CONTACTHerringbone Tile Bathroom with Curbless Shower
in Los Feliz, Los Angeles
Marble + Herringbone, Los Feliz
- LOCATION
- Los Feliz, Los Angeles, CA
- DURATION
- About 12 working days
Our clients had DIY-ed a lot of their Los Feliz apartment themselves, and knew this room would be too tall a task. They came with a clear vision: a bright, airy herringbone installation with seamless corners and updated modern fixtures. They sourced every material on their own: the marble hexagon floor tile, the white 2×8 subway tile, the plumbing and light fixtures, and the mirror.
The homeowners had demoed the bathroom themselves before we arrived, and mold treatment had been done on the wall studs. Beyond that, everything was in good order: a clean canvas, ready for install.
We built the shower with a curbless entry. This is a smallish space for a primary bathroom, and a curb is a little wall that chops the room in two. Removing it lets the floor run continuously, bringing the whole room together instead of separating off a corner of it.
The clients didn't want a noticeable trim, so every corner uses Schluter FINEC, a very slim profile that lets tile meet at a 45° angle. The back of each tile has to be mitered and polished for it to work, but the profile itself all but disappears into the field. And on a herringbone installation, with its sheer volume of visible cuts, it gives a cleaner finish than raw miters would.
Everywhere two planes meet (the rear wall into the side walls, the side wall wrapping around the corner and inside the niche), the herringbone pattern was laid to match perfectly with the pattern on the adjacent surface, so the zigzag flows through the corner instead of dying into it.
The sheer number of tiles that had to be cut, mitered, and polished, while keeping the herringbone pattern flowing perfectly from plane to plane. There's no trick that solves it. The only way through is a meticulous, no-shortcuts attitude: everything has to be perfect, one tile at a time. Our clients, veteran DIYers who understood exactly how hard this room was, chose all the materials, had the vision, and were thrilled with how it was executed and brought to life.
Questions about
this project.
What is a curbless shower, and does it work in a small bathroom?
It's a shower you walk straight into: no step-over curb at the entry. Small bathrooms benefit most: the floor runs continuously through the room, and losing the curb removes the one element that visually chops the space in two.How do you get seamless corners on a herringbone install?
We used Schluter FINEC, a slim profile that lets tile meet at 45°. Each tile's back edge is mitered and polished, and the profile nearly disappears, cleaner than raw miters when a pattern produces this many visible cuts, and the pattern itself is laid to continue across every plane.Can we source our own tile and fixtures?
Absolutely. Every material in this bathroom was chosen and purchased by the homeowners, down to the mirror. Clients bring the vision; our job is executing it at a level that matches it.
Similar projects: Olive Green Bath, Porcelanosa Half Bath.
NORTH LA BATHROOM
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