Question about tile floors

[FoxintheSnow]

We'd like to change out our tile floors which take up the kitchen, 1/2 bath, laundry room, foyer and pathway to the other rooms (it's kind of an open floor plan) All the other downstairs rooms have wood floors which is a golden, darkish brown color. The current tile is that 1980s 8x8 white with white grout. I hate it. It always looks dirty no matter how often I mop.

We've already had it measure and picked out a flooring company. We just need to pick out a tile. Ive got several samples but just can't decide on a color. I'd like something darker (like a grayish brown color) so it hides the dirt, but Im afraid that's too dark. Any suggestions?

[Katie T]

I have tile we put in the entry way. It is a cross between sand with some dirt coloring in it. I put a darker grout so it never looks dirty I love it.


Armstrong 18" x 18" Artifact Charcola Glazed Porcelain Tile


I couldnt get the link right but this is the color

[sunnysandiegan]

We got rid of the white 80s/90s tile completely (ours had dark grout, though, which was way better than white grout). No more tile AT ALL! We installed cork flooring throughout the entire main level and LOVE it!!!!

(Just another idea.)

Meanwhile, if you are set on replacing white tile with colored tile, the best thing to do is bring samples home to your lighting and your existing wood flooring in order to determine the best flow (color-wise). Also, the company you are working with should be able to make suggestions.

[lifeguard]

I would just suggest you get something that is fairly smooth as opposed to textured 'cause it will clean easier. The textured ones can really collect junk in the low spots & be a pain to truly get clean ime. As for colour - I like terracotta tones.

[Aka mommy]

We have travertine and i LOVE it simply because it hides most dirt! Very conveniant since im getting too big to mop the house as often as usual.

[pear-shaped]

We have tile throughout our house and I agree with pp about avoiding the overly textured tiles and using a darker grout. We have white grout in our bedroom and it's a pita to clean. We have medium-dark terra cotta tiles with nearly black grout in the kitchen and they do a great job of hiding dirt! The ones in our living room are more of a buff color, but they're kind of variegated (don't know how else to put it) so they hide the dirt pretty well too.

We have some greyish-brown tiles in one of our rooms and they actually always look dirty to me, but that may be because they're stone and not very glossy.

[Drummer's Wife]

We have a tan-ish color with grey grout for a lot of our flooring (kitchen, hallway, entryway, 3 bathrooms) and I like it. I'm trying to find a pic that shows the color, b/c I don't think it's too dark, but it's not light enough that everything shows, either.

Pic here.

[Ola_]

Have you considered putting in similar wood floors? We got rid of the tile in our hall/entry/kitchen/dining room and put in hardwood. Our tile was similar to yours - light coloured and looked dirty all the time. I'm loving having the wood instead, much easier to stand on too. We almost put in tile and I'm so glad we didn't.

[FoxintheSnow]

Originally Posted by Ola_

Have you considered putting in similar wood floors? We got rid of the tile in our hall/entry/kitchen/dining room and put in hardwood. Our tile was similar to yours - light coloured and looked dirty all the time. I'm loving having the wood instead, much easier to stand on too. We almost put in tile and I'm so glad we didn't.

We'd have to rip up all our other wood that we just put in last year if we did that, otherwise it would look weird. We have a very open floor plan so there aren't many defined rooms.