More progress on our unit's staircases and tile angst

The balcony railing in the headhouse:

And the balcony railing on the third floor (bedroom level):

They were working on the staircase between the second and third floors when I left them this morning so maybe they'll be done by the end of the week.  It'll be great to see what it looks like painted and with the finials on top of the newel posts.

In less visually pleasing but still great news, one of the crew put in the drywall around the basement utility room, so they should be able to add the fire-rated steel door that seals off that space shortly. 

Our GC and his crew had also installed the range hood in one of the tenant's units and was were working on the hood in the second tenant's unit.

Lastly, I forgot to take photos, but the tile guy came this morning and grouted the floor in our guest bathroom.  It looks phenomenal!  On the drive in to the red brick building my fiance and I revisited the age old question of which wall tile we should use in that bathroom.  I had found something I liked even better than any of the options from my last post about tile (here).  It also happens to be slightly cheaper than they were, but still not cheap by a long stretch.  It's by a manufacturer in upstate New York called Quemere and is similar in style to the first three tiles in my last post.  Unfortunately the cost was getting close to $5000 for enough to do the bathtub alcove.  It feels a bit ridiculous to spend that much, especially on a guest bathroom that isn't going to see a heck of a lot of use.  I called up the no-frills place where I bought the white hex that's on the floor and got prices for plain ceramic 3x6, 4x4 and 6x6.  They're all about 1/10th of the cost of the fancy handmade tile, depending on which size I were to choose.  I'm leaning towards just getting something inexpensive and counting on all the other aspects of the bathroom - the antique marble-topped vanity, the huge old mirror, the gold fixtures, the arch over the tub - to carry the day.  I do want to check that the whites are okay together, though, since they're from different manufacturers.  Is this giving up or being sensible?  Sometimes on this project it's hard to tell.