Possible Finishes and Colors for the Kids’ Bathroom

I’ve come up with a few options and moodboards for the kids’ bathroom (with my terrible photoshop skills). There are some things I know I want …

Specifically, I know I want a furniture piece converted to a vanity, that I want ‘modern style’ colonial reflective sconces, vertical v-groove paneling topped with a shaker peg rail, and neutral colors (marbles, whites, wood, black). This bathroom also acts as our guest bath, so I’d like it to be adult friendly.

What I’m not sure of is what tile I’d like on the bath/shower walls, and what tile I’d like on the floor. Also not sure if I want to go for polished nickel or unlacquered brass fixtures, or even brushed gold. I love the idea of unlacquered brass, but I worry about it getting too old-looking too fast in a room that’s already going to be a bit high maintenance because (a) kids use it, and (b) I want to use a furniture piece for the vanity.

Above is option #1.  It looks good in the picture – but that’s a lotta marble.  Walls AND floor?  I mean, it’s neutral cause it’s white, and it will be just around tub/shower and floor, with paneling on the other walls… But it’s a lot.  Plus, I love the brushed gold but cannot find a wall-mounted tub filler for a standalone tub that matches.

OPTION #2:

Here is a very similar look, but with more ‘modern’ plumbing fixtures.  The finish is great, there’s a matching set for everything I need, but I do worry the look being too contemporary vs. colonial/traditional/classic.

OPTION #3:

Okay, I love the big departure here, which is the black terracotta tile.  Supposedly it can be used for wet applications, so could even work in the shower area.  I think to keep things from getting dark I would only use this on the floor, not the walls, and do a marble subway on the walls of the shower.  The problems with this?  Well, for one, it is 3x the price of other tile options I’m looking at.  For another, these are large-ish tiles and I worry they’d be slippery, especially in a shower.  Finally, when you do a ‘shower room’ area you have to slope the tile toward the drain, and I find that the bigger the tiles, the stranger that looks.  BUT this pattern is gorgeous, and I love the unusual look and matte finish.  Somehow it’s so consistent with an antique home …

OPTION #4:

I love this star tile from Popham design!  I would love to find a way to use it… It’s cement tile so not great for water applications, and it’s in a kid’s bath, which is not ideal, because concrete tiles do stain.  So even though I adore it I’m pretty sure I need to rule it out.  You don’t have to use just the blue/white combo.  They have tons of colors to choose from.

The obvious solution would be to do white hex marble floor tile and white subway tile shower walls.  I like subway tile, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve used it in two previous renovations and am honestly kind of tired of it.  Arguably, our house is the one application where it doesn’t work all that well.  It doesn’t look antique, it doesn’t look particularly American… It’s not fun or unique.  I dunno, it’s just neutral.  Which is its main selling point.  White, bright, cheap and neutral …

What do you think???