apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hmmm....I just did a search about lightening marble and came up with this warning:

Natural Marble
Acidic products should never be used on natural marble, as marble is composed of limestone which is attacked by acid just as an acid would dissolve a hardness film. A moderate or strong alkaline product may discolor (Lighten) marble, and for that reason their use is not recommended.

I say give acidic products a try! (wear a mask though)

A friend's daughter-in-law used a cleaning product with acid on limestone walls and they disintegrated! Depending on your perspective, that could be good or bad.

I have the same problem, but color is red/brown marble. Nothing can be done. I just went to Waterworks and bought a the abaca baskets, towels, soaps, plants to soften it up.
I think your bathroom looks nice.

Hmm, I wouldn't mess with the marble, unless you are ready to do a full-scale reno in there. Have you tried adding color? Change the curtains, add a bath mat, add accessories around the sink (soap dish etc), possibly in an acid green or red.
You could also hang a big monochromatic picture if you have the wall space. I wouldn't suggest hammering a nail into the marble to hang it, but you could suspend it from the ceiling, or get those super sticky 3M hooks that attach to almost everything.

I agree, your bathroom is nice. It could become spectacular with the right accessories. I'm seeing brilliant lime or turquoise. Add some lavish trimmings and your bath could become like something out of the Waldorf circa 1920.

You may not have to remove the tile to tile over it. Apparently, our bathroom tile floor can be tiled over, but not sure if it depends on the type of tile. The wall tile would probably have to come off, but maybe if you could at least change the floor, you'd be more okay with it?

my first impulse is to say crypt it up! paint that cupboard thingie black. hang dark colored lace curtains. always keep fresh flowers in there. lots of candles. red towels. bring some wrought-iron elements into the room. hang a crucifix. lower the lighting.

but this is coming from the girl whose latest kitchen brainstorm resulted in a southern kitch/voodoo cemetary motif, including red chalk marks on the hallway walls as you enter the room. and i try to convince myself i'm not goth anymore...

What I would suggest is, if you want to brighten this room. Stick with this same tile, but remove the higher tiles. It looks like the tile goes to the ceiling. I'm going to assume it is a 11 ft. ceiling and say, remove the top 3 or 4 tiles coming down from the ceiling line. Then the tiles will only go up 7 or 8 feet. Touch up the upper wall with some plaster (the walls will be rough from the thin-set, grout, and abuse of tearing down some tile), and paint the newly exposed upper-wall white. Hang a big white towel on that shower door rod. It will look very classy, and brighten the room up a bit.

I'd kill for this bathroom and totally agree with kat. It's a blank canvas, go nuts!

BTW- It's already a very nice bathroom. If you don't have the money for a reno, you'd do no harm keeping it the way it is until you feel you can invest the money in doing just what you want.

Kat and opoponax are onto something. How about this...

--Bright lime or turquoise towels and bath mat.
--Replace the curtain with a tailored shade in a neutral or pattern that blends with the marble but contains your accent color.
--Replace the white medicine cabinet with a very sharp tailored black one.
--Decrypt by adding plants that play up the accent color, in square white pots. The square white pots are key to my vision.

I agree with many of the other posters here - this is already a very nice bathroom. I would pick your favorite bright color - red, turquoise - and accessorize. If you aren't into lots of color, I also like Chris(nyc) suggestion of hanging a large white towel (or two) on the shower door to really soften things up.
I don't know what the style is in the rest of your house (whether you prefer traditional or more contemporary furnishings/finishes) but if you wanted a more modern look I think replacing the medicine cabinet would make a big difference. Or just removing the medicine cabinet (assuming you have enough storage without it) and putting some art there.
I think there is a lot of potential for making the bathroom a space you love without removing/replacing the marble. Have fun with it!

don't lose your marbles over this, work with what you have. embrace the marble
think roman bath or spa as mentioned add color in towels, living plants, sparkle with chrome and glass, organic elements like shells or crystal rock formations. the traditional style cabinet over the toilet seems at odds with the modern look of the marble and glass and metal shower enclosure. too bad there aren't more photos.

I concur with patrick, go for a spa look. Organic elements are a must. It looks like there's a lot of light in there so it could definitely tolerate shade-loving plants, anything from lucky bamboo (which thrives in my bathroom and has grown huge leaves from the low light levels) to spathiphyllum to something like asparagus ferns. The colour palette of the marble reminds me of a beach on the pacific northwest: muted sandy greys, startling indigos (mussels), charcoals, forest greens, ferns, pale grey-blues of mountains in the distance. You might want to look into buying art that matches this palette, like something by Emily Carr, and adding it to the bathroom to bring it all together.

I like the idea of a spa look too. I think the marble will look fantastic with the right accessories - and not 'crypt-like' at all. I third Wende and Mags' suggestion on a more streamlined medicine cabinet. I think some organic shapes would work really well in there too, like these coral-shaped candleholders from Storehouse - http://www.storehouse.com/store/ic280frm.asp?prodno=08M23151ABW

Cover the floor with some fluffy white or warm coral bathmats, or use something natural like sisal or wood mats to go with the spa look.
This isn't a crypt - this a relaxing retreat!

This type of marble tile is used in the bathrooms of the smaller guestrooms of the Philippe Starck-designed Clift Hotel in SF. If you were to consider some renovation (other than gutting this tile--which I quite like), perhaps move towards a more modern contemporary feel? Starck used a simple palette of white, silver and chrome against the dramatic grey tile. White single countertop/sink piece on simple aluminum covered wood base with shelves. Built-in open aluminum shelving for toiletries. A large, nearly wall-sized mirror/lightbox: bottom 2/3 mirror and top 1/3 white light box. Recessed lighting above the sink and tub area. White towels. Chromed toiletries and accessories. Very spartan and modern, but also very dramatic.

