Take it up a Notch with Glass and Marble Tile Mosaic Accent WallBurlap & Denim

Feb 22, 2013 -

Taking it up a Notch with a Glass and Marble Mosaic Bath Accent Wall

Look at what my hubs found at COSTCO, yes, Costco! One box contained 5 square feet and cost $20 a box. That is a steal of deal, better than the big home improvement stores.

It is a light aqua sea glass in matte and shiny finish mixed with Carrera marble. Random lengths are attached parallel to one another with a mesh backing (the photo below shows the back side of the tile squares). One very important thing to note is that the glass tile has been painted on the back side of each piece. This makes it possible for a novice to install this tile (if the glass tile had been clear through the back like Oceanside tile, then any imperfections in the setting of the tile and the mastic are shown, even magnified).

So when we purchased this tile my husband knew exactly where he wanted to use it. Our basement bathroom was recently finished, but he knew this would take the space up a notch, or two. In all of the excitement he made one HUGE mistake that would cost him a lot of time and hassle. He thought that he would start with whole sheets against the shower wall since that is one of the first places your eyes go when you enter the space.

What was the problem with this idea? Well, in order to fill in the spaces from the tile to the shower, each piece needed to be cut and placed individually and he had to follow the pattern from other tiles. The EASY solution would have been to cut the first tiles so that it was not a full tile against the shower. This would have saved at least an hour of cutting and sticking these tiny pieces. He did start with red chalk lines to make sure the whole project stayed level and perfectly spaced throughout. (note: you can see that originally the bathroom was painted entirely light green “Fishnet” which matched great with the tile so the other three walls are still the same wall color (the color “Fishnet” by Valspar is no longer available on their site))

My husband is great at being meticulous, which works perfect when it is time for tile installation. He removed the toilet and sink (it was just placed back here so we could see how it looked) and he cut the tiles around the outlets, valves, and light boxes. These pictures are before grout.

We chose un-sanded “bright white” grout from Home Depot to fill in all of the spaces. It was a bit of a pain to fill in the entire wall, and we failed to seal it before we grouted it (which made the grout difficult to clean off the glass and stone). It has now been sealed and put back together.

At first I was a bit nervous how the cool colors of the tile would flow with the faux stone tile from Home Depot but now that it is finished, I’m loving the contrast. The floor tile is 16 X16 ceramic tile called Montagna and was set in a brick pattern. I absolutely love this tile since it is very low maintenance and shows nothing! Perfect for a kitchen or bathroom, especially in a basement where you don’t want to be cleaning all the time (ew, that sounds kind of gross now that I’m reading that, but you know what I mean, right?).

The sink in this bath was another great deal from Home Depot! We picked it up with the mirror and wood base for $100 (they no longer carry it, but to get the look for a lot more, ha ha, click HERE). The faucet isn’t my all time favorite, but it was on clearance at Lowe’s for $30, so I went with it.

Once again, my husband was right. Adding this beautiful marble and glass tile along the entire wall in our basement bathroom definitely took it up a few notches.

One of my favorite things about this tile on this wall is it’s reflective quality. This medium sized bathroom is lacking one major element that seems like a necessity in a bathroom…a window. The reflection of light off of the shiny tiles gives you the illusion of more light while the depth of the clear glass adds a classic and contemporary feel at the same time.