Thanks! I am glad that other people agree about the gray. Bill, thank you especially for the specific suggestion - it gives me a starting point to ask about when I go back to the showroom. I can't believe but forgot to mention that we are also using rectangular strips - I think 4" x 12" of the darker color stone in the mix (the lagos) as a border around the perimeter of the floor. The reason for this is to tie the bathroom in from the adjoining hallway, which will have lagos on the floor. That is the reason why I wanted to have one wall with the mix, to carry the color up, instead of going all white. We already picked the grout for the lagos for the hallway, so I think that same color grout should be used on the perimeter lagos in the bathroom too. Is it weird to change grout colors like that on a floor? The brown grout we picked for the perimeter fades away in between the brown tiles, so I hope it will seem natural, especially as a carry-over from the next room.

We're just putting our laundry room together, after buying the cabinets a couple of years ago. It's about 70% done. We're using Ikea cabinets and had to make some modifications to their limited cabinet choice. DH is currently converting doors to 24" wide x 24" pullouts for the 2 opens spaces left of the washer, the upper cabinets need cover panels for the top, sides and bottom and we need a faucet for the sink to the right of the dryer. We will put a counter on top of the cabinet left of w&d and on top of the w&d for now. You can't really tell in the pictures but the w&d and the cabinet to the left of them are pulled out from the wall about 6" while we're still putting things together. We plan to replace the w&d in the next couple of years with models that don't shake the house as much (2nd floor laundry room in an old farmhouse.) They will either be on pedestals or on a shorter home made platform. Either way they will be taller than what we have now (and most likely won't need a counter above them.) North and South Walls: East and West walls: North wall: Center drawer has a fold-away ironing board for quick touch ups (which is about 99% of the ironing I do---and even that's not very often.) An outlet is nearby for the iron. The counter is the folding area. Cabinets underneath will hold separate laundry baskets for clean clothes. 4 baskets for family members, 1 basket for items to go downstairs (kitchen towels, etc.), 1 basket for miscellaneous. East Wall: Open white cabinet: has space for hanging and lots of open shelves that I think will be used for storing out-of-season items (hats, mittens, etc.) One long drawer will be used for wrapping paper and one smaller drawer for ribbon, etc. The north wall folding area will used for wrapping. Drying racks will be stored in front of the window/to right of north wall cabinets. Tall storage: one side will have pull outs (inner drawers)& space can be left at the bottom for a laundry hamper. The other side will house vacuum cleaner and full size ironing board. South wall: wall mounted drying rack. West Wall: cabinet for sorting dirty laundry into categories includes 2 deep drawers and 2 24"x24" pull outs (one may have 2 hanging bags from a frame and other may be left undivided space for bulky items.) Like ebear1271, I have quite a few dirty clothes catergories (lights--cold or warm, darks--cold or warm, dh has his own catergory--extra dirty, towels/sheets/washclothes--hot, socks & underwear--hot.) I can use space in a tall cabinet for another hamper and I could have a hamper on wheels in front of the east window. There is a laundry sink to the right of w&d. We plan store a steam generator in the sink cabinet for a shower we're building on the other side of the wall. We plan to store an air tub turbine in the dead corner space to the right of the sink cabinet (the north wall cabinet next to this space can be pulled out for access). I only use the dryer for towels & washclothes, sheets, socks, and underwear. All clothes and blankets get hung to dry. The space gets tight when we put up the drying racks (in winter) but I can also use the guest room that is through one of the doorways. We will scatter hooks throughout the room for hanging items to dry (I usually hang pants by a belt loop) and items can also dry on hangers. We may put hooks high on the wall at the north end of the room from which lines can be stretched when needed but this may be unnecessary. Concerns: flooding, since this is the second floor above the kitchen we recently renovated. We have the washer hooked up to a sensor that will turn off the water supply if any leaks are detected under the washer. We're thinking of putting the eventual new washer in a pan that will hopefully be deep enough to contain the water used in a fl. This is why we think we may build our own platform instead of using pedestals. Another thought is to put the washer in a shallow pan that drains into a deeper plastic box stored under the pedestal (with the leak sensor still in use for closing off the water supply.) We also plan to get as good a quality of hose as we can find. Right now I only wash when I'm home and I turn off the water supply after each load. We will mount a fire extinguisher near the entrance to the room and will put a smoke detector in the room. I plan to set up the sewing machine in the spare/guest room just through the east doorway. I hope this gives you some ideas. Good luck!

I just came across this thread, and don't know if anyone is still reading, but wanted to write, because I just put up my backsplash (in a new white shaker style kitchen). Everyone who sold the white subways said to use white for the grout. But most people in Gardenweb were saying to use gray? I didn't end up buying at home depot, but a guy there said it best. He said that the "authentic" color of grout used with subway tiles at the beginning of the century was always white. I told him mine looked creamy to me, and he said "If the tile reads white, at all, when you look at them, use "bright white". When you see subway tiles in a movie and the grout looks gray, that is done to make them look very old and that the grout has gotten dirty/discolored after many years. He said it is was in the 1980's that gray or black grout started to be used with a white tile. The brick pattern doesn't dissapear with white grout. You can still see the brick pattern under lighting because the tiles aren't totally flat. It's a cleaner look with white and authentic to the early century rather than the 80's. The original subway tile did not have beveled edges. This allowed a smooth surface as opposed to the modern tile which really defines separation in the installation.

Charmo interesting re: the dark navy. I think I like that suggestion for the second one. Or black. I like the way black tends to make colors pop. On the other hand tg seems to be different. The pale color suggested sounds right. You have done a great job on you bbs'. Especially like the tg one. Question did you do piece by piece on the tg, or dod you glue larger chunks. I've only done one piece using tg, but have admired the art I have seen on this forum. Kathy