This is definitely a niche kind of design post, BUT I can't tell you how many times grout becomes an issue once your house is renovated, styled, and finished...and then real daily life kicks in.
This may seem like the tiniest of details to consider, but as anyone in charge of cleaning floors in a home knows, grout can be the absolute worst thing to deal with regularly.
Scroll through to see my favorite go to grout colors, and a few projects that feature them as well!
MY NUMBER ONE GROUT COLOR TIP:
DO NOT USE WHITE GROUT!
Some people may think I'm crazy, but I've seen enough installed tile to know that I personally will never specify a true white grout color ever again. Maybe it's my OCD, but in my experience, it's {obviously} more prone to stains. It looks beautiful right when it's installed, but give a little while and it could start looking dingy. I've seen it too many times in kitchens on backsplashes, especially where owners love to cook (think tomato sauce and red wine) and in many a bathroom I've seen what mildew or discoloration from cleaning chemicals can do, especially to {what started as} white colored grout. I don't know about you but that would bother me until the end of time.
MY FAVORITE GO-TO GROUT COLORS
Don't give yourself that headache, and go for a grout with a little something something, a neutral medium or darker tone that can hide dirt more easily or try a lighter neutral if that's your jam.
Personally I prefer to use an all in one grout meaning one with high stain resistance and no sealing required but here at NLI we lean on the expertise of the tile manufacturer and installer. Once we specify tile for a project, we'll pull the specifications as recommended by the manufacturer then confirm with our tile installer since most will have certain brands they prefer and are more comfortable using but if they have no preference, these are the colors that we find ourselves loving and using as go-to's time and time again.
Delorean Gray has been a stalwart color for years. Charcoal is perfect for a darker tile, especially on bathroom floors with high traffic. Darker colors really make tile patterns pop. Silver and Pewter are great choices depending on the warmth of the tile itself. Chamois is a warm medium brown that is perfect for wood tone tile and most shades of beige in between. Frost is a perfect balance of gray and beige - one of my personal all time favorites.
I typically find myself going for grout that has a bit of warmth to it, but that is absolutely tied to the specific tile being used and whether it has a cool or warm undertone, not to mention the undertones of all the finishes together as a whole. After all, selecting grout color might seem like a one off choice but it's really more of a domino decision and an important one at that. When choosing your own grout color, ask yourself do you want the tile pattern to jump out at you or to blend into the background and let the tile itself sing? While the tile itself will or should guide you towards undertone and specific colors, the pattern or tile layout is what leads you to the shade and whether you can (or should) go lighter or darker for contrast.
Still in doubt or more confused than ever? Don't be afraid to call in reinforcements and hire a design expert. After all, selecting the RIGHT materials and hard finishes for your home is something you want to get right from the start rather than later as a do-over.
If you're thinking of your own bathroom and/or kitchen renovation and are completely overwhelmed and want help from beginning to end with planning and selecting fixtures and finishes, don't hesitate to reach out to us today!
Do you have any grout color horror stories? Most of us do, so feel free to share in the comments, and hopefully have a good laugh about our shared frustration!