Calacatta Marble Shower in Northbrook Primary Bath
This walk-in shower is in the primary bathroom of a ranch-style home in Northbrook. The walls use large-format Calacatta marble-look porcelain in a vertical stack pattern, selected to draw the eye upward and make the shower feel taller than its footprint. The floor transitions to a white hexagon mosaic for grip and visual contrast. A stainless-steel recessed niche was built into the back wall during framing before any tile was set.
The main craft decision on this project was how to handle the vertical seams on the large-format wall tiles. We used a white polymer-modified thinset to prevent any gray show-through on the near-translucent porcelain, and we back-buttered every tile in addition to troweling the substrate for full coverage. The niche edges were mitered for a clean shadow-free corner rather than using metal trim pieces.
Project Details
| Service | Bathroom & Shower Tile |
|---|---|
| Area | Northbrook, IL |
| Materials | Large-format Calacatta porcelain (walls), white hexagon mosaic (floor), stainless niche insert |
| Scope | Residential — primary bathroom walk-in shower |
| Timeline | Multi-day install |
What We Did
- Waterproofing: Applied liquid waterproofing membrane to all walls and floor, sealed all corners and pipe penetrations.
- Layout planning: Dry-laid the large-format tiles to center the pattern and plan cut placement at the shower entrance.
- Tile installation: Set walls with white thinset (back-buttered), set hexagon mosaic floor with consistent grout joint alignment.
- Grouting and sealing: Unsanded grout on walls, sanded on floor mosaic; flexible sealant at floor-to-wall transition.
Interested in a similar shower for your Northbrook home?
