Day 3 - Saturday (Tile)

As always, Saturday was exhausting! I finally made it to Bedrosians on Friday, and found a few tiles I liked, so I figured Saturday would be a good day to go tile shopping with Pieter. I think we went to every tile store in the valley . . . well, not quite, I guess. We went to 2 nice tile stores that were recommended by our neighbor (Bedrosians and Arizona), Home Depot, and Tile 4 Less. After the second or third store, we were beginning to see the same tiles over and over again, and beginning to get a feel for what we were going to find around town. Luckily we went to Bedrosians first, and a really nice girl helped us get a few samples of our favorite two options. From there on out, we saw lots of things we liked, but nothing we particularly liked more than those first two options.

So here are our two ideas:
Idea #1:

 This was the one that really stood out to me, both on Friday and also on Saturday. When I saw it, it really grabbed me, but I was also concerned that it could be too white (that and the $5/sq. ft. price tag). I think it looks awesome with my cabinets and also counter, and I feel like it brings the contrast I have been searching for into the project. The colors are nice -- not too yellow or gold, more of a gray and neutral coloring, in addition to the "white." Lots of movement, lots of color -- a good all-around choice.
Later we found this tile at Home Depot that is almost identical, and for only $1.79 each. It comes in 16x16, 12x12, and 8x8, so we would probably be working out some kind of pattern with those sizes.

Idea #2:

This was probably my second favorite, and Pieter's favorite. It is called "hymera" and comes in 3 different shades. We like the middle one. However, we had seen this floor:

on the showroom and really liked how they mixed up the different colors of tile in a seemingly-random pattern. So our current idea is to use all three shades of hymera

in a pattern like this:

I really like that it feels kind of rustic. This contrasts so well with the cabinets that seem a little formal by themselves, and of course, it's hard to resist a look that mimics natural stone so well.

Here are samples of the two ideas, sitting on our actual dining room floor. What are your thoughts??