Let me put it this way-- there IS a way to do it, but it's not easy. To tell you the truth, I'd have to talk to your installer and explain it to him. First I need to know though-- is he using spacers to set the floor, or is he gridding it out with chalk lines? If he's using spacers, then it's useless for me to talk to him. The only way it'll work is if he grids the floor out, and even then, if he's giving you a ration of crap about it, he's right-- it WON'T turn out right.

Unfortunately our 2 week renovation is at least a full week behind schedule, but at least that meant I had an extra day to figure out grout... I did a sample of the Laticrete "Smoke Grey" and it's the one! I don't know if it's just the specific tile we're using or something, but the "Silver Shadow" looks so much better in the pics I've seen on this forum than it did in my sample. @Bill--Thanks for the info! I've read so many of your posts and the FAQ's and they've been invaluable in this process! This afternoon I begin the quest for your recommended sealants. :) Thank you all for the photos and the links. They're beautiful, and were really great references. And they made me really long for the end of this project! So now what do I do with three almost full boxes of varying colors of grey grout that I don't plan on using? Ha!

robin, Thanks for letting me know the floors are oak laminate. It amazes me that I keep liking oak floors when I too had been dead set against oak floors due to not liking my veneer oak cabinets that came with my townhouse and this cheap oak engineered wood floors in the foyers that have very thick coarse grain in them that is very busy. Maybe I would even be open to an engineered oak floor that is not too grainy that is stained cherry. I also am still open to laminate but due to my cherry furniture in my office, I had my heart set on a cherry wood floor with tiled foyers. I just wish my foyers were bigger but I live in North Jersey and as single person needing a lot of square footage to have a big home office as well as lots of personal space, the stylish townhouse fit me better. If I sold my townhouse and moved south, I could get a really nice house with a big beautiful foyer but I am realizing being alone, I am not yet ready to move with my clients here an my clients are so nice. The location I live in is expensive and I chose this townhouse over the house with more land and more bedrooms that was the same price due to the location not appealing to me. Thanks also Robin for letting me know the paint color. It truly is very neutral and may be nice in my home office to warm up the walls. I will try a sample out when I am ready to repaint. I love all my window treatments in my home I chose except for my first choice that is in the home office. I dislike the long strings of my Alta (a division of Hunter Douglas) double honeycomb blinds since they are always messy and tangling. I dislike the neutral color I chose (an off-white with a taupe faint design in it that looks great in the day time) at night since the blinds then appear gray. I wish I went with the 3/4" size pleat rather than the 1/2" size pleat. But I did not make these mistakes again and I learned that it is worth paying a little more for retractable cords or continuous loop cords or going cordless if you are tall (I am not). When you are ready for blinds, let me know and I will take pics of my other window treatments that I love especially my Champaign colored Shangri-La sheer horizontal blinds in my family room that has a cathedral ceiling and a wall of windows. The blinds really make the room so bright and happy and goes so well with the Bone White walls and bright white trim. Everyone who sees them loves them. I also love my retractable corded top-down bottom up Architella black-out Duet blinds in the linen color in my bedroom softened up with crinkled soft white sheers around them.

Hi Sooz -- I happen to love the kind of tile you had; I grew up in a 30s house with strongly-colored tiles in that pattern carried around the room. So while there are many, many options out there I sure wouldn't rule out a variation on the theme. One thing re your window -- have you really checked to make sure there's no rot around the window or into the walls? Because now would certainly be time to replace things. We're wrapping up our bath reno so I do have some photos of what we did plus a few inspiration photos I can share -- none are exactly what you're looking for but some have the elements you mentioned. If you're committed to just keeping the tile in the shower/tub area vs carrying it around the room, I think keeping things simple is probably best. Simple can be serene and gorgeous! Good luck with your project! 6x6 Tile on the diagonal (inspiration pic) Think this is 4x4 field, with grout blending in (inspiration pic) Contrasting grout (inspiration pic) More rustic approach to grid, with wide grout lines (insp. pic) Know it's tough to see -- white 4x4 grid, window (insp. pic) ********** My bath, Before shot (ceiling dropped to 6' over last 1/3 of tub) My almost-done bath (1905 house), done in DalTile's pale yellow 6x6 in a running bond vs grid pattern My bath, window area -- we removed double-hung and did a tiled-in aluminum below, awning window above