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Dilemma: white grout vs grey

9 replies

minipilling · 26/10/2020 21:37

I know a few others in the past have had the same decision to make - reading the consensus on old threads it seems that grey grout is a good choice for looking cleaner and less grubby. But we are having off-white metro tiles in a small (tiny) bathroom in a period house. The tiler is a little concerned about the uneven ceiling and walls. The walls are flatter than other period homes around here, so not that bad (we don't need a backboard for example, just skimming) but the ceiling line is definitely a bit wonky. We thought of lowering the ceiling itself and replastering to create a straighter look, but this would frankly look weird in our medium-high ceilinged terrace and possibly make the room look claustrophobic.

The tiler said that darker grout will accentuate any visual wonkiness, however straight he manages to do the tiles and the small cuts, they won't be perfect. So he suggested we might want to do white grout to make the wonkiness less noticeable. He is happy to do it how we choose though.

Because they're small tiles, I'm a bit paranoid of the white grout because of how quickly it might dirty/yellow. I'm happy to wipe down/squeegee the shower after each use (was going to do this anyway) but not sure if that will be enough. The tiles are floor to ceiling, everything fully tiled so if the white grout goes grubby it's a lot to manage.

Any opinions on what I should go for? Has anyone had dark grey grout with small tiles in a wonky room? Or gone for white grout and actually managed to clean it?

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CorpusCallosum · 26/10/2020 21:48

We have dark tiles and grout in bathroom and I love it. It's incredible for hiding inevitable bathroom grout grot.

In our kitchen we have off white metro tiles with pale grey grout. Part of the wall isn't straight and when first done I noticed it but it was the sticky-out tiles themselves rather than the contrast grout that made it obvious IYSWIM. Now, I don't notice it as it has zero impact on the function of the space.

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RandomMess · 26/10/2020 21:54

I have white grout, I have had to bleach semi permanent hair dye off it from the DDs washing their hair...

I had white grout in my shower room, first shower post rugby match it never came clean again...

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Mosaic123 · 26/10/2020 21:55

Ask the tiler to do white epoxy grout. It's bullet proof but more expensive.

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Misty9 · 26/10/2020 22:46

You could go for a lighter grey grout instead? Topps tiles have plastic samples to see the colours. I've gone for cement coloured grout and it isn't as stark as dark grey.

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Enough4me · 26/10/2020 22:49

I have grey grout in my kitchen with slate style tiles, but white in my bathroom. I think it makes a bathroom look larger.

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Misty9 · 26/10/2020 22:56

Or perhaps bigger tiles? My ceiling line is definitely not straight but I can't say I notice (I'll look now though!) and it's a tiny bathroom

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Enough4me · 26/10/2020 23:20

Coving and hide the line?

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TheHighestSardine · 27/10/2020 00:06

Tile up to a picture rail, leaving the top 6" or whatever of the walls to be ceiling colour?

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minipilling · 27/10/2020 00:44

Too late to change tiles, the work starts next week so grout is one of the last decisions to make. We mentioned picture rails and coving to the plumber but he's warned us away because he thinks it'll date quickly (he's not wrong, the old stuff looks horrific currently in there)

With the comments about hair dye etc, and playing with the virtual layout a hundred more times, I think we are going to chance it with the grey. I tried white grout on the visualizer and then changed it to a piss beige/yellow colour just to get an image of how it would age! The result sent me back to the grey! We might consider a slightly lighter shade though. Thanks everyone!

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