Classic and Modern….. Marble!

This is a simple design and using just three products. Carrara Bianco 6×12″ Honed, Nero Marquina 5/8″ Mosaic to create border on the right and around Carrara Venato 1×1″ Square Mosaic offering a brighter look to stand out around the shower.

While I cannot see the top of the shower, it would be nice if it also has the rain shower head on the top.

You can design classic and modern. Get the design right and you never have to worry about remodeling again…. my biggest fear! I would hate to have the “pink” bathroom tiles that I see getting ripped out of 1980’s homes, someone paid to install those and thought “what an awesome design… nope”. Or tiles with Vegetables on them in the kitchen.

Yet I have seen bathrooms with Carrara marble dating back to Roman times (and they are still impressive). Even less extreme examples over history the Carrara Marble bathrooms in the Plaza NYC and many other historical hotels across London dating back to the 1890’s.

Bathrooms over 100 years old and still looking beautiful…. and the traffic through these hotels over 100 years, yet the marble looks incredible.

That is what I want. Classic. Durable. Stand test of time. Never remodel again. A forever bathroom!!!

Bianco Carrara Collection…. lot matching.

Start of the lot matching process for an order mixed of many products

Adding more products per customers instructions

Another angle (why not very happy with this match)

I just loved the veining on this Bianco Carrara 3×6″ honed…. time for a close up 🙂

Our Bianco Carrara Collection; Customers place orders for bathrooms with multiple products on the order. This is normal for us and we inventory our own products in the same location we are communicating to you about your order.

We own our warehouse and our office is located in the same facility. This allows us access to the products. While this does not seem like a big deal…. it is! Most online companies (over 95%) do not have access to their inventory. They are either drop shipping or using a 3PL (third party warehouse). This has a huge number of problems, here are just two:

#1. Drop Shipping or using a 3PL warehouse to ship marble does not work because no one will check your order to see if it lot matches. It will just be packed by someone that an hour ago was packing tennis shoes, or T-Shits, they have no skill in natural stone. They are not trained to even look inside the box.

#2. The return policy will be painful. It is painful regardless this is marble it is heavy but a company that does not ship from its own facility will have huge penalties for returns 30-40% of the order, because the 3PL location cannot process it. It will just get thrown away and your penalty is the company simply writing it off and throwing it away.

We like to spend time going through lots and sometimes we achieve the impossible with a natural product. Here we have 18×18″ Carrara Bianco Honed, Bianco Carrara 3×6″, Baseboard Honed, Basketweave with Bardiglio dot, Herringbone 1×2″, Basketweave border along with 2×4″ Nero Marquina. The matching of this collection of Bianco products is excellent. A third party warehouse cannot do this. It cannot send you pictures.

This selection will create an impressive bathroom.

Carrara Bianco. Design Perfection!

Carrara Bianco Nero Strip Marble Mosaic (Free Shipping and around $23.95 Square Foot for Summer 2021…. could be $30.00 by 2022.. shipping costs, extracting perfect Carrara marble, this cost will never go down it is a finite resource a one of a kind natural product).

The picture above is the “after“. The real story is here on Carrie Bradshaw lied its an awesome website full of tips and tricks by someone that clearly has an eye for fashion (well worth following and reading along).

The tile installed is Hexagon Carrara Mosaic with Nero Marquina framing here and the 4×12″ Honed Carrara Bianco in the shower found on our website here.

Then the last picture is just one image from the before. To see more pictures please visit the blog here then you can see the big reveal.

Look at that amazing shower. Love it!!

Amazing shower. The Italian Carrara Bianco 4×12″ honed is no stranger to shower.

This shower is amazing. The installation is exceptional and the Italian marble fabulous. The use of the 4×12″ Carrara Honed is a great option as it gives it a different take on the traditional 3×6″ subway tile. I like it. In fact it is probably my favorite size for a shower. This grade of Italian marble however is becoming increasingly difficult to source, add in the Covid factor and finding perfect Italian marble is not an easy job. We are managing and managing to keep our customers supplied even in this challenging environment.

The niche…. Wow can we just take a moment to admire. Again impressive!

The Before (one of the pictures)

You really have to go to the blog to appreciate the work that went into this, it is a work of art. Tile is Art. You decide where the tiles go. How the veining should look. The Hexagon on the floor however that is art on another level, it is intricately designed. The gaps are exactly 1.5mm apart to create a non-slip surface without it looking like a floor or “grout”. The level of traction is perfectly designed for the size the Hexagon. My absolute favorite Mosaic, not just ascetically but also from a practical design point of view and rarely do these two meet 🙂

Carrara Bianco 6×12″ Subway Tile

Carrara Bianco 6×12″ Subway Tile for $8.95 a square foot available in Honed and Polished

A great looking bathroom of Bianco Carrara Marble. This image is added in April 2021 to keep images fresh. The consistency of using the same quarry for a decade is critical to providing the highest quality Italian Marble, year after year.

Carrara Bianco Honed Picket Mosaic new for 2020!

Carrara Bianco Picket Marble Mosaic currently $12.45 a Square Foot available Click Here.

This is a popular design in Ceramic so it makes sense for us to add it to our collection of Italian Marble for 2020 (this is one crazy year so not too many new products). You can see the product in a video on our Instagram page here.

We like to get into the detail. Here is the layout of the design. I like the larger format. Any questions please let us know.

As with all our blog posts prices are subject to change (as eventually this post will become a decade old). The website has current prices.

