Use brushed nickel or stainless accents, and I bet you'd get the look you're looking for.

One other thought to consider-- ever hear the cliche "all things old become new again"?

Carrara Marble can be added into a contemporary shower renovation for sure and this stone like many natural products varies greatly in quality and look. Cheaper Carrara can be vary blotchy and the look of a stylish black and white bathroom can turn into a mess of yellowing tile if the marble has a high iron content. Care and proper installations are key for a polished long lasting look.

A porcelain tile made to look like Carrara would be a better option in a steam room, or shower and hold up much better in the long run. The use of a channel drain or curbless entry will make the space feel more contemporary as well.

Look at this tub - Beautiful and contemporary for sure

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.luxist.com/media/2007/05/stone-forest-papillion-bathtub.jpg

Here the carrara counter top is done with a pencil edge or soft corner instead of a large ogee, bull nose or 1/4 round detail.

http://www.tisettanta.ltd.uk/offer_img/200801221343080.kit3.JPG

The use of slabs in upper end projects can really tie together a contemporary look. If using tile and smaller format stone consider soldier courses versus brick mould design. http://www.veranda.com/cm/veranda/images/homes-paris-inpsired-pebble-beach-7-0409-md-47416429.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zqFoq3qej2c/SKYsAQRxBLI/AAAAAAAATjA/Vdc9jIlfTsw/s400/Picture+68.png

Good Luck with your renovation!

Hope these pictures inspire you to stick with your original plan. I found these pictures with a quick search as all my Carrara Marble installations have a traditional feel to them.

Regards,

John Whipple

"When it's perfect. It's good enough."

My bathroom is very contemporary. We have honed 24x12 carrara tiles on the floors and walls. The counters are honed carrara. We have rectangular undermount sinks with Hansgrohe Massaud faucets. The tub is rectangular with an undermount. The cabinetry is stained espresso with slab doors. It is very contemporary. Sorry, I don't have any pictures.

Aah, fin1, I wish I could see your beautiful BR!! That's the kind of inspiration I need.

John, I love the last two pictures you listed. Do you think that's real carrara as opposed to porcelain?

Bill, you're right, everything comes back into fashion eventually. I think the carrara look is timeless; I'm just worried about making it work in my contemporary house.

Although the style in this bathroom is actually pretty traditional, this was actually a very contemporary house, which is what brought that phrase to mind:

The second last is a full slab install for sure. A pricey option - we only do slab work maybe once a year and more with our fireplace projects than in the bathroom. Bathroom slab work for us is mostly shower benches, vanity tops etc.

The second looks like real Carrara to me. It's hard to alter the base colour of the stone when making it and natural Carrara always seems to have those slightly grey white tiles mixed in.

I think the bench is marble and the walls could actually be done in marble and the whole thing could look contemporary and sleek.
{{gwi:1404134}}From Granite

Of course it can! It's in every other house article in Dwell. Marble and natural finish wood with simple lines make the modern bath or kitchen. Get some issues and start looking.

The post by Granite (above bathroom picture) is shows casing Carrara Marble and is a great example of choosing your tile layout carefully. It this photo you see the tiles installed like soldiers (up right) - the tile is still in a brick mould or half stagger pattern. Installing the tile horizontal vs vertical in this bathroom would make it look more traditional.

You can see the sharp pencil edge corners I was mentioning above on the counter tops and like Bill mentioned the use of Stainless fixtures and that beautiful bench all scream "Contemporary".

The mirror is un-framed and the floating shelves all add to a contemporary look.

I feel the large curb in this shower breaks up the floor and should be removed - but that's me, I would like to see all showers curbless...

This is a great space. The clients have a fabulous bathroom that with accent towels and finishings could be turned around and given a whole new look.

Investing in a room like this it is important to do it right. Tile, fixtures, glass, mirror, lights etc are all cosmetic - invest as well in a master tile setter and waterproofing, the premium you pay for these men is a fraction of the total cost and can insure that a 20 - 80K investments stands the test of time.

Good Luck,

John Whipple

"When it's perfect. It's good enough."

Firsthouse, great picture! Thanks.

Flyleft, you have me LOL! Dwell - D'oh! I haven't looked at an issue of it since my kitchen reno three years ago. I will remedy that.

