Faucet dilema

Even though I knew I wanted to tile the bathtub walls, I did not know how I was going to tile around the faucet handles. I figured I would deal with it when I got there. I submitted my dilema to ApartmentTherapy.com and got the following advice:

I think you need to take the hardware off, put the tiles on and then put the hardware back on and caulk. You shouldn't try to grout around the handles.

Looking at your photo, it looks like you could just use nippers (to clip small pieces of tile off an edge vs. making a hole in the center) if you removed the half tiles above and below the faucets (which shouldn't be like that anyway).

Forget the nippers. Use a rental tile wet saw for perfect cuts. You need to remove the half tiles you have next to the tile handles now. Take off the escutcheons and mark the tiles where you need to make a slot for the piping. Just saw it out and mastic the tile in place, then grout. Do NOT depend on large grouted areas alone. Water will get in and you'll end up having to replace the drywall.

I did not do any of the above. My philosophy when it comes to this tiling project is K.I.S.S (keep it simple sweetheart). I chose to stick with cutting straight edges and place the tiles as close as possible to the edges of the faucet handles. Next step is grouting.