Luxury Bathroom Tiling

This bathroom is tiled in marble across a feature wall, behind a double vanity and through a walk-in shower. Natural stone in large formats is the least forgiving material in the room: the slabs are heavy, the veining has to be considered across adjacent pieces, and a lipped joint catches the light from across the space.

Setting out comes before anything is fixed. Full tiles land where the eye goes first, cuts are balanced on both sides rather than leaving a sliver in a corner, and the grid is planned around the vanity, the niche and the shower screen.

The finished feature wall, double vanity and walk-in shower are below. Movement joints at internal corners and the perimeter are silicone rather than grout, because those junctions move and rigid grout cracks there first.

Tiling failures are rarely about the tile. They are almost always about what is behind it and how it was set out.

Ask whether the shower will be tanked. Grout is not waterproof. A wet area relies on a continuous membrane behind the tile, sealed at corners and around pipe penetrations.

Ask how the substrate is checked. Large-format tiles are unforgiving of a surface out of true and will either lip at the joints or crack later, so flatness and movement are checked before anything is fixed.

Look at where the cuts fall. Full tiles should land where the eye goes first, with cuts balanced on both sides rather than a sliver in one corner. That is planning, not luck.

Check the internal corners. They should be silicone, not grout. Those junctions move, and rigid grout cracks there first.