A Timeless Classic

Bianco Carrara 3×6″ Subway Tile $7.50 a Square Foot available in honed and polished

It is a simple design and so elegant. I love the white look and then the slight off white light gray of the Italian 3×6″ Marble in the shower perfectly matching the vanity unit.

When buying a vanity unit the Carrara used 99% of the time will be “Bianco” Carrara, with our inventory of over two million square feet we can match up the tile to the vanity (or get it close enough as shown in this bathroom).

For the shower floor we recommend going with a mosaic. The grout lines provide more traction, keeping you from slipping and any embarrassing screams that causes the family to come charging in 🙂

The Bianco Collection here has an almost endless option of mosaics to choose from.

Hexagon $8.95 a Square Foot. Honed Finish. Perfect for a shower floor and sanded grout.

Another Magazine with our product on the front cover!

Yes that is our Bianco Carrara 3×6″ Honed for $7.50 a Square Foot you see on the front cover of this Magazine.

Carrara Subway options. There are two images as one is Honed the other Polished.

*Note the only Google Trusted Store in the Industry that sells in matching collections.

If you are tackling more than just a Backsplash consider that we have the largest choice of Nero Marquina in the USA. So you can add in borders and designs. Just a simple 1×4″ or 1×1″ accent can make a huge difference. Especially with Black Marble as it gives the color a reference point, black is black.

This customer accented the Bardiglio edged Hexagon with a 1×12″ strip. Then added 3×8″ Carrara Tile as a border around the edge. It is an incredible work of art. They saved thousands buying online. The Bardiglio Stripped Carrara Hexagon mosaic is just $12.95 a Square Foot. Retailers are selling this relative market new comer for $50.00 a Square Foot or more.

Bianco Mosaics being checked prior to shipping.

Pictures and more Pictures. This is our best way to communicate the quality to customers. You can see even more on Instagram. Carrara Bianco 1×3″ Herringbone Polished getting checked prior to shipping out.

Carrara Bianco 1″ Penny round Honed Marble Mosaic Tile for $12.95 a Square Foot.

Carrara Bianco 6×18″ Italian Marble

Always nice to get pictures from our QC people in Italy this is 6×18″ Bianco available in Honed and Polished for $9.95 a Square Foot (as with all prices on the blog that is subject to change but not for 2016).

It is a great lot. Just the right amount of veining very light Gray base. Perfect ‘C’ Grade Bianco Tile.

Shower and Bathroom. Bianco and Venato.

This is a great mix of Carrara Venato 3×6″ Subway Tile on the wall (which is currently $7.00 a Square Foot) then Bianco Carrara Hexagon with Bardiglio edge for the flooring. They have then edged that with our 1×12″ Bardiglio Border and edged again with the 3×6″ Venato.

Same home following the look through they have used again the Bardiglio striped Bianco Honed 2″ Hexagon Mosaic.

This is what make has made The Builder Depot unique from any other online company or even retailer. We can take pictures of the product, our product (the product that will be packed and shipped to you, it is a huge level of control in an industry that really has none).

This is product that we stock. This is not stocked in a 3rd party warehouse while the person you speak to on the phone is 600 miles away sat on the 32 Floor of some “tech” building and has never seen the product or worse they are not even in the USA.

The people on the phone at The Builder Depot can open the door while on the phone with you and find the product and discuss it with you. Take pictures and send them on. Match up with other sizes. All of this impossible task for big boxes or any other online retailer or Tile and Stone retailer as they just have 2-3 year old concept boards to work off.

“This is one of the main reasons we are able to be a Google Trusted Store and so many competitors or companies in the similar remodeling industry cannot”. Comments David Shearn. “The ability to see the product you are selling everyday should not be underestimated in the results it drives through customer satisfaction.” he adds “How can a person in a cubicle hundreds of miles away sell a natural product or a product that they cannot physically check. You must reduce the distance from customer service to the actual product”. Companies already know this and that is why they refuse to have unbiased reviews on their website. “If you are nothing but a broker you are doomed to follow the same results as all the brokers that have come before you. Irrespective of how much Venture Capitalists, what you to “IPO” so they can “cash out”.

At The Builder Ddepot we “know” what we are shipping. The majority of online companies are “Brokers” or as they do not like that name they call it “Marketplace” but it is a Broker. You buy from their website, they add 20-30-40-60% and then ship direct from the factory or 3rd party warehouse. Chaos. Absolute Chaos. Tried it before many years ago.

Unless you have the product and the people all in the same facility results like this are incredibly challenging to achieve. With their customers paying the price.

For us. We keep it all close. Everything is here. So we can check it off, sign off, double check. Make sure the 3×6″ goes with the 6×12″ and the pencil that you plan to put in-between matches. We can do all this because our customers communicate and we are working with the product every day.

Here is the product on the Bianco Carrara Collection page, one of 70-80 different products. The largest collection of white marble in the USA, stocked and ready to ship. No third party. Just premium products warehoused with over 2.5m square feet in Alpharetta, GA. People ask “Why not add a warehouse on the West Coast”. We have been down this road before. The further the product gets from the people you speak to on the phone the less control they have over the quality and knowledge of what they are doing.

It is imperative (and other companies can find this out the hard way) that the person with whom you are speaking to about your order, can physically see and touch your order. Can mark the crate as “Sold belongs to Remodelers, Inc.”. That pictures can be traded.

Here it is on the product page. Price is subject to change but currently for 2016 it is $12.95 a Square Foot. (I cannot find any company that competes with this price at ‘C’ grade Italian Marble).