If you are looking to add another splash of color to your room, you could consider the tile flooring as a starting space. The floor offers a great anchor to really pull an entire room together.
However, what combinations are best?
Here are my favorite tile and grout color combinations: You should choose off-white or gray grout to create a connected surface. Warm shades of off-white or gray, like beige look best with tiles in warm hues. Cool tones like sage or blue-gray are great combined with cool tiles.
We want to help you avoid bland-looking tiles by giving you some options for color combinations. By the end of this article, you’ll have answers about the color combinations open to you.
Colorful Grout
You may decide that you want your grout to be unique, consider tinted grout. If you love color, a black and white color scheme isn’t so appealing. The addition of colorful grout can add personality.
Select a hue like lemon yellow for a bit of color in your bathroom. The lighter shade of yellow won’t make the grout stand out too much, but it still looks sunny and cheerful.
Use a colorful grout when you have a few accents in the room that match it. This will make the combination more synchronized.
Keep in mind that grout isn’t simple to switch, so pick a color you’ll adore for a long time. If you’re not ready to commit, try using wallpaper that imitates tile patterns.
Introducing color less permanently is helpful if you plan on moving at some point. This allows the next occupant of your home to change the wallpaper if they don’t find it appealing.
What Color Grout to Use with Black Tile
Using dark grout that is near in tone to the dark tile will create a more subtle look. If a dramatic effect is desired, the use of light-colored grout will enhance the pattern of the tile.
Charcoal is a wonderful option for creating a soft-looking black tile installation. Use a shade that matches the tile as closely as possible rather than beginning with black grout and adding white to avoid it standing out more.
Adding accents like rugs, art, and accessories to your bathroom will make the space more welcoming.
White Grout and White Tile
If you have a room that already has a lot of colors and strong design elements, you may want to consider white grout paired with white tile. You can unify your surface with this combination without adding drama to the tile design.
Choosing this combination creates a cohesive surface where the white tile and white grout blend to create a seamless look. The goal of this look is to allow the tile to recede into the background rather than take the spotlight.
This color pairing will look great in your bathroom or other small space because it will make your space look bigger. This is a good option if you have plans to sell your home later. Potential buyers are less likely to object to neutral tones.
As a reminder, this color combination will require more cleaning to maintain a crisp, bright look. Dirt and stains are more apparent when compared to other pairings because of the light shade of the grout.
White Tile and Gray Grout
Using gray grout with white tile is an excellent way to create some contrast. The goal of this combination is to create a design out of negative space. Geometric tiles benefit from this color combination.
Darker grays make the tile design pop. Softer grays a couple of degrees lighter than the tile will create a more subdued look that allows other elements in the room to shine.
The use of soft grays with light tile creates a classic pattern. It’s a good compliment for wood floors, light-colored cabinets, and stone counters. Soft grays are an excellent way to show off tiles that are unique in shape.
If you have subway-style tiles, you can apply them in an interesting direction. For example, the herringbone style looks elegant when applied this way. In both of these examples, the grout enhances the pattern subtly.
White Tile and Black Grout
With dark grout and white tile, both work together to create patterns that become the main design focus. Patterns like diagonals are enhanced, taking center stage and bringing energy to the room.
If you have a room where the main colors are black and white, this tile and grout combination is a sharp addition. It also works well in kitchens with an industrial style with metallic elements instead of bright colors.
With this style, too many accents can clutter the look. It’s best to stay with a limited amount of rugged and metallic pieces to keep it in balance.
One benefit of the use of dark grout is that it helps hide the dirt that accumulates between tiles. Not only will it help conceal stains, but it will need less frequent treatments for mold.
Colorful Tile and Gray Grout
If you’ve decided to avoid black or white, then using colorful tile with the right shade of grout can be a bit complicated. Your color selection depends on whether you want a high contrast look or something more subtle.
One way of selecting a color is to see the color value rather than the intensity of the hue. Evaluate the hue of the tile by darkness or lightness, then choose a shade that produces contrast or blends in better.
Another way to calculate this is to take a picture of the tile. Open the image in a photo editing app and convert it to black and white. This will help you figure out how light or dark the tile is. Your next step is to choose a grout that creates the effect you’re looking for.
The following are some tips when using colorful tiles.
