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Dark or light grout for penny round tile?

9 years ago

We have chosen Merola yellow penny rounds for the section of wall behind the vanity and the back shower wall. The floor and side shower walls will be larger gray porcelain tiles. There will also be white wood paneling on surrounding walls. Should we go with a gray or white grout for the penny rounds? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Featured Answer

catbuilder

9 years ago

Make sample boards so you can see first hand the differences and which you prefer.

Comments (8)

live_wire_oak
9 years ago
Medium to dark gray if you want the tiles to show as individuals. White if you want them to blend together into a solid mass.
Kathryn
Original Author
9 years ago
Well, am wondering about the tile's relationship with either the gray tile next to it or the white paneling next to it in other places. I am on the fence about having the penny tile seem like one mass or individual tiles, so I figured I'd let the other issue break the tie.
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Will penny rounds tile make a good shower base?
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I've seen them at a couple of local tile shops here in the Bay Area. One company that makes them is a German company called Jasba. (They have a really interesting colour pallette). I've posted a link below - click around a bit to see more colours as the webpage is a weird layout. The other company I don't know the name of but I think it may be the same company that makes a lot of those 'dot and octagon' old fashioned tiles. I think. Sorry can't be more specific about that source. I've been quoted around $8 per sq. ft. Here is a link that might be useful: Jasba's penny rounds
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Penny Rounds On Floor-All That Grout?
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I'm in the process of retiling my bathroom floor with penny rounds (I have pics posted on my thread - 'tile at bathroom threshold). The tile installation was terrible and I'll have to have them ripped out and reinstalled...so please learn from me and get a master tiler. These aren't as simple to lay as big square tiles. As far as the grout goes, I chose a medium blue grout and plan to have the grout sealed also to help with stains. When I look at the floor, i don't see alot of grout (I DO see the crooked tiles right now) but I LOVE the look of penny round tile so am willing to put a little extra TLC into them.
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Anyone with penny round floor tiles in their laundry room?
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Yes. Smaller tiles equal more grout to get dirty, stain and eventually crack and fall out. Fixing it would be a nightmare on a whole floor. I had a backsplash in an old house of that kind of tile and I would not recommend it on a floor, especially in a laundry room. Use some large, durable, non-porous tiles that can be easily cleaned. Or use real, old-fashioned linoleum - it is back in style. Some of it is beautiful and you will have no grout at all to worry about. Good luck with your laundry room.
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What color grout for these penny rounds?
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Comments (18)
Wow, what a beautiful bathroom! The sample I'm referring to holding the swatches up to is my tile sample (the one I posted a pic of). I mentioned in my original post that they're darker in the picture than in person, but the vendor picture (link in original post) is a better representation. I went back to Lowe's and looked at the grout again (even though I ordered the Rain today and no refunds), and the warm grey, silver and grey pearl are definitely not a match. The silver is close, but it doesn't match any of the colors in the tile. Rain at least matches the lightest tile, which is why I was thinking it'd work. Ugh, I love the tile so much, but had no idea the grout was going to be this challenging!
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Rachel
8 years ago
Just wondering which color grout you chose for the penny tile? I'm in same boat ...any pics of project?
Kathryn
Original Author
8 years ago
Hi Rachel,

I ended up going with Oyster Gray. In retrospect, I would probably have gone darker so that the gray didn't blend into the tile so much (the edge of the Merola penny tile has a grayish hue). Lighter would also work for someone, but, for our project, we would prefer (at this point) to have the tile pop more.

The photo shows the finished tile, but (believe it or not) we haven't painted yet (trim guy just finished on Tuesday actually) or wallpapered. We're still happy with our choice to do a full penny tile wall splash.

Kathryn
daisychain Zn3b
8 years ago
rachel, we just did our floor in pale grey/blue penny rounds. I'd chosen a grey similar to kathryn's above (gorgeous, btw). The tiler stopped after doing about a sq foot because it just didn't look right. We decided to do a dark charcoal - almost black and it is much better. What colour are your penny rounds?
Rachel
8 years ago
The penny tile we chose are darker multi colors..blue, gray, brown. We chose a sandy light gray grout. Just thinking now that the tiles might pop more with a darker gray ...plus it will be in a boys bathroom...
Jennifer Erickson
2 years ago
I’m curious to know what you ended up doing? I’d love to see pictures 😍

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