John, I prefer curbless, too, but this is a renovation and my contractor says it's going to cost "way more" ($$ unspecified) to build the shower that way because of the labor involved in changing the floor substructure. As an alternative, he's recommending building the wetroom half of the room a 5" step higher than the remainder of the room. We're planning on using a trench drain, so there will be a simple linear slope to the shower floor. What do you think?

Another thought: if you want the durability of porcelain but the look of marble, I didn't read Mr. Whipple's posts (sorry--I'm too lazy to cut and paste links!), but I know that at Pental (a high-end tile/stone supplier in the PNW) there's a porcelain that looks a *lot* like Calacatta, if you'd be interested in this. Much better than any porcelain marble imitation I've ever seen. I can see it definitely in a modern setting. You might want to check it out in person before making a decision to go with natural stone that needs significantly more upkeep (but is definitely beautiful, of course). If you don't have a Pental near you maybe you can ask local places if they carry the line.

Here is a link that might be useful: Must be seen in person

Also try Porcelanosa. They make a porcelain Carrara in wall tile (polished) and floor tile (rougher). I've seen both and the polished was quite nice.

Porcelanosa is what I have in mind unless I can find something comparable at a lower cost. I've only seen the polished so far (and it was a while back, so I don't remember it clearly). Duchamp, is the floor tile not as nice?

coolbeans, I personally wasn't crazy about their floor tile version. It can be hard to tell by one sample however. Still, I'd seen others I liked better (don't recall their brands though). Good luck! :)

flyleft, that tile is beautiful and johnfrwhipple, wonderful photos.

Coolbeans, I just posted photos of my bath with porcelain marble - Daltile Carrera Star. I don't know if it's what you are looking for but here is a pic.

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I too love the curbless showers. Here in my city when we talked with the designers about doing it, they shuddered....I guess there are so many special requirements for the curbless showers, especially if you are trying to pas through the ADA rules, that it costs $$$$$. I couldn't afford it. Like you said, the shower pan would have had to be sunken, etc, and we are doing a remodel too. On a new home, it's probably easier just to start with the design that way.

I didn't have the budget for it....but in another life.....

Sundownr, what a beautiful bathroom! Thanks for sharing.

Firsthouse, if we ever build a new house, I'm going to have a curbless shower and a sunken tub. I think all new construction should be curbless.

My wife is jealous of your tub Sundownr. We had to for go a tub for a large walk in shower in our current renovation.

We are installing a 34" x 60" soaker in our daughters shared bathroom that will be shared by all.

I like the mix of tiles and love the detail with the circle mosaic and blending the tile installation with the drywall. This is a nice transition from one material to the other.

Well done. Nice work. I bet you love it! :)

Ha--look what I found wandering around in Pental's site:

Here is a link that might be useful: Tiny bubbles..

I almost did this in my master...it's Porcelanosa. Alyse Edwards has colored bubbles that are very modern and hip looking.
{{gwi:1409342}}From Misc photos

Here is a link that might be useful: Alyse Edwards Bubbles

Now THAT would be wild looking with a charcoal gray grout!!

OMG, I drove 265 miles RT to visit a Porcelanosa showroom today and spent nearly three hours there obsessing over tile. Their carrara-look polished porcelain is beautiful. But so are many of their other not-pretending-to-be-stone porcelains. In principle, I do not like faux finishes, so I have this stupid bias in my head against faux-marble porcelain. On the other hand, I do *not* want real marble. (My house needs to be low maintenance for my mental health.) And this faux-carrara is really pretty.

I compared the porcelain to a real carrara tile, and liked the porcelain better! The real marble is slightly more yellow and the veining is busier.

I actually asked a customer in the showroom -- a total stranger who I struck up a conversation with -- what she thought of the porcelain "carrara", and she studied it for a bit and then said, "It looks a little plastic-y." Arrgh. Serves me right for asking!!

You saw why Procelanosa is one of the top brands of tile (and top PRICED tiles) in the world.

it's worth the money.

coolbeans, I call mine the fake marble porcelain and I don't really like faux anything. But I do like my fake marble porcelain. Who knew.

Firsthouse mp, my marble "bubbles" looks exactly like the Porcelanosa you posted but I believe the mfg was different.

