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In a few close weeks it will be time to put down the new floor. About a 1000sqft of tile will be put down and I am losing my mind trying to decide on color, layout, size etc. I have a fairly open floor plan so it is making it harder for me to decide. My house is designed like a L shape with the front room and kitchen having 16' vaulted ceilings and the back room downstairs with standard 8ft ceilings. My original plan was 20x20 tiles in a straight lay. House originally had blue 12x12 in a brick T pattern throughout most of the first floor and it was hideous. That might be because of the color, the pattern or the size but either way it was ugly.
I believe I want to stay with a fairly light color and saw a tile I liked at floor and decor in 20x20 size called plantation. It has a whitish base with a lighter tan mixed in which almost makes it look like a marble layout. I'm just not sure if its to light of a color. With the rooms fairly large and ceiling high in the front room and kitchen is this an acceptable color or do I need to go with something a little darker to bring out the space better? Front room is 27x18 and the kitchen is 14x9. I know diagonal helps makes a room look bigger so I'm not sure I need that with these two rooms. If I was just doing my kitchen it would make sense but the whole first floor I'm just not sure.Does anyone have insight on color or layout design with an open layout like this. What color is recommended, tones, etc. Does it matter if its porcelain or ceramic as well?
In a few close weeks it will be time to put down the new floor. About a 1000sqft of tile will be put down and I am losing my mind trying to decide on color, layout, size etc. I have a fairly open floor plan so it is making it harder for me to decide. My house is designed like a L shape with the front room and kitchen having 16' vaulted ceilings and the back room downstairs with standard 8ft ceilings. My original plan was 20x20 tiles in a straight lay. House originally had blue 12x12 in a brick T pattern throughout most of the first floor and it was hideous. That might be because of the color, the pattern or the size but either way it was ugly.
I believe I want to stay with a fairly light color and saw a tile I liked at floor and decor in 20x20 size called plantation. It has a whitish base with a lighter tan mixed in which almost makes it look like a marble layout. I'm just not sure if its to light of a color. With the rooms fairly large and ceiling high in the front room and kitchen is this an acceptable color or do I need to go with something a little darker to bring out the space better? Front room is 27x18 and the kitchen is 14x9. I know diagonal helps makes a room look bigger so I'm not sure I need that with these two rooms. If I was just doing my kitchen it would make sense but the whole first floor I'm just not sure.Does anyone have insight on color or layout design with an open layout like this. What color is recommended, tones, etc. Does it matter if its porcelain or ceramic as well?
I think you should start by adding rooms over your front room and kitchen,
16'0" high walls is wrong in so many ways for rooms that are 27x18 and 14x9 respectively. The 27x18 could go up to 9' or 10' with a partial area (9x18)that goes higher but the kitchen shouldn't be more than 8' high.
Once you fix this it'll be easier to chose appropriately sized tile.
Sorry but I am asking about tile trends for the most part as well as color and layout. I am not adding rooms or floors to the interior of my house. Like mentioned it is a vaulted ceiling so it starts out at 8ft along the enterior walls and goes up to 16'ft in the middle then back down to 8' at the opposited exterior wall. The house is a two story, the left side of the house has an upstairs while the right side is open to the ceiling.
Porcelain tile has base color all the way thru while ceramic tile has white under the top coating. It shows chips more and bascailly is cheaper to make.
If you personally like what you originally chose, go with it, and I myself think it will be fine in your home. Trying to decide if it will "do" all these other things, like accent the area better or make it seem larger, is just confusing the issue. See, if you go with those other choices, you may wish you had gone with what you originally liked. Choosing what you like, as long as it won't clash or isn't orange or doesn't flash like a neon sign, will generally work out. (Sorry to the orange people.) You COULD find a design feature at one of many decor or tile or kitchen websites and see what a virtual world kitchen would look like with all sorts of combinations, but I don't have a link.
