Is it weird to have two different tiles next to each other?

[yogiii]

We have carpet in our office downstairs, I hate carpet and want to get rid of it but wanted to wait until the kids were a little older since at least the carpet was new when we bought the house.  The time has come.  The rest of the downstairs is either hardwood or neutral tile (similar to this images.lowes.com/product/converted/730575/730575896431lg.jpg. All hallways and stairs are also hardwood.

The office has two entries, on one side it would be next to wood, the other tile.  Is having two tiles next to each other weird?  The other day at someone's house they had a gray and tan tile (sort of close to this but not as dark www.mannington.com/~/media/Images/Product/Porcelain/SerengetiSlate/SS2T12_detail.ashx) I really liked I just feel like it would be choppy, plus we don't live in Florida so having something other than the kitchen and bathrooms tiled isn't common.  The other option is to do wood (and I think we're both leaning that way now) but with the tile we certainly wouldn't need to worry about rolling chairs etc messing up the floor.

[Deleted]

I think it might look weird in an open space. In a room off of a hallway with a different tile would probably be ok. I think the tiles should still be similar in some way so it will still "flow". If not the same color, the undertones should at least be similar.

[yogiii]

I can't find good images, but they'd both have a very similar tan, but the newer one would also have gray.  I still think it would be weird but I like the idea that it would be low maintenance.  With wood I'll need to find a rug to go under the office desk/chair and also will try to convince DH we don't need a rolling chair, but I think it's what we'll end up doing.  We should be able to match the wood, we still have a sample from the original and holding it next to the stuff on the floor, it still looks the same.  Plus I kind of suspect the office is going to end up a lego room and the kids would be really uncomfortable playing on tile.  Darn kids.

[cktc]

I think tile types are pretty standard. You could probably find a pretty close match for your existing tile as well as the hardwood.

[Bonny]

You can use a band of a third kind of tile to create a threshold effect (think of a narrow border type of tile). Looks classy and gives a nice transitional look.

[buystoys]

Jul 29, 2015 10:07:16 GMT -5 Bonny said:

You can use a band of a third kind of tile to create a threshold effect (think of a narrow border type of tile). Looks classy and gives a nice transitional look.

Or you could use a nice saddle to define the threshold.  We used a nice gray and white marble saddle to separate the tile in our hall and the bathroom in our NY house.  There are some nice wood ones available that could work with your door/door jamb maybe?  Lots of options there. 

[yogiii]

Jul 29, 2015 10:07:16 GMT -5 Bonny said:

You can use a band of a third kind of tile to create a threshold effect (think of a narrow border type of tile). Looks classy and gives a nice transitional look.

That's what I was thinking, or a strip of marble but I couldn't find any good online pics in the 5 mins I was talking to DH about it and he didn't seem convinced. 

This is something I'd like to do Dec/Jan time frame and we haven't even looked around yet so there is still time. 

Bonny, if you have some nice pics, feel free to throw them in!

[yogiii]

Jul 29, 2015 10:14:13 GMT -5 buystoys said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:07:16 GMT -5 Bonny said:

You can use a band of a third kind of tile to create a threshold effect (think of a narrow border type of tile). Looks classy and gives a nice transitional look.

Or you could use a nice saddle to define the threshold.  We used a nice gray and white marble saddle to separate the tile in our hall and the bathroom in our NY house.  There are some nice wood ones available that could work with your door/door jamb maybe?  Lots of options there. 

Were the hall and bath tiles different.  Any chance you can post or PM me a pic?

[buystoys]

Jul 29, 2015 10:14:57 GMT -5 yogiii said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:07:16 GMT -5 Bonny said:

You can use a band of a third kind of tile to create a threshold effect (think of a narrow border type of tile). Looks classy and gives a nice transitional look.

That's what I was thinking, or a strip of marble but I couldn't find any good online pics in the 5 mins I was talking to DH about it and he didn't seem convinced. 

This is something I'd like to do Dec/Jan time frame and we haven't even looked around yet so there is still time. 

Bonny, if you have some nice pics, feel free to throw them in!

Here's a quick link to marble saddles:  marble saddles.  We found ours at Home Depot, but I don't see any on their site.  I don't think we paid this much, either.

[cktc]

You could do something like this: 

[Bonny]

Jul 29, 2015 10:19:14 GMT -5 buystoys said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:14:57 GMT -5 yogiii said:

That's what I was thinking, or a strip of marble but I couldn't find any good online pics in the 5 mins I was talking to DH about it and he didn't seem convinced. 

