Are you just wanting an alternative for flooring with a marble look

travertine might give some of that marble like look and still fit the budget, the floor in the pictures is $ 1.99 a sq ft

There are some beautiful porcelain tiles out in the market that look almost identical to the marble. I have the marble in my baths, but it is a bit more maintenance and wish I would have opted for the porcelain look a likes. Look for closeouts or leftovers from a big job. I was able to purchase leftovers from a "high roller" suite makeover at the Bellagio. There are bargains out there if you have the time to hunt them down. Good luck!

As linda said, there are many tiles that look very much like marble including porcelain that would work while staying within budget. Good luck!

HI I just got done with massive search for a marble look tile. I found that most manufacturers had three problems that screamed fake:

1. You can see the printing process (look at a magazine up close-and thats how the tile looked
2. I was looking for a polished look and all but two had a texture on it that was very obvious from certain angles (sort of like the texture of walls)
3. Not enough variation - eye catches the pattern easily

After a month and countless stores and brands later I found two brands:
• Peronda (versalles=calacatta, museum=bianca carrara) Using this one in the master-eventually
• Ms International - Pietra Calacatta

Close third, but you can see the printing process but still a more beautiful tile than the rest is Porcelanosa.

Here are some pics of MS International that I'm using for the hallway bath. you can see the high variation and the printing process is different than most so that you cannot see the little magazine dots.