Thanks suzan30! We fell in love with it when we saw it (the other colors are stunning as well!), but were also concerned about such dark tile in a small space (hadn't been considering dark tile at first). It is Glow tile (color is Cosmos) from Atlas Concorde (distributed by AKDO?). Ours are the 12x24's, if you can't tell in the pics, but it does come in other sizes as well.

Ellen Kennon has a range of gorgeous Full Spectrum Paint colors. Full Spectrum and Ellen Kennon have been discussed on this site many times. A search may turn up some helpful threads. If you are not familiar with FSPs they are fabulous colors produced without using black. The effects can be absolutely stunning! If you are wanting to create something special I urge you to check out FSPs and also take a look at the photos on Ellen's website. EK's colors are made with ICI paints. Ellen sends the formula for your chosen color to your local ICI dealer to mix for you to pick up. Mine is always ready within an hour or so of placing the order! I am linking Ellen's website below. Here is a link that might be useful: Ellen Kennon's Full Spectrum Paints

We used Italian Edilcuoghi porcelain tile canyon musk for our mudroom. It has grays and some brown. I really like the texture so the kids won't slip. It does come in other colors too. Right now it's covered with cardboard and not cleaned since we're still in construction mode. We used Gazzini - Montecito Echo for 2 bathrooms. Some texture but not as much as the mudroom. I need to take some pictures but you can see it on my blog (Jan - tile) At the end of my blog there were 2 other beautiful gray tiles too - if you want more info on them I can search some more. Here is a link that might be useful: tile selection

We have remodeled our whole house and I have acted as the general contractor and supervised all of the subs which has saved us a ton of money. I put the grout release on the slate while it was on the driveway. Then I let the grout release dry. The grout release is to keep the grout (and probably any thinset which may squish up) from embedding into the slate and making it much more difficult to remove the grout haze at the end of the job. The slate is adhered to the floor with thinset - not glue. Slate utilizes a special type of thinset; tile uses another. We have concrete floors so installation was relatively simple as far as subfloor preparation. We did have to put on a layer of concrete self leveling compound beforehand because our concrete was out of level almost 5/8 of an inch from one side of the room to the other. I had a handyman helping me do the install because I have a bad back, but I supervised every step of the way because I didn't want three black pieces of slate next to one another and two copper pieces next to one another, etc. So I did a dry run of the installation beforehand to see what the floor would look like before adhering it to the floor. I also figured out that with the size of my living room if the slate was started at the edge of the middle of the room I would have needed much more tile - which would have been a 3/4 piece of slate on each of the four sides - and lots of waste. If you look at the left hand side of the photo I posted, you will see a 4 inch piece of slate - which is like a border around the whole room. The handyman wanted to start with the edge of the middle of the room, which would have meant more slate being used. I had him place the first piece of slate overlapping the very center of the room which made the edge end up needing a four inch piece of slate. More cutting but less slate and it makes kind of border around the whole room and I had him mitre the corner pieces. He was "b......." about all the cuts, but in the end it was worth it. So it pays to lay out your pattern beforehand with a dry run with the spacers to see how you can maximize your layout to save on the amount of slate. The same is true for tile too. To me checking the layout beforehand allows for a more esthetically pleasing design of the tile or slate. I can draw a diagram if this explanation isn't easily understandable. I was paying the handyman by the hour, so when it came time to clean the slate I did that part to save money. The cleaning is very labor intensive and hours equal dollars. Once the whole job was done, I also did the sealer myself. Laying slate or tile is possible to do yourself, but I would recommending trying to observe someone doing a tile job beforehand and practicing on a small project first, such as an entryway or table top or some such to get the feel of the materials involved and of doing a job. It is important to have helpers also. I did a fireplace surround tile job in my last house myself. I have also done exterior brick and flagstone walkway installations myself. Before tackling the fireplace surround I purchased one of those tile books and a video to learn how to do it. I also did a lot of reading in various books and on the kitchen and bathroom forum where they give excellent advice on tile laying. We also just got through doing both of our bathrooms where I supervised the same handyman and I have learned a lot each time a new job is done.