In the Details: Fluted Tile in the Master Bath

Picture it! Summer of 2022, New York City. A controlling middle-aged (okay, over-the-hill) man is seen walking into a bathroom in a swanky hotel in Tribeca. From the bathroom is a loud screech, yes I can scream with excitement. The middle-aged man walks out with his jaw on the ground and proclaims “I found our master bathroom“. Fast-forward to the fall in 2024 and finally this long saga of the fluted marble tile is coming to a close. This long chapter in the remodel madness was almost a year and a half in the making. When we began the project, I had originally planned for our master bathroom to be black-and-white, but then on a visit to New York City and stay at a Fouquet New York hotel. I stumbled across an inspiration or better yet marble madness.

The hotel bathroom was floor to ceiling marble. From the floor, door jams and event mirror framing. Did I want that much marble? No! But the one thing I did want was the amazing fluted marble used on the sink counter edge. I was already looking at marble slabs back home and already clocked the hotels use of viola Calcutta marble in the bathroom. Back home I began researching if the marble slab I had found at DeVinci Stone could be cut in that pattern. Sadly I would need a thicker cut custom slab to be do the custom cutting. Which meant even more $$$. In the end I opted to do more research online.

I found to two company online that offered two different solutions. The first one involved having my fabricator gluing individual reeds together to create the stacked look. It was the cheaper option of the two but the final look was very chaotic with the unmatched grains and random color combinations. The second option is was using Marble Systems fluted accent tiles to face the counter. While this option provide a cleaner look overall, it did create a problem with three or four seams on the facade. It was a less pricey option, compared to custom. But it also had another hurdle that would come later in the process.

To begin, I started with ordering samples directly from Marble Systems (MS) website to see how the product looked in person. One of three samples matched the slab I picked out perfectly. I reached back out to MS to order 3-4 more tiles and began the hurdle of trying to obtain tiles in the same batch or lot. MS immediately had me go back to a local vendor to place the order. This requirement had me working with another South Bay vendor, which became a middle man who presented more hurdles in the process. I spent 7 months playing cat and mouse with the vendor and MS. Unfortunately the vendors rep didn’t mix well the MS rep. I understood their frustration. And they ultimately used a hardline they don’t go digging in large palettes for matching stone. I got it.

But the end result is me negotiating for three different shipments of tile. To just fund three pieces that can be matched together. Shortly after the vanity was installed in the master bath, I finally was able to get three tiles that can installed as one. Am I 100% with my final selection, computer says no. It was close as it was going to get. The counter slab ended up being a lot more white that the tiles. And this most evident on the toilet closet counter. Overall. I was happy the final look. Then there is the tall counter to contend with. I will say this. My back doesn’t hurt anymore bending over to wash my face or brush my teeth, every morning and night.