I tried to find images of this bathroom on the net, but could only find images of bathrooms from the larger rooms that don't use a similar grey marble.

I think chris (NYC) has a really good idea--if you can afford it, stripping off the upper few feet of marble and refinishing the walls in fresh white paint would work wonders in brightening the place up. To me, adding colored towels and whatnot with that streaky gray would just make it look chaotic. You have nice-looking fixtures and two (!) windows in there, so if you remove some of that tile--which I agree is overpowering--you could end up with a very classy effect.

I think the most important thing to do is to remove the Glass shower doors- They make the tile look so much more dated - and replace with one of two options:

1)
A rod with a fantastic colorful curtain- I like to make custom ones out of Subrella Fabric which is usually used for outdoor furniture(then there is no need for a water protecting interior shower curtain).

2) Glass panel affixed to wall that swings on hinge - making the room feel mutch larger

My favorite option is number 1 as it adds color. In addition, I whole heartedly agree that the Cabinet should be replaced with something much more streamlined.

have you thought about going the modern route, as stated by others, picking up some of the neutrals in the marble in your "around the room" items...

but maybe a "blik" -ish decal could be applied over the marble accenting the windows and such.

I am picturing mocha or white colored calligraphic swirls coming off the window frame and onto the wall...or maybe something that looks "wood cut" like an old soap lable.

maybe tie it into a monogram you could also put onto your towels on shower curtain.

some more simple could be to add another less "engineered" rock material. As simple as it sounds, french apothacary jars filled with black river rocks could help "organic" it up and play of the marble.

Marble can be very modern--think Knoll credenzas, Saarinen tables, the Barcelona pavillion. Go for sleek and minimal, and thank your stars you don't have boring white tiles!

forget the expensive tile redo. instead, remove the white cabinet over the toilet since it doesn't match tile. and try to make the bathroom more contemporary asian/zen to make it match tile. try some candles or modern things.

If you can tile over the floor, that cool river rock tile could make it very zen. I seem to be in the minority, but while I think the tile is nice, there's way too much of it. I do think that just changing the shower doors to be frameless and getting rid of that cabinet would be nice.

I saw a stainless bathroom wall cabinet, with a frosted glass door at Restoration Hardware (in store -- not in current catalog. Believe it's part of the Spritz collection - very contemporary, sleek, which would be a great replacement for the traditional cabinet that you now have. I agree with others here who would prefer seeing it brightened with plain white towels, sleek accessories -- I wouldn't bring in much color for it's busy enough -- I would calm it with using only solids, neutrals and as contemporary accessories you can find, which will make it sparkle like a jewel! It's a great bathroom; you, fortunately have the beginnings of the wonderful spa and it can be fixed inexpensively with a few accessories!

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions! This is our first Manhattan apartment purchase - now that we aren't renting we have some flexibility to make the place our own. Many thanks for the thoughtful insights!

by the way, Cheesechickadee - you are SO right about the shower doors - they do give the bathroom a dated feel and detract from the modern sensibility of the marble. And I agree with Mags and Wende and others who suggest replacing the cabinet - it's what the previous owners had in there (we didn't pick it).

Here's a nice stainless cabinet:

http://tinyurl.com/gjr9a

In my personal search for stainless kitchen wall , I keep coming across great stainless cabinets for the bathroom; here's another! And, it can be ordered by phone!

http://tinyurl.com/m8uc9

Where you take a shit in the morning is critical. If you MUST use this bathroom, by all means, then go ahead. But, I think you should just avoid using this abomination until you have the fucking money to renovate, you cheap wanker.

So, go knock on your neighbor's doors, and forcefully enter their apartment when they open the door, insisting that you be able to shit in their bathrooms, which are more likely much less cluttered than your shithole.

I had this identical problem. My solution was to change two of the walls to white stone, I found the white to accent the gray marble nicely. I got 12x12s of this pure white stone from Home Depot. It's so white and plain it almost looks like silestone or corian, but it's actual marble (I can't remember it's name). They weren't cheap at 9.95 each (you buy by the case of 10), my two walls took 6 or 7 cases. I bought a tile cutter on ebay for $50 (I found out cutting stone tile is much easier than I thought it would be). Without taking down the old tile, I just spackled on adhesive and laid the white stone tile right on top of the old tile. Sure the wall now comes out 1/2" further, but it was WAY cheaper and easier than having someone tear out the old tile. If you're at all handy, you can do it. I did the whole thing for about $800. It looks much brighter, I've gotten lots of compliments.

Removing tile is extremely costly and messy. Tile that is in good shape and well adhered to the wall or floor can be tiled or dry-walled over. Dry wall from floor to ceiling would be a very effective and not too costly way to lighten it up from a construction standpoint, but it's not a DIY job; get a contractor.

Hey BP. This weekend, I ended up getting a guestroom at SF's Clift Hotel that had a bathroom I described in my comment above. I posted 4 pics on the Flickr slideshow on the AT:LA site for your reference. http://la.apartmenttherapy.com/ As you'll see, the dark grey marble tile is balanced with a lighter, white marble tile on the floor and as a single "striped" accent on the walls. Hopefully, these pics can provide you with some inspiration.

Honestly, I hate the crypt look. What I would do is one by one remove the tiles yourself. Chances are there is a layer of newer thinset underneath. Break off the thinset and have a plasterer replaster the wall so you can paint it. Get rid of the masoleum.