We're doing a hall bath used by my husband and my son. The style is very contemporary. The bottom half of the walls will be 20 x 20 white tiles set on the diagonal, on top of that a 4" wide band of cobalt blue glass 1" tile, then pale blue paint to the ceiling. There's a natural maple vanity with a black quartz counter. Faucets etc are brushed nickel. (Part of me is afraid the whole thing will look dated the instant it goes in, but I'm committed on all those pieces already, so we're not thinking about that.)

The floor is the remaining issue. Here are the problems.

It's not a very large room, so I'm reluctant to introduce a whole new color.

My husband really only likes things with a very uniform finish, so something like a carrara or any kind of stone with veining or variation in color is out.

My first thought was a white floor. There is no floor tile that exactly matches the wall tile. Actually, technically, the tile we're using on the wall is floor tile, but it's very glossy and just not safe for the floor in that size and they don't make a matching tiny mosaic.

I'm assuming there are the following problems with trying to do a white floor. (1) I'll never match it exactly and it will look funny. (2) A white floor will show EVERYTHING and always look dirty. Relevant facts include a 9 year old boy and a man with a beard whose beard trimmings seem to take flying leaps everywhere.

The next thought was a black floor. It's been pointed out to me, and I think this is right, that if we go matte, it will suck up all the light and make for a very dark room. OK, we need something reflective, a glossy tile. To make that safe, that means very little tiles, so we have lots of grout lines. I'm sitting here looking at a sample of some 3/4" glass mosaic tiles with a slightly roughened texture that the supplier swears are acceptable for use on a bathroom floor. Or there are 1" mosaic glossy black porcelain tiles out there. Some looking around on the internet at pictures of bathrooms leaves me concerned that either one of these will be a very 80's look. I know that anything and everything will look dated eventually, but it would be nice not to start that way.

Would little black marble mosaic be better? Should I suck it up and pay for that or would that not be any less 80's?

Oh yeah, and he only likes a true, true black. Anything that reads dark grey doesn't cut it.

What if I did a band of black tile around the edge of the room and then white tile in the middle, so the white floor and wall tiles don't actually touch? Would that solve the not quite matching problem? Too busy? Too vintage-y (which I love, but isn't what we're doing here)?

Would long black rectangular tile set running bond or herringbone look more current? If I can find it with a satin finish, would that get me both sufficiently safe and not having all the light sucked up by the floor like a black hole, especially with a fairly light grout like Laticrete silver shadow?

(Aaaaaaaaargh!!!)

Thanks!