<p>Any idea why so many tiles these days are tan/beige/neutral? Just design trend, or does it hide dirt better? </p>
<p>We’d prefer a more gray/white nuetral, but not nearly as many choices in the porcelain tiles as beige.</p>
<p>I think it’s just a design trend though it does hide the dirt better.</p>
<p>I installed American Olean Hennessey Place in crema marfil (cream color). It’s beautiful, looks like marble (evern my designer was originally fooled). They make it in carrara color as well that is a gray/white neutral. It’s a polished porcelain. I’ve had no problems with it on the bathroom floor although we do have a bath mat placed outside the shower and dry off before walking around.</p>
<p><a href=“http://americanolean.com/catalog.cfm?c=46[/url]”>http://americanolean.com/catalog.cfm?c=46</a></p>
<p>I love having wood floors in my kitchen. It’s much easier on the feet and legs than tile. Plus if you drop something it doesn’t shatter in a million pieces. Sometimes it doesn’t even break.</p>
<p>Love that link MomLive. Thanks!</p>
<p>Hmm… the tile guy dropped of sample tiles today. I like the size ok (about 12x12). But the grays seem too dreary, even the lightest one. We find few choices in white (besides marble), and maybe that is due to maintenance issues.</p>
<p>Do you have a tile store near you? We have several large ones and the choices were endless (not talking about Home Depot or Lowes - I found those to be very limited). It took me forever to decide because of all the choices. I wouldn’t rely on the tile installer to provide you with choices. White is a popular choice for bathrooms and shouldn’t be that hard to find.</p>
<p>We’ve been to 2 places with a lot of tile (a designer showroom with lots of marble and such, and a flooring store we like with a really helpful salesman that stops by our house). There are lots of choices… too many at first… but not much white. </p>
<p>But I’m shying away from white. Today we stopped by an Open House just to peek at their bathroom floors, and the real estate agent mentioned that she had white bathroom tiles and would NEVER do it again. At that house, we did NOT like the 1993 tile upstairs with wide grout. The downstairs verigated tan/cream tiles with narrow grout were pretty. Lots to think about.</p>
<p>The only problem I have with white tile is the grout lines get dirty and become very obvious after a while. Otherwise, I think white tile is a very classic look and very easy to decorate around.</p>
<p>The nice thing with cream or gray is the grout lines won’t necessarily pop out at you. I have a beautiful crackled cream color subway tile in my kitchen and when it was installed I let the installer talk me into dark grout lines. Big, big mistake because the first thing you noticed about the tile was the grout lines. I ended up removing the grout by hand (took weeks and a LOT of manual labor) and having them re-grouted with a cream color that matches the tile. Now the tile is the first thing you notice. Learned my lesson there. There’s really no way to keep grout on the floor from darkening. I was told to put a lighter grout color in my new bathroom floor. It will still darken but shouldn’t be a huge contrast like you would see with white tiles.</p>
<p>Still wondering on grout. I’ve heard that typical ones to look dirty over time. There’s an epoxy grout availalbe, so I’ll need to research that.</p>
<p>Yikes, this tile search has me looking down at the floors everywhere I go. At stores. At the work restrooms. Even at the professional building for a medical appt. Lots of tiles out there… and darn, lots of dirty grout. Luckily our little powder room will get less traffic than these public places.</p>
<p>Back to feedback on wood floors on kitchens… just had our refinished (with just light sanding in areas of wear. It cost $600, but it looks great and will keep the floors protected. In a few years when do a major remodel we’ll probably do a more drastic sand/refinish job. </p>
<p>Over 17 years we’ve had the floors done 2 other times (I think a refinish and a sand/refinish). So maintenance has not been free. But lots better than dealing with floor replacements.</p>