Custom Shower w/ Natural Rock Floor

This was a great job for many reasons. Since the "client" is a good friend, I (we) got to get really creative with the design. This is actually a complete renovation. New toilet, vanity, light, mirror and of course tile!

I did this feature band and feature "diamond" with 3/4 inch glass & travertine squares and framed it with travertine pencils the stick out to create sort-of ledge. Adds a lot of dimension to the overall design.

Here you can catch a glimpse of my custom soap dish. I make these out of field tile and face it off with a bullnose. If you've ever had problems finding one of those pre-made soap dishes because they never quite match the rest of your tile, you'll appreciate this technique.

Custom insert box or niche. This whole job started here. I wanted to get this lined up perfect. This took a lot of planning because you have to frame these boxes out with 2x4s in between the studs, then cover the framing with cement board, then water proof that and hope your measurements were accurate. If not, it takes a lot to take all that apart to re-frame it. I got lucky here. Or maybe I'm just good!

Custom Shower with natural rock floor 2

Below are more pics from the previous post.
This is a close up of the natural rock floor on the shower. There is a very slight slope for drainage. Looks and feels like your are walking in a shallow rocky creek in the woods. Great grout color to simulate sand.
Here is a shot of the main bathroom floor. I decided to do a diamond pattern to contrast the rectangles on the walls. Took more time, but was well worth it.

Hard to capture everything in these tight rooms. I tried to show the layout from inside the shower.

This a tile foyer that I installed months before the shower. It is actually the same tile that is in the shower, just different sizes and colors.

Wasn't sure how to address the diamond pattern with the closet, so I decided to just do the "brick" pattern in the closet to allow the diamond pattern to appear to be framed by a single darker tile. When the door is closed, it just looks like a dark brown frame. When you look inside, you see a charming brick layout.

Porcelain Tile Foyer

Below is a simple, yet tasteful tile design for a relatively small foyer. Not too busy but still catches your attention. Every piece, except for the feature "dots" were custom cut for this installation. The tile colors and grout match the wooden stairs perfectly.

Travertine Outdoor Decks & Stairs

Below are some pictures of a huge tile job I worked on with another company. I specifically worked on the stairs, which have lights embedded under each lip, the rails that hug the sides of the stairs, the edging on the balconies, and the block walkway through the gravel. Most of the field tile was done by co-workers.

In this shot, you can see the miter cuts that were needed allow the rail tile to meet the floor. Also, here you can see the tedious triangle shaped tiles that were custom cut to fit each space after the stairs were installed.

In this shot, I hope you can see more of the miter cuts for the rail tiles to reach the floor. These rail tile were odd shaped. They were square on one corner and about a 30 degree slant on the opposite corner. So trying to marry these pieces together was a great lesson for me in tile installation!

There were large pieces of travertine that were set on cement beds. I framed in each bed and packed in Portland cement and sand mix just like I would do in a custom shower floor. After the bed is cured, I remove the wood frames, waterproof the mud bed, and set the travertine tile on top.

Travertine Shower & Back Splash with Glass Feature Band

This is a custom shower tiled in Travertine, a natural soap stone. This shower is in the same house as the Travertine kitchen back splash posted below. This is a masterpiece as far as design goes, in my opinion. And I'm not bragging, because I didn't design it. But, like the kitchen back splash below, the feature tile works perfectly with the field tile. The feature band includes natural stone and glass. As you can see, the feature band works as a back splash for the sink area and bleeds seamlessly into the shower. As you follow the band around to the front of the shower, it opens up to cover a wide open area on the wall. I also used the "pencil" tiles to outline the feature band and border the field tile. Below you can see how the insert box, or niche, is strategically places on the inside of the half wall. Not that it looks bad, it actually looks amazing, but in this spot is doesn't interrupt the flow of the feature band and it also doesn't clutter up the overall design of the shower.

Travertine Kitchen Back Splash

This is a great example of a natural stone kitchen back splash. The design is tasteful. All the tile selections work great together. And the Travertine "pencil" bullnose is a great way to finish it off.

In this shot you can see the detail of how I had to address the angle of the cabinet coming out from the wall. So that top bullnose piece had to be mitered on both sides.

Luckily for me, the feature band fit perfectly below the window so no gnarly cuts had to be made.

Stone Shower with Glass Blocks & Insert Boxes

This is one of my favorite bathrooms that I've done so far. Design wise it is about perfect. Everything is balanced. All the tiles are all made of the same material and are the same size. I just adjusted the shapes and angles to create texture and pattern variances. And I also got to use a lot of features that have practical applications and work great in the design.

This is the first time I've worked with glass blocks. Because I didn't have to stack them, I can't say that I got the real experience using them. But these came out great for what we needed them for. They provide light and a sense of openness.

Here you can see two corner shelves made out of the 12" floor tile. I cut a 6" triangle, slightly smaller than a half of a 12" tile from corner to corner. Then I use the bullnose to cap the front of the shelf. Because these are easy to make and they are made from the actual field tile, they are guaranteed to match better than any factory made shelf you can buy.