Sorry, I completely misunderstood your post. I thought you meant a transition piece between the two floors (ie, schluter, t strip molding). Don't grout that joint between the two floors. It needs to be caulked if you go that route. Otherwise, the difference in expansion/contraction between the two materials will cause the grout to crack. As far as grout color, look at lots of pictures. I would think you'd lose a lot of the beautiful herringbone pattern if you tried to match the dominant color. The tones of the two floors are very similar, so they already connect on that level. I don't think you have an issue of transitioning in terms of grout color. I guess the more natural selection for a wood look would be a little darker than the main color, like a shadow between the boards. A lighter color or a gray will look more like a tile floor with grout. I wouldn't do something lighter, as in peachy. You can kind of see what it would look like lighter right now. The higher the contrast you have with the tile will affect how busy or pronounced the floor pattern will look. Maybe you could cut strips of colored construction paper to lay over the joints to see what appeals to you more. You've got some variation in the tile colors, but when you use a grout color that matches the flooring, the floor becomes one big solid mass of color. Here is a link that might be useful: herringbone tile pictures This post was edited by snookums2 on Thu, Aug 8, 13 at 23:15

Put in one that works for now. It's not that big a deal to add a threshold (marble or wood) when you get around to tiling.

you don't have to go w/hex,,,i was just showing you the pics on how to blend. you could do marble, or travertine, slate, porcelain,, you already have plain white tile. you're redoing it? but 12x12 is dated, and 12x24 is meh,,,that slate tile in the herringbone is nice. we know that's not dated since you find it in 18th century Europe. Hex has been around since mid century in home design, so, I don't think that's going anywhere. And mcm is on a comeback. just pick something you like that looks good. don't worry about the buyers in a few years. with the stuff I see in homes that get bought, some hex tiles aren't going to deter anyone!

OK...the solid hardwood is factory finished. That's fine. It means that you can choose a solid factory finish so that EVENTUALLY you can get all of this refinished at the same time AND STILL end up with the same floor throughout. What you do is find the SPECIES of the hardwood and the width (and the thickness)...and if you can find the same grade/cut. Sure you can run it perpendicular to the hallway...so long as you are NOT on wood joists. If you have wooden subfloors the direction of the joists will dictate the direction of install. Regardless. So long as you get the same species in solid, you can always sand/refinish everything at once = same floor throughout the home. You do not have to do it today...but it gives you the BEST option to do it later if you want...or just before you put the house up for sale.