This is something I'd like to do Dec/Jan time frame and we haven't even looked around yet so there is still time. 

Bonny, if you have some nice pics, feel free to throw them in!

Here's a quick link to marble saddles:  marble saddles.  We found ours at Home Depot, but I don't see any on their site.  I don't think we paid this much, either.

Oh that's cool. I wondered what you meant by marble "saddle". We see that a lot in older San Francisco houses.

Sorry Yogii, we had that effect in a former house we owned, back in the stone ages and before digital pix were common.

BTW I've also seen the "border" effect using the same tile with border pieces but I prefer the complementary/contrasting look.

[yogiii]

cktc, that's cute but those tiles look nearly identical. 

DH thinks it will look too much like something that should be in a bathroom

We probably need to get to a flooring store soon.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jul 29, 2015 10:07:16 GMT -5 Bonny said:

You can use a band of a third kind of tile to create a threshold effect (think of a narrow border type of tile). Looks classy and gives a nice transitional look.

This is what we did in the bathroom.

The area around the sink was carpeted, the rest ceramic tile with a marbling shading, which was no longer available.  My wheelchair totally destroyed what was left of the carpet, but when TD put hardwood in the MBR the flooring uunderpayment would not support running it in the bathroom.

We had a few old tiles, so took them to a flooring store.  It took a LONG time trying to come up with something that melded with what we had and looked good.  It does.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jul 29, 2015 10:47:49 GMT -5 yogiii said:

cktc, that's cute but those tiles look nearly identical. 

DH thinks it will look too much like something that should be in a bathroom

We probably need to get to a flooring store soon.

What we discovered is that you do NOT want to look for tiles tht nearly match.  It is going to look like you are trying to match it and won't look right.

You really need to embrace the difference, and exploit it as a transition.

[buystoys]

Jul 29, 2015 10:17:12 GMT -5 yogiii said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:14:13 GMT -5 buystoys said:

Or you could use a nice saddle to define the threshold.  We used a nice gray and white marble saddle to separate the tile in our hall and the bathroom in our NY house.  There are some nice wood ones available that could work with your door/door jamb maybe?  Lots of options there. 

Were the hall and bath tiles different.  Any chance you can post or PM me a pic?

Sorry!  I don't have any pics and yes, the hall and bath tiles were different.  The hall tiles were mostly ivory with gray and a little slate blue swirls while the bath tiles were white and taupe.  The saddle made the transition nicely as it pulled in the white from the bathroom and gray from the hall.

[flamingo]

Jul 29, 2015 11:07:55 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:47:49 GMT -5 yogiii said:

cktc, that's cute but those tiles look nearly identical. 

DH thinks it will look too much like something that should be in a bathroom

We probably need to get to a flooring store soon.

What we discovered is that you do NOT want to look for tiles tht nearly match.  It is going to look like you are trying to match it and won't look right.

You really need to embrace the difference, and exploit it as a transition.

THIS! We had tile in our den and living room that matched, but needed to redo the kitchen tile. The way the rooms were set up, the kitchen touched one side of the living room and one side of the den. Anyway, we went with non-matching but complimentary tile and it looked great. That way, no one was looking at it like, hmmm, someone tried to match and must have been in a dark closet when picking because it's clear it doesn't match! 
And, my DH was skeptical at first, but once it was done, he was happy with it.

[Malarky]

When I added the mudroom, I would have liked to have exactly the same tile as the kitchen, but it wasn't available anymore.  

What I ended up doing was having a marble threshold between the original kitchen tile which is fairly light with some darker tones and the new tile that is mostly those darker tones and laid on the diagonal while the kitchen is laid in a straight pattern.  Similar to the photo above.  Most of the colors of both are reflected in the marble threshold.  

I've gotten many compliments on it, particularly because it "flows" and isn't matchy matchy.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jul 29, 2015 11:55:08 GMT -5 buystoys said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:17:12 GMT -5 yogiii said:

Were the hall and bath tiles different.  Any chance you can post or PM me a pic?

Sorry!  I don't have any pics and yes, the hall and bath tiles were different.  The hall tiles were mostly ivory with gray and a little slate blue swirls while the bath tiles were white and taupe.  The saddle made the transition nicely as it pulled in the white from the bathroom and gray from the hall.

Yeah, this is what we have.  The original tile was beige and white with a swirl.  They had put up a turquoise border.  What we did was find a white tile and used a border that picked up the beige, turquoise and white.