Thank you, johnfrwhipple, and you are right. I do love it. :D

Well I think Sundownr's bath looks very contemporary and cool. What about using the Carrara for other things and going with not faux marble rectified tile? I also have a bias against faux finishes so we are doing a marble tub deck and vanity top, because I fell in love with Danby marble and using Porcelanosa large 13x40 rectified tiles (just started installing it today - looks really cool) on walls and 16x16 on floor.

I think a lot of the Porcelanosa tile is pretty reasonable. I just bought some lovely 1x2 sticks today for about $7 per sf. I think the company is hurting and you should be able to negotiate at least 20-30% off price.

Ctremo, pictures please! Would love to see your tile.

To complicate matters, my DH isn't crazy about the carrara look.

Porcelanosa is currently offering a 20% discount on all of their tile.

Here is the partially installed Porcelanosa Line Blanco tile 13X39. An important thing to know - just happened today - we ran out of wall tile even though builder & architect confirmed measurements. When they planned how it would actually go on the wall, so that you would see as many full tiles in the important spots as possible, no one realized that there would be a lot of waste on the ends. So even though I ordered the "correct" sf, it wasn't enough. The tile isn't super expensive, but I needed 10 more boxes! Even at 30% off (definitely push them if you end up buying there) still $1,000 unexpected dollars today!

You can't really see it here with the cover and all the tools on top, but the tub deck is Imperial Danby marble, as will be the vanity top. The tile above vanity walls will be another Porcelanosa sticks done in a vertical pattern. The floor is their 16x16 Cube Nature with very close joints as well.

Hope this helps

Ooh la la, I love it already. This is one of the samples I brought home yesterday, along with the Line Azul. I can't wait to see your final pictures, ctreno!

Some times the tile fairy comes and takes away the beautiful white Carrara and leaves you with a yellowing mess of staining marble. Some times the tile fairy comes back and it goes away - most times replacement is needed.

How can you test for this. I've read that the most likely cause is iron content. Could you soak the tile first a month out and dry it out and see what happens?

What do you think?

I've read that the most likely cause is iron content.

Almost guaranteed, 99% of the time.

Could you soak the tile first a month out and dry it out and see what happens?

That test could only guarantee that there is or isn't iron in that one piece. Even if that one comes back negative, there could be others in the order that do have iron in them. It's hit or miss with cheap carrara.

Here is a Contemporary Bathroom. It showcases Calcutta Gold Marble for the slab shower bench, backsplash around toilet and bidet and the best piece for the vanity slab top. The cabinets are edge grain Cherry and the light feature is my design or rather my execution of a design picture that served as insperation.

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John,

Can you provide any more details as to your lighting feature?? It's amazing!

Margie

The lights I made from White Lami glass which I wrapped in the same U Channel they use for shower glass installs. It is a much smaller channel that fits the glass well.

The lights behind are T5's and the the millworker and I worked on a way to support the panels. The two sides hold up the top piece and I used some foil tape and clear silicone to fix the panels when cleaning.

I'm putting the finishing touches onto an even sleeker install that forgo's the metal trim all together and I can say it has been my hardest install to date.

I have gone through 4 sets of glass orders trying to achieve this look that my client is after.

Notice the void the light takes up. The side and top cabinets are not tight to the wall but open at the back (about 4.5").

A tricky install and one that takes about an hour to change a bulb. 2 years and 2 months and no call backs for bulb changes.

Another Carrera Modern Bathroom here in Vancouver

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Watch the video tour of this bathrooms steam shower and you will see another window/light feature we build here....

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Here is a link that might be useful: Roma Steam Shower Video

Ctrno your bathroom is looking fabulous. I was going to use that same tile. I actually considered it for a very brief second in the brown too when used with the glass pencils. Your going to love your bath when you get it finished I went with a different glass tile but will have the same bright reflective surface. I love it! I have to get my photos posted. I used 24 x 24 white glass.

Yes! You just have to be creative and use modern things that will correspond to the carrara marble.

Here is a picture of my friends en-suite.

2.4 Million dollar home. Build by one of the North Shore's top builder's and his team.

Guess what.

Old school drain, no waterproofing on the walls that I can see and this is a steamer.

Like Bill mentioned it looks like an iron deposit and leach out.

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Me looking so serious doing my inspection

I have descriptions of each picture on my PhotoBucket Account

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Hope this helps your designer. Have them email me your vanity plans and I will try and show you my concept on paper.

"When it's perfect. It's good enough." - John Whipple