We have that same tile in our guest bath and used mapei silver. Its darker than the gray tile but does a great job showing off the tile shape. Walls are almost the same color as the gray tile.

We put black/white octagon dot in the kids bath and I let DH talk me into white grout and I already think its a mistake with the bathroom not even used yet.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Thank you so much for your post. Your grout choice is close to the Waterfall color. It looks very nice in your bathroom!! I notice you have a white vanity and trim. I am still wondering if I should go with the darker gray to pull some color into our room with the darker wood tones. Maybe I am wrong though....

Finally figured out how to load the photos without having the attachment option!
The wall color appears more accurate in the window photo.

Sdw1, we used a paler gray grout in our master bath which has a different white tile and a dark wood vanity. I believe grout color is meant to make the tile look good, and when your tile looks good, it will automatically complement the other aspects of your bathroom. No one is going to notice how your grout looks with your vanity, but they WILL notice how your tile does.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Good advice.

Yup. The only time people will notice your grout is if your grout is dirty.

Okay...if you use a glow-in-the-dark grout they'll probably notice that too.

The more contrast you have between grout and tile colors, the more the tile will pop. "Pop" can be a good thing, or as you saw when your tile was poorly installed, pop can be a bad thing as it'll show off any mis-alignment.

To post a photo, first load it on a hosting site like photobucket, shutterfly, flickr, etc. That site will assign the photo a URL or web address.

In the body of your post, type the following HTML code, and insert the URL of your photo between the quotation marks.

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Thank you for your input!! Also, thank you so much for helping me with the pics. Maybe this will give you an idea more to be able to view the room! Also, the tub is original from the early 50's, as the house was a rental home that my grandfather purchased in the early 50's. I am trying to keep a very retro look to the room, as much as I can. I think vintage grout from years ago was white or dark gray. Is that correct?

The bathroom is still a work in progress. Also, the tub is full of worker's materials, so please excuse!

The cast iron tub is from the early 50's and was placed in the home when my grandfather initially purchased it for a rental home. There needs to be finishing work done around the tub. It is seldom ever used, but still needs to look nice. It has some chipping on the enamel. I don't know if it can be patched or the whole tub will need to be done. Also, there needs to be either grouting or woodwork placed around the tub to finish it off. Any suggestions in this area would be welcomed!

Here is a better view of the bathroom:

Look at Laticrete Silver Shadow. It should work really well with what you have.

Hi,
I did my bath over in a early deco style, I also dealt with warm-toned woodwork. One sample pic from my album, linked below:

Casey

Here is a link that might be useful: Bathroom pics

Casey,

Just have to tell you again, while your entire bathroom is terrific, I especially love your floor. I'm a big fan of strong colors too, so I love the walls.

Nice nice nice!!

Thank you all so much for your feedback. You have ALL given me so much to think about. I appreciate your input so much. It is VERY helpful! Also, I love seeing your beautiful bathrooms!! They are truly inspirational!!

Thanks for the effusive praise, sir.
Casey

I did choose the Mapei Pearl Gray. It went down with various shades of gray and has dried that way, as well. I am not sure where they went wrong with the grout. I had asked for sanded as some tile men suggested it would be stronger and possibly go on more evenly in color, but they refused to use it based on the grout line dimensions. They insisted I needed unsanded. It is disappointing, as I had looked forward to this redo for a while. The color itself is fine and I have no problem with the color choice. However, it appears very dark gray in some areas of the room and very light gray in others. Sad....

Hmm...I thought the rule was sanded grout for any gapping that was more than 1/16". The gap on the octagon-dot is 1/8" and mine was grouted with sanded grout. The color is very even (mapei silver).

I feel your pain on the mottled grout though...our master bath is grouted with mapei warm grey and the color is all over the place. With the warm gray, it's pale and the varience makes it look like it's used-to-be-white-10-years-ago dirty grout. Our contractor says it's because of our water (very hard, 20 grains and I'm not sure if they used the softened line or the untreated line) but all the rest of our grout is fine, so I suspect someone messed something up.

Thanks for the update on your octagon and dot alku05. It is so satisfying to have a nice job on your workmanship. I feel for you on your master bath. That is where I am now. I am pretty sure they just did not want to be bothered by putting in sanded grout as they already had unsanded in the room to use. Also, they left no allowance at all for an expansion by the tub for the caulking. They told me you did not need an expansion, so they grouted right up to the tub, including the tile they cut in tiny pieces (portions of the gray dot) that was set in grout instead of being set in the thinset. I am worried particularly as it is where the area will get wet over and over. I think I am going to have to have it checked out I believe.

Bill,

You have been so helpful. This is a true tile job that has been a disaster. First, the wrong tile was installed in February (after being told before it started). Second, the thinset was not removed from the first job and the floor cracked all underneath the tile laid again in March. The correction to the second job did not come until July. They could not fit us into their schedule. They did not use the grout requested by us, refused to put in the expansion joint when questioned and said it did not need one. Lastly, the grout dried completely uneven in color, not to mention being poorly laid out in the division of lines. A salesman came to look at the job today and said they would grout on top of the tile. Is that normal? I am so sick of this project!!! We have been without this second bath except for a sink since Februrary 3rd. Surely this can not be normal for a tile job. Strangely, they act like everything is normal. I feel like we need to get someone out to look at this job before we accept what has been done. However, it is apparent they are incapable of doing a normal tile job.

Forgot to say they said they would take a portion of the payment out of the charge and then the other portion when they completed the project. They took the full amount out before they even started. So, there is no money to withhold.

If you put this on a charge card, you can contest the charges due to poor workmanship, not to mention that they charged your card differently from what your agreement was. I'd call your credit card company. Now, with respect to regrouting over what's there-- if this grout has been down more than 72 hours (which I'm sure it has) those joints need to be atleast 2/3 empty, or you;'re going to have a problem with the new grout flaking off the top of the grout joints. I DO have a solution that would be to both your AND the company';s benefit, and that would be to hit the existing grout with a grout colorant. Grout ends up with a nice even color, you don't have to worry about the grout flaking off, the joints are permanently sealed, and easy to keep clean. Also, I would still get on them about cleaning the grout out of that joint at the tub and caulking it. If they balk at it, I CAN get you the TCNA/ ANSI spec that requires the caulking at change of plane, as well as where tile abutts a different surface.

As for getting someone out there, where abouts are you?

Bill, at the risk of hijacking, what grout colorant do you recommend? There seem to be a lot of choices with mixed reviews.

Aquamix, hands down.

Bill, thanks again for your help. I live in the Tuscaloosa, AL area. You may remember this area on the news from the April tornadoes. Anyway, the CC was charged back in November and it took until Feb. for them to come out. Then, two botched jobs later, the third job was completed this past week in July. I think there is a 90 day rule on the CC for dispute, so there is nothing we can do about their poor workmanship at this point. When I look into the bathroom, I have to say I greatly dislike the whole job. I am going to post a pic, so you can take a look at the grout.

The gray dot directly beside the tub is not laid in thinset. He laid all the tile next to the tub area the day he grouted the tile in the room which means it is held in by grout only and not thinset and grout. Will that be any more of a problem since there is no expansion joint and the tile is not laid into the thinset?

The first pic shows the tile next the tub.The second picture shows the tile by the threshold and also the dark and light variations of tile which is seen throughout the room.