We also did this for the mud/laundry room.  The hall was a grey/beige and white swirl but the mud room room vinyl needed to be replaced.  We went with a slate looking tile that delineated the room as a separate space.  It's a much darker tile because the dog tracks in mud and the floor is very non-slip.  The tiles are similar colors to the other tile, in the same color class but darker and different textures.

[Malarky]

What Mich said and did.

I learned from the kitchen tile that the texture that I thought would keep it from getting slippery just made it harder to clean.  

The mudroom tile is  smooth with a couple of easily cleaned rugs.  

[bean29]

I live in Wisconsin and we have a lot of tile in our house.

Entryway, kitchen and dinette are brown tile from HOBO. Laundry Room and Family bath are the same tile in beige.

In the basement the landing when you come down the stairs is a multi toned tile from lowes that is kind of green and a redish brown. Kind of like this

www.lowes.com/pd_637626-13397-SLATESL92GO1616CAL___?productId=50259109&pl=1&Ntt=slate+look+floor+tile

I liked it so much that when we decided what kind of flooring to put in the room in the basement (below grade) I shopped carpet, but I did not find anything I really liked that was not too expensive, so I called DH and asked if he was up for installing carpet in that room.  He asked about cost of carpet vs. tile, and told me he would install the tile.  I actually have never been sorry. 

That tile meets a very pretty creamy yellow tile (lowes on clearance -I think it was September when they change out the displays).  There is a door at the transition point, so DH made the transition at the doorway.  There are three doors at the landing one into a storage room that has brown tile (Menards on clearance).  Then we put another brown tile in the bathroom in the basement (brown meets the creamy yellow). 

We just had a party this weekend and lots of people through the house.  My SIL commented something to the effect that she would not want such a big patio b/c you only use it part of the year or something like that so if they thought something did not look right, they surely would have voiced their opinions.  The carpenter that did most of the work inside and outside even told me that on Friday b/c he was mad at himself about something he thought wasn't perfect.  He said DH had so many "professionals" in his family they would surely comment on anything that wasn't perfect.

My neighbors all tell us they love the house and patio.  They were having a discussion that our lot was still available when they bought so I guess they were thinking we chose better than them.

I will try to remember to post pics later. 

My neighbors have the radiant floor mats under the tile in their master bath...it is very nice.  We considered it, but it would have really added to the cost, and DH has a friend that has radiant tile heat in his basement (Chicago) and he says when he has a party, he has to make sure it is off or it gets too warm.  Our basement is used year round by my family...DD usually sleeps down there on the family room sofa.  Before that area was finished she slept on the sofa in the office or she slept on the tile floor.  (I don't know why I bothered to buy her a bed!).

[Bonny]

I'll also add that you can get a great effect by getting inexpensive "field" tile at Home Depot and use borders or feature strips to give a custom look without spending a fortune. I've done that with the kitchen, and the two bath remodels. Kitchen floor is now 14 years old and STILL looks great. Just make sure that you get extra tile (especially for a kitchen that might get remodeled down the road because you will never find that tile again.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Jul 29, 2015 14:34:31 GMT -5 Bonny said:

I'll also add that you can get a great effect by getting inexpensive "field" tile at Home Depot and use borders or feature strips to give a custom look without spending a fortune. I've done that with the kitchen, and the two bath remodels. Kitchen floor is now 14 years old and STILL looks great. Just make sure that you get extra tile (especially for a kitchen that might get remodeled down the road because you will never find that tile again.

Yep.  The bathroom tile we got is the same shade of white as the other tile (and there are hundreds of shade of white, I've discovered!).  But the border tile we used was what cost the most.  We only needed 5 sheets (4 for the long tiles, one for the squares that we inset into the tile), but those 5 sheets cost as much as all the rest of the tiles.

And I also suggest the extra tile.  It is waaaaay easier to drag a few tiles to the shop with you than to drag the tile books home with you!  Fortunately, the builder left a few extra tiles for us.  It took us awhile to find them, but when we did we could use it to rule out many that looked like they might match from memory - but were way off.

[bean29]

We tried to keep our tile selections under $2 for a 12x12 or 14x14 size tile, at that rate it is not too bad to pick a few, buy a single tile and take it home to see if you and your SO both think it looks good in the room.

[yogiii]

Ok, I'm half back on the tile train.  I have some of our existing tile I can bring to a store whenever we get to that part so I can lay it down next to other samples and see what is going on.  Thanks for all the replies!