I put in multicolor slate in 2006. Since this picture I've put on a coat of MiraMatte which actually gave it a slight sheen which I prefer. Before that it was very well sealed with the Home Depot equivalent of 511 Porous Plus. After installation I went over any rough spots or rough edges with a paint scraper to smooth them out and then rubbed more sealer on those spots. It's only flaked once in one spot and then it was done. It will scratch - mine does when I drag the wooden table open to install leaves - but I just run a sponge over them and they disappear. It shreds sponge mops, I use a Hoover floormate wet/dry vac. I never liked mops anyway because I knew there was still dried dirty water left behind. It does not stain, and nothing soaks into it. If you want a floor you can beat up and that doesn't show dirt (to the point where it will get the bottom of my feet dirty before it shows dirt) then it's a good choice. As far as matching, I used a green/grey granite which doesn't really match any of the colors in the floor but I think that natural stones, like woods, tend to match each other easily. I used a silver slate in the backsplash with purple glass inserts, and the glass picks up on the purplish tones on the floor.

Just as an aside, I have a basket weave mural in 2 places and the grout in each is different and gives a very different look. So here is the original mural From Powder room As a backsplash i used the darker grout of the rest of the backsplash From Powder room and on the floor in front of the vanity of the powder room i used the light grout of the tiled floor From Powder room the floor also doesn't have the pencil border but you can see the difference. More striking with the dark and softer with the light Thought it worth mentioning

I only saw your posting the other day. I was struggling with the same decision. I finally found one my husband and I both REALLY liked. It is called Giallo Antico. It is a tight pattern (not busy). Relatively neutral in color and looks great with the multicolor tile. It compliments it instead of fighting for attention. :-) The floor is the Star of the show! We Love That Slate. Another granite we liked really well was Cafe' Imperial. Beautiful But dark brown and it wouldn't work well with our dark cabinetry. Good luck. Post Pics when you can.

We have remodeled our whole house and I have acted as the general contractor and supervised all of the subs which has saved us a ton of money. I put the grout release on the slate while it was on the driveway. Then I let the grout release dry. The grout release is to keep the grout (and probably any thinset which may squish up) from embedding into the slate and making it much more difficult to remove the grout haze at the end of the job. The slate is adhered to the floor with thinset - not glue. Slate utilizes a special type of thinset; tile uses another. We have concrete floors so installation was relatively simple as far as subfloor preparation. We did have to put on a layer of concrete self leveling compound beforehand because our concrete was out of level almost 5/8 of an inch from one side of the room to the other. I had a handyman helping me do the install because I have a bad back, but I supervised every step of the way because I didn't want three black pieces of slate next to one another and two copper pieces next to one another, etc. So I did a dry run of the installation beforehand to see what the floor would look like before adhering it to the floor. I also figured out that with the size of my living room if the slate was started at the edge of the middle of the room I would have needed much more tile - which would have been a 3/4 piece of slate on each of the four sides - and lots of waste. If you look at the left hand side of the photo I posted, you will see a 4 inch piece of slate - which is like a border around the whole room. The handyman wanted to start with the edge of the middle of the room, which would have meant more slate being used. I had him place the first piece of slate overlapping the very center of the room which made the edge end up needing a four inch piece of slate. More cutting but less slate and it makes kind of border around the whole room and I had him mitre the corner pieces. He was "b......." about all the cuts, but in the end it was worth it. So it pays to lay out your pattern beforehand with a dry run with the spacers to see how you can maximize your layout to save on the amount of slate. The same is true for tile too. To me checking the layout beforehand allows for a more esthetically pleasing design of the tile or slate. I can draw a diagram if this explanation isn't easily understandable. I was paying the handyman by the hour, so when it came time to clean the slate I did that part to save money. The cleaning is very labor intensive and hours equal dollars. Once the whole job was done, I also did the sealer myself. Laying slate or tile is possible to do yourself, but I would recommending trying to observe someone doing a tile job beforehand and practicing on a small project first, such as an entryway or table top or some such to get the feel of the materials involved and of doing a job. It is important to have helpers also. I did a fireplace surround tile job in my last house myself. I have also done exterior brick and flagstone walkway installations myself. Before tackling the fireplace surround I purchased one of those tile books and a video to learn how to do it. I also did a lot of reading in various books and on the kitchen and bathroom forum where they give excellent advice on tile laying. We also just got through doing both of our bathrooms where I supervised the same handyman and I have learned a lot each time a new job is done.