I appreciate the responses. I guess my main concern is the color and if its to light to do throughout the whole first floor. I can always change paint colors but once the tile is down it isn't coming up. I have been searching all over trying to find different layouts with different tile color/tones but I can't find normal houses. Everything is high end with all sorts of expensive add-ons which does not pertain to me. I have a little bit of time left to decide so its back to the books to really hammer down a color. I wish I could find actual pictures of the tiled installed that I am looking at but just no luck at this time.
We have some friends that live in AZ that put in 16x16 tiles, on the diagonal, that sound pretty much like what you have picked out-white background with a light tan mixed in. Their tiles are more "sandy" looking vs marble. They put these in 10 years ago and they still look very nice. She has changed her decor in that time and they still "go" with everything because they are light and neutral. She started out with a lot of blues in her decor-plaid couch with burgundy/green/blue and now has medium brown leather. She has also changed the flooring in a couple rooms from carpet to wood and the tiles compliment the wood floors very nicely. I wish I had a picture to post but I do not.
I think if you stay away from trendy and keep it neutral, they will be "in" a lot longer.
Have you considered using something less permanent than tile?
porcelain is much tougher than ceramic, sometimes porcelain is is "through body" which means the color goes through the tile, but sometimes its just glazed which is similar to ceramic, but still tougher.
my recommendation for something that large is,is to go with a large format tile (like you're looking at) something larger than 12x12. Some people like to change flooring to differntiate the rooms. I dunno if that is good or bad really. I kind of like the one flooring layout on the common areas. Having said that, my kitchen is open to the rest of the house, its tiled, the rest of the house is hardwood.
colorwise, I'd say keeping it neutral is a good idea. However, I'd also say the almost white looking creame color tiles show dirt, it really depends on how much color is in the tile. I'd also recommend small grout lines (1/8" is nice), and IMHO you should match the grout to the tile to make them as close to invisible as possible, my tile store helped us with some suggestions.
we went with a 20x20 beige tile on a diagnal with 1/8" grout lines. it looks really nice, well to me anyway, which at the end of the day is what matters, chose what you want.
Dear Wicked,
I know what you could do, to figure out what would look best in your great room kitchen situation. Take a photograph of the room, then cut out different colored papers, and lay them on the picture where the floor is.
Also, the paint color of your walls will make a big difference in what sort of tile shade to go with. If, for example, you had pale gray walls with white trim, then a gray floor would make the room look too dark. Likewise, if you chose an off-white for your walls and put that white & tan tile down, yes, could be it would be too light of a color tile, as you said... but could also be seen as quite modern, particularly if you could get a tile with a good shine to it.
Kitchen cabinet color plays a bit part, too. If they are quite dark brown and some of your furniture pieces are also dark brown, then off-white walls look so good with that, and then you COULD choose a latte coffee color, you know kind of light brown. That way it's not all white, and the color wouldn't be too obtrusive, but would blend very well.
I could run off a lot of combinations, but I just say these few to help you think about what you got as compared to the floor color. If you like the marble look, but as another poster said they had seen something similar and didn't quite approach that, maybe a very shiny tile would do the trick, and since you are concerned about it being too light, you could make that a more dark-veined white tile, perhaps.
If you wind up pressed and at the store, bring your photo of your room with you, then lay out as much tile on their floor as they have, you know, maybe five tiles by five tiles, and then hold the picture up and stand back from the tile, and picture that in your room, might rule out anything you're not certain of. But again, I have to say, if you like it, you will always like it. And as far as I'm concerned, diagonal stuff makes me dizzy, particularly in a large room.
GG
Well I appreciate all the input and today i bit the bullet and purchased all the tile needed. Ended up with something completely different than I was originally looking at. I stopped at so many tile places I really lost track of anything I liked. Finally I stopped in a smaller place where the owner was there and it was basically a one on one conversation about what I was looking for. He pulled out three tiles and there was the one. It is a 20x20 light tan tile with a lot of other darker tans to little brown mixed in. Has a real stone look to it and a lot of movement. I will be picking up the 1150sqft of tile on Tuesday and laying it out to see best design. Should be interesting from here on out. Thanks for the opinions!
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