Advice needed for Master Bath project

[DoubleD]

Hi guys my name is Derek and I'm needing some advice on tiling my master bath.
Questions:
1. I've read that I'll need to remove the cultured marble walls and not tile over them. My question is how do I prep the sheetrock behind the marble for tiling to be suitable for a shower wall? Do I have to take the sheetrock out and replace with cement backer board?

2. The cultured marble is somewhat of a cream/taupe sort of color(I know it looks yellowish in the pix) and I was thinking of doing 4' tiles in a tumbled marble or a very natural looking stone and a very neutral color. What would look best? I laid the tile on the floor in the bathroom as well its a dark brown with different shades of grey in it with dove grey as well as the decorative boarder in front of the tub which has some grey, some khaki, and some chocolate pieces in it. I plan to do some sort of decorative boarder at about 4.5 feet up from the bottom fo the tub to add a custom look.

3. Should I also tile up the side of the tub? I'd probably have to remove the cultured marble cover and install a sheet of plywood there somehow to put the tile on. That tile would butt to the decorative boarder on the floor at the base of the tub. Will it look right or too much going on, just leave it marble?

4. As you can see in the pic there is a small recessed area at the back of the tub that has a shelf built at the bottom of it, anyone have any creative ideas for this space? We currently put shampoos/etc on that shelf.

5. As you can also see there is a soap insert on the wall of the shower can I just get one to match my wall tiles and thinset it in place or how do these attach to the wall?

I am a pretty experienced DIY guy and have laid over 1000 sq ft of tile in my diy project life. I'm not too sure about budget on this but I'd like to stay in the 3-400 range if possible.

Bath dimensions: 35 X 87 walls go up 59" from tub top, recessed area is 16" deep.

There is also matching cultured marble bouble vanity with seashell bowls(yuck!) that I'd like to do a new counter top out of matching tile fro mthe shower and do some drop in bowls, but that will be a later project.

I appreciate all input and would love some creative suggestions.

Thanks,
Derek

[DoubleD]

bump

[cx]

Welcome, Derek.

1. You'll likely tear up the face of the sheetrock when removing the marble and need to replace it with something, anyway. And unless you plan to use Kerdi, you need to replace the sheetrock with CBU, so might as well just tear it all out at once.

2. Aesthetic questions I avoid because you can't see it from my house.

3. From a technical standpoint, I'd leave it alone. It looks like part of the tub. Or consider replacing the tub, too.

4. Need to see why it's there, first. May have been somebody's mistake, or it might be covering some plumbing or some such.

5. You can get generic soap dishes (won't match your tile) in dozens of styles and colors. Or you could build a niche in the wall and tile it to match.

My opinon; worth price charged.

[CupanTilePaint]

You'll need to remove that existing shower surround. And I'd tear out everything down to the studs. Then staple a moisture barrier, roofing felt works, over the studs. Use a level to make sure studs are plumb, and use furring strips as necessary to create a perfectly flat surface.
Then you can install your underlayment, whether it's Hardi, CBU, or DensShield. Screw off to manufacturer's specifications.

As far as input to the type of tile you should use, it's up to your personal taste, but with maintaining those sort of colors I think a travertine tile with a honed finish would look spectacular in there. Although I think 4" tiles would be too small and would make the area look too busy. If you don't like a 12" tile, maybe step it down to a 6".

There are some nice looking travertine tiles on this site: http://www.tileshop.com/products/fam...bcategoryID=18

You can also get shelves that match your tile: http://www.tileshop.com/products/det...Record_ID=5303

And soap dishes that match your tile: http://www.tileshop.com/products/det...27&pageIndex=1

And shower seats that match your tile: http://www.tileshop.com/products/det...16&pageIndex=1


Good luck on your project!