrooms, walls. It’s everywhere and definitely takes a beating but still beautiful! Thank you for following along with our journey!
Hi Shauna!
I love your design inspiration for your master bath!! SO beautiful! How did your well water do when they tested it? Was the iron content high?
Our last house was in an area where there was so much iron in the water that it left everything orange despite our putting in a new well, upgrading the water softener, etc. It made it difficult to have anything white.
In our new home, we have zero sulphur in our water and probably should’ve gone with marble. We decided to go with claros silver travertine in our bathroom and love it! It has such beautiful color in the grays, whites, creams, and tans!
We did go with Apuano marble for our kitchen counter and it is stunning!! It is white with lots of gray veining running through it! You will love it! It is worth the maintenance!
Hi Patricia, I haven’t tested our water yet but hoping to soon! I can’t imagine how awful that was dealing with everything turning orange in your home. Ugh! Hopefully that won’t be the case for us. Your new selections sound beautiful!