Dark Slate Bathroom in Blue Island
About This Project
A full bathroom gut-and-retile in a Blue Island home that wanted a dark, contemporary look — charcoal large-format porcelain on both walls and floor, matte black fixtures, and a frameless glass shower enclosure. The tile is a 24x48 format set in a horizontal running bond pattern on the walls and a 24x24 on the floor.
Dark-colored grout with large-format tile requires careful joint sizing. We used a 1/16-inch joint with a charcoal unsanded grout — tight enough to keep the tile field reading as a continuous surface rather than a grid. The floor tile uses a slightly textured surface finish rated for wet areas, which is important since matte and polished finishes can differ significantly in slip resistance when wet.
This Blue Island project involved replacing the original plaster walls with cement board before tiling — standard prep for a home of this age where the existing walls aren't a suitable substrate for direct tile application.
What We Did
- Full demo of existing bathroom tile and plaster wall substrate
- Cement board installation on all walls, liquid waterproof membrane in shower area
- 24x48 charcoal porcelain wall tile in horizontal running bond
- 24x24 textured floor tile with 1/16-inch charcoal grout joints
Project Details
| Service | Bathroom & Shower Tile |
|---|---|
| Area | Blue Island |
| Materials | 24x48 and 24x24 charcoal large-format porcelain, unsanded charcoal grout |
| Scope | Residential — full bathroom retile |
| Timeline | Multi-day install |
