Do you mind if I asked which showroom you are using? I like the traditional look of the subway on the wall. I was thinking it may break up some of the business that can sometimes appear in the larger tiles. I also tend to like a honed look much more than the polished look myself. Do you think the large tiles could be cut down to longer subways? I think they are rectified. I was thinking of doing this for a herringbone floor. Good luck!

The main points have been hit already: 1) your tiles are set with alternating pattern instead of with a consistent pattern. That adds to the jitteriness when you look at it. 2) The dark grout lines emphasize horizontal and vertical. If you want both, fine, if you want to let the pattern in the tile be the main direction, then not so fine. 3) lighting. You have none. Another point, it looks like the inspiration photo is a bit washed out. The contrast or saturation looks knocked down, or the brightness bumped up a bit. That makes the pattern in the inspiration photo less prominent.

I've bought a lot of items from both Home Depot and Lowe's over the years. I've found them to be customer oriented, easy to do business with, and they carry a wide assortment of products. I've had doors installed, carpet installed, bought appliances, tons of tools, hardware, you name it. I'm looking at vinyl tiles at both stores right now, and carpet at Lowe's. I pay close attention customer reviews. Other than that, I have noticed that they carry a wide price range of items within a product line, to suit what their customers want. In researching the vinyl tiles, I've noticed that H.D.'s store brand has a lot of excellent reviews. I have also noticed that both stores have the bottom of the line, inexpensive varieties that have problems. But I think that's more because of the PRICE and not because it's at H.D. or Lowe's. Some of the vinyl tiles have complaints that the top layer will scratch off, pieces not be squared, the tiles iwthin a box won't match in pattern, etc. So I think if you inspect in person, and buy something that is not the bottom of the line, it should be fine (paying attention to customer reviews). I don't know about ceramic tile, but for vinyl tile, I was able to buy a single tile, or pick up a sample, and take them home for color inspection, and scrape them with a knife to test for durability. The one thing that surprises me, but which I think is the case, is that if there is a manufacturing defect, and the tile has been installed, I'm not so sure the big box stores will credit you. They may serve only as an agent with the manufacturer for you. You'd have to check on that, since I'm not sure. But then all stores would be this way. I love the big box stores. So easy to do business with them.

Are you sure Lowe's doesn't have records? (I guess so if you said as much.) A couple years back we needed to order carpet to match what used to be on a display, but it was no longer displayed. The guy looked me up in their system, and all our special orders were still in there for several years prior. They found who the manufacturer was on the carpet, called them to confirm they still made it (even though Lowe's no longer officially carried it), and sold it to me.