Tile on Tile: An Upstairs Bathroom Update

Did you ever think tile, on tile, on tile, could be so beautiful?! I had a hunch it would be, and I am so glad I followed it.

I decided on this tile design after our contractor Micah said these are the best tilers he has, so he suggested we do something incredible. I thought about it and came back with a concept unlike anything we have done before. I told our contractor, "Let's do a pattern in the floor, let's do box trim for the first time, let's do a chair rail and pencil trim. Let's go all out." And we sure did go all out! This tile project ended up being the most intricate but also one of the most beautiful tile jobs we have done in a home.

But before we get into this dynamic tile project, let's take a look at how this space used to look and just admire how far it has come.

It can be hard to remember what a space used to look like after seeing the finished project which is why I love including these before photos too.

And wow, what a drastic before and after! Just in case you forgot, I used to refer to this room as Greta's bathroom but we later renamed it the upstairs bathroom. Shall we swoon one more time?

As a disclaimer, this was a professional-level tiling job that would be best left to a contractor. (Remember when I mentioned we picked this design because our contractor said our tilers were the best he used?) We chose this design and layout because of the amazing tilers our contractor found. However, if you show this to a professional contractor, they should be able to help you do the same or similar.

Okay, let's just get this out of the way - yes, this is another penny tile bathroom in our house. You may recognize the similarities of the round penny tile in our powder bath, only reversed. In this bathroom, we used black hexagon tiles with white hexagon accents. And in the powder room, we have white round penny tiles with black round penny accents. But with this room having several different types of tile, I felt we could get away with another black/white penny tile floor. And while this specific tiling job should only be done by professionals, I have a DIY-friendly penny tile tutorial that any level of expertise could handle.

Now, let's go over the 8 different types of tile we used in this bathroom and go through the order they were installed.

Installing 8 different types of tile

On this tile job, they started on the ground and worked their way up. The floor has a border pattern with 3 rows of the black hexagon penny tile, then 2 rows of the white hexagon penny tile, followed by 1 row of black and 1 row of white. Then they installed black tiles in the middle. Once that was all laid and dried, they used a chisel to pop out the tiles for the white "flower" patterns. Then when those dried, they grouted and covered up the floor before moving on to the wall.

For the wall, our project manager and I worked with the installer to plan where the boxes would be and how big they would be. The wall tiles are 3" x 6," and we wanted the boxes to have a whole piece of tile above and below, so the tiles inside of the boxes only had to be cut down in height.

Once the boxes were planned and drawn on the wall, we mapped out the chair rail height, and the installers began tiling the wall.

The rest of the tile went in smoothly, starting from the bottom and working up. The marble baseboard skirt was the first to go in. Then the marble wall trimming. Followed by the black pencil trim. The box trim was next. Then the subway tile filled in the walls. And the very last was the marble ledge. I also have a handy graphic below to show you exactly what is what!

Glossary of the Tile Used

1 - Hampton Carrara Pol. Barnes

2- Imperial Black Gls Square Pencil

3- Hampton Carrara Satin

4 - Hampton Carrara Pol. Durand

5 - Hampton Carrara Polished Shower Curb Top

6 - Hampton Carrara Pol. Skirting

7 - Hex Matt Black 1" (HEX 1022)

8 - Hampton Carrara Tumb Hex 1"