For those who chose subway tile for their shower reno, do you regret your choice? How difficult is the grout to maintain? Please read below :)
Hello everyone,
I know Reddit probably isn't the best place to make a decision like this, but I am having such a hard time with my bathroom renovation that I am genuinely struggling with it and even having panic attacks. I am hoping to hear from people who have actually lived with these types of bathrooms for several years.
I’ll divide this into “About Me” and “Questions.” Sorry for the long post!
About Me
This is a very expensive renovation for me. I live in a co-op apartment, so I feel like I cannot afford to make a mistake and then simply redo everything if I end up regretting my choices. I saved for a very long time to be able to do this, and money is scarce.
Unfortunately, the bathroom really does need to be renovated. The tiles are falling off, and I cannot even use the bathtub right now.
I absolutely love a vintage Victorian/prewar bathroom look. I have always loved subway tile on the walls and small mosaic tile floors. Honestly, the smaller the floor tile, the more I like it.
I would love to use marble, but I know it can be more difficult to maintain, and I worry about staining, etching, and how it will look years from now.
Because of that, I decided against marble and originally wanted a small mosaic porcelain floor with subway tile walls. However, after getting advice from other people, I started considering an 8-inch floor tile with subway tile walls instead.
Here is where I am stuck.
Whenever I show my ideas to people I know, some people appreciate the Victorian/vintage look, but most do not really prefer it. More importantly, most people keep telling me to choose larger tiles because they believe all the grout with small mosaic tile will be a nightmare to clean and maintain. I work about 50 hours every week, so I realistically do not have the time to spend hours scrubbing grout, and I cannot afford to hire someone to clean the bathroom for me.
Now I am second-guessing everything.
I am worried that even though I genuinely love the prewar/Victorian look, dirty, stained, or discolored grout could eventually ruin the entire bathroom. And if that happens, I keep wondering what the point is of choosing the style I actually love.
At the same time, I want to make choices that will hold up well and hopefully add value when I eventually sell the apartment. I just cannot picture myself putting a cold, large-format, modern tile bathroom into my prewar apartment. It would feel completely wrong for the character of the place.
I am honestly getting very overwhelmed because I feel like there is no perfect answer.
Questions
For those of you who have installed a small mosaic floor with subway tile walls, or even an 8-inch floor tile with subway tile walls:
Do you regret your choice?
How has the grout held up over the years? Do you wish you had gone with larger tiles instead?
And if you love the smaller mosaic look, how difficult is it really to keep?
I would especially love to hear from people who have actually lived with this type of bathroom for several years, rather than general advice about what is simply “easier.”
I am a clean person and would obviously maintain the bathroom, but I also understand that grout requires maintenance. I am particularly worried about staining, discoloration, mold, and how everything will look 10 or 20 years from now.
I want to make a decision that I will still be happy with long-term.
Has anyone else been in this exact situation? Did you choose the smaller mosaic because you loved the look, or did you go with larger tile for practical reasons? Was the subway tile in the shower a good choice? Most importantly, how do you feel about that decision now?
Thank you to anyone willing to share their experience.
UPDATE: I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to reply to my post and help ease my anxiety!
I decided to go with a 1-inch, unglazed, off-white porcelain floor tile with a Greek key border in black and off-white that I am designing and arranging myself to save money. Any thoughts on unglazed porcelain for a bathroom floor? The tile is completely flat, matte, and non-beveled, and it is made in Japan. This is the closest I could get to finding a period-appropriate tile without spending a fortune. I cannot afford American Restoration tiles, and these look very similar to them, just in off-white and black. I am def using dark gray grout here.
I did not love the texture of the Daltile Keystone tiles. They were beautiful and looked high-quality, but the ones I found had a texture that I did not prefer. I like the completely flat finish much better.
For the walls, I am planning to install 3 × 6-inch, semi-gloss white porcelain subway tile halfway up the walls, finished with a pencil bullnose trim. Planning on using medium gray grout in these.
For the shower and bathtub surround, I took someone's suggestion here to consider a larger-format tile. This is where things have gotten tricky because it is surprisingly difficult to find something that I like and that works with the rest of the bathroom.
I am currently on the fence about this tile: Angela Harris Walsh Tobruk Snow White 12 × 36 Matte Ceramic Tile.
The description says it gives the impression of painted white brick or concrete. I wonder whether it could work as a more urban, slightly industrial interpretation of a prewar or Victorian bathroom, especially when paired with traditional subway tile everywhere else.
What do you think? Do you think I could make this combination work, or would the shower tile look weird compared with the rest of the bathroom? Has anyone use this particular tile? Basically I would describe my vision as prewar-inspired with a subtle industrial edge.
