Master Bath Dark Marble Shower in Ken Caryl
This walk-in shower renovation in a Ken Caryl master bathroom used large-format dark marble-look porcelain on all three walls, paired with a white pebble mosaic floor. The contrast between the dark walls and the white pebble floor is a deliberate design choice that requires careful planning at the transition point, where the wall tile meets the floor tile at the shower curb and at the linear drain edge.
Dark tile requires white thinset rather than gray, because any gray thinset that shows through the grout joints will dull the appearance of dark tile. We used a large-format polymer-modified white mortar for the wall tiles, which were 24x48 format, and a standard white thinset for the pebble floor sheet mosaic. The floating white vanity visible in the photo was installed by others; our scope was limited to the shower tile and waterproofing.
Project Details
- Service
- Bathroom & Shower Tile
- Area
- Ken Caryl
- Materials
- 24x48 dark marble-look porcelain, white pebble sheet mosaic floor, white large-format mortar, dark unsanded grout
- Scope
- Walk-in shower walls and floor
- Timeline
- Multi-day install
What We Did
- Installed cement board and applied liquid waterproofing membrane to all shower walls and pre-sloped floor
- Set 24x48 dark porcelain wall tiles with white large-format mortar; back-buttered each tile for full coverage
- Set white pebble mosaic floor sheets; cut and fitted at the curb and drain edges
- Grouted walls with dark unsanded grout; grouted floor with matching dark sanded grout; applied silicone at all transitions
The material contrast in this shower is striking without being difficult to maintain.
