You will need to post pics of your foyer to receive meaningful comments. Are you planning to tile both the floor and the wall, as in your inspiration example? Spending a lot in a home you plan to sell is often unwise. Potential buyers are likely to have their own design ideas. As far as what may be current, small tiles, as in a stacked stone pattern, will not lend themselves to an updated look.

Are you in the US? Have you visited a local tile shop? Skip the big box stores and go to an upmarket tile shop. If there are newly constructed houses for sale in your price range in your area, you can check online to see what tile they use for foyers. In my area, large format tiles are used in large foyers. Individualistic patterns such as the photo shows are not used in my area. The house in the inspiration photo may not be in the US since the staircase is probably not up to code.

What is "in" will depend on the actual house. That pattern looks great with that very Modern and minimalist house. It would look truly horrible in a 1930 Craftsman inspired home on a 800 acre farm.

No, I would not consider the tile in your photo an elevated updated look. That was an individual choice by a designer, builder or homeowner for that one particular house.

Also if you look at the actual page for that house, you can see that the house is around 10 years old, so not that current.

We need to see what you have now. IMO usually upgrades to sell never get ROI so some info please and pics posted here in a comment DO NOT start another post.

No photo no help .

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. They made me reconsider and I am no longer going with this choice. For those who suggested to look at my current foyer as it may still work, my current foyer has v. old vinyl that is not in good condition. Lot of construction materials stored there right now as renovations are ongoing on other parts of the house. Will post a pic as soon as I can clear some of that. The foyer is small about 6X8 and has staircase starting on the side opposite from entry door. The house is in a US city, the neighborhood has older houses renovated to contemporary interior.

I see so many new photos on Houzz with checkerboard design like this. Is this really an updated look? I like them but am pretty sure my grandmother's old house from 1900s had them originally in black and white. LOL that's why its so confusing if I am really choosing something that is an elevated updated look or will my family get to kid about how I updated the foyer to go back even further in time:)

Flooring and Tile · More Info

Design is house specific. Until we see your house and adjacent finishes there is no way to help.

So many dilemmas like yours--I want to update the house to sell it. The best way to sell your house is to de-clutter and clean, clean, clean. Unless you are going to totally renovate it so buyers see a brand new house, doing piecemeal updates don't really give you any benefit.

We also don't know what is standard in your neighborhood--are you in an upscale area where buyers want your location but plan to tear down the house and build a new one? If yes, you do absolutely nothing to it.

Are you in a location where the homes are purchased by first-time buyers happy just to own a home and will do renovations as their budgets allow? If yes, then you don't spend money on anything that a buyer will not pay for because it's not to their taste.

Have you done a lot of renovations and just want to change out the hallway flooring to have it be consistent with the rest of the home? Then maybe it's worth it. But again, maybe not.

So you see context is everything. Post photos as has been suggested so you can get better advice.

Architecturally appropriate design is never outdated ... that is why you still see checkerboard being used. In the right house it will look perfect, but might look forced in a house that is the wrong architectural style for it.

For example, checkerboard could be trending, but it would look awful used in a Spanish style house, as it just wouldn't be the right look for that style house. You wouldn't be updating or elevating anything by using it in the wrong house, you would just be following short lived trends.

Without seeing the house style (outside/inside), no one can help with your question.

Too bad you did not come here brfore doing renos . IMO renovating to sell is never a good ROI and sad to say most of what you do will be ripped out by the next guy. A nice declttered super clean house is all you need to sell. The pic you show has no context so useless for what we asked but not sure how far down the rabbit hole you have gone now .