My parents' 1919 built three story house where i grew up still has the original 2" hex tiles in the (only!) full bath. They are a lovely aqua color too. They recently had a plumbing leak that resulted in an insurance claim that would have allowed them to completely redo the bathroom (and even add a shower to the tub so they wouldn't have to go to the basement to shower.) They decided to keep the changes to a minimum so they could save the original tile instead! I love the 2"'hex...the smaller ones are just a little too visually busy for me.

Hey Bill, if you're still out there: the two photos you submitted 10 years ago - that's Biscuit? I have samples of Keystones Arctic White which I intend to use on a floor with a bit of black as my own design. I love the color in your closer direct photo of the shower niche. That's what I want on my floor. It looks so much more like Arctic White. The Biscuit sampe I have pulls a faint buttery tone.

I never really recommend white grout on a floor. A gray or silver usually looks better to my eye and minimizes the sometimes too stark look that a white/white offers. White can discolor easily as well. White epoxy can also discolor, or have a yellow tint to it.

Yes. Draw out a cube (or separate walls) of that size. Then try placing 12 x24 squares on that wall. You are going to have one whole tile in the center of each short end and 6” wide pieces on either side, or a 1 ft piece on one end. Do you like that look? You will have 2 and a half tiles on the long side. If you switch the orientation of the tile and put the narrow side down, you will either need to have the walls widened by the space of two grout lines, or have one side of one tile cut just a tiny (likely jagged) bit. Make sure your tiler can cut those edges well, because, the tiles being so big, the jagged edges become very obvious. When you have a busier wall of smaller tiles, they do not stick out so much. Only if you make the shower exactly the size of the tiles, plus the grout, and lay them in a vertical stack, will you get rid of cut edges. Play with layouts and see what you like. You can also consider Corian or Swanstone and have a life-long beautiful shower wall with no grout. Anywhere. If you vacuum or sweep regularly, a black floor can be nice. That is, unless you ever use powder. If you do not clean your floors regularly now, do not think about a solid dark color for the floor. Floors are not wet all the time, so their grout should not discolor. You can have more grout lines on a room floor than in the shower, without mold or mildew.