Choosing the right grout color

I want to stress the importance of choosing the right grout color for your tile.  Don't rush in choosing grout, make sure you lay it out with the tiles in the room it will be in before you decide!

There are a few options when looking at grout colors.  You can:

1. Blend the grout with the tiles, meaning you choose a grout that is nearly the same color as the tiles (such as white on white). This will create the appearance that the floor is one seamless color.
2. Contrast the grout and tiles, meaning if the tiles are light than you choose a dark grout (or vice versa).  This creates a checkerboard appearance. 
3. Accent the tile with grout, meaning if you have multiple colors in your tile you can choose one of those colors to accent in the grout.

When I first started my home renovations, I thought I preferred to blend my grout and tiles.  I thought this would make the rooms look larger.  

My downstairs bath has a beige tile with Oyster Gray Polyblend grout. I picked this tile because it was inexpensive and a neutral color for the bathroom.  The grout dried darker than I expected and it looks kinda dingy with the beige tiles. 

 

I had purchased too much of these tiles, so instead of returning them I kept them to use in my laundry room.  Since I didn't have much of the Oyster Gray grout left, I decided to use the Alabaster Polyblend Grout  that I had left over from my Master Bath. I didn't want to spend extra money on grout so I was hoping the colors would be tolerable together.  

It turns out that Alabaster Grout looks amazing with this tile!  It completely transformed the look and color of these boring beige tiles. I know it's hard to tell but these two images are the same tile just in two different rooms with different grout colors.  

Maybe down the road I will regrout the downstairs bath to help brighten up that dingy floor.