- Select a gray grout close in value to the tile allows the grout to fade into the background for a unified color statement.
- Selecting slightly lighter or slightly darker grout will create subtle highlights and make the pattern more pronounced.
Colorful Tile and Colorful Grout
As long as you’re going with color, why not make the grout colorful as well? You may be inspired by international travel and decide on a combination of bright yellow and cornflower blue. This exotic combination of colors is both beautiful and inexpensive.
Surrounding elements also make an impact. If the elements match the undertones in the grout, the final effect is a subtle blend instead of bold contrast. Accents can further unify the space.
For example, if you add yellow window treatments or the surrounding cabinets match any of the shades in the grout, the look is more cohesive.
Colorful Tile and Light Grout
If you’re seeking to tame vivid tile colors and give the space a classic look, white grout may be the answer. An example would be bright red tile combined with white grout.
This offers potential options when you have happened on a large amount of vibrant tile at a discount and don’t know which grout to use. By pairing the tile with a lighter shade of grout, you can find a space where the tile will look great.
Unique Tile Colors
Maybe you’re unsure of how to handle multi-colored tiles or you’re looking for grout suggestions for pattern tiles or veined stone tiles. We’ve created some suggestions for handling multicolor, pattern, or veined stone tiles.
Multicolored Tiles
You may be unsure about what grout to choose for multicolored tiles. One method is to first identify a prominent color on the tiles, usually the most neutral tone you can find. Next, you can use a color chart to find analogous shades that will look good with the multicolored tiles.
For example, if you have tiles that are blue-green iridescent, select a shade like sage, grass green, or warm brown as coordinating colors. If you don’t feel confident about using an analogous color for your grout, it may be easier to copy a color already present in the tiles.
Choosing a grout that is light enough or dark enough to create a contrast in all of the tiles can succeed if all the colors in the tile are mid-range in value and free of extremely light and dark colors.
For example, pairing an off-white grout with soft beige tiles can work well if you have white or light-colored accents in the room.
Patterned Tile
Pattern tiles create a challenge because you are faced with the task of not interrupting the pattern. The key is to choose a grout color that blends into the tiles without stopping the flow of the design.
The best way to determine your grout shade for your patterned tile is to look at the edge. First, study the edge. Next, identify the color that connects to other tiles. The result should be your grout shade.
For example, if the edge color you’ve identified is white, then white grout is your best choice. If you don’t want to slice the pattern into squares, avoid dark-colored grout.
Veined Stone Tile
It’s possible to find a great color grout to match your veined stone tiles. Find the base color of the stone and the shade of the veins. Choosing a coordinating shade for either will create two outcomes.
Choosing a color that coordinates with the lightest veins in the stone will highlight subtle tones yet bring out the character of the stone rather than emphasize the grout. Considering the cost of marble, you want the stone to stand out.
Color Options
With so many tile and grout color combinations, it’s easy to understand if you think that grout is only available in a few colors. As it turns out, there is a whole spectrum of colors available to you.
From brights to neutrals, and even metallics, there are plenty of color options and combinations to consider. Many interior designers are using grout in ground-breaking ways.
Achieving the balance between colored grout and tile can be challenging. There are safe color combinations in addition to those based on color theory. Read further for a glimpse of how these themes look and when they’re used.
Matching the Color and Grout
If you have boxes of tiles already, it’s a good idea to classify them by color. One way to do this is to set a tile over a color chart to find the exact shade. Next, you can identify the colors that are two shades lighter and darker than the tile for future reference.
Selecting a grout in these colors will help you create a cohesive look. Selecting related shades emphasizes the tiles themselves instead of the pattern.
Other Tile and Grout Considerations
Where you install your tile and grout color combination you select impacts how it looks to the viewer. Where it’s situated makes a difference in terms of how much you notice or need contrast.
Tiles installed on the floor will make less of an impact than tile that is applied at eye level. Wall installations can have contrasting grout and tile when more of a visual impact is desired.
Floors are a good place to add contrast because the tiles will recede into the background somewhat. You can anchor the space by using contrasting colors of grout and tile on the floor.
As with all tile and grout color combinations, once you’ve selected a color combination you like, create a mock-up. Make tile application on plywood to see how your colors look. This will give you an idea of how it will appear in your home.
