There is no downside to putting the grout just between the whole tiles, it's really just a personal aesthetic choice. The glaze does go over the entire tile, so if you don't grout all over it, nothing bad will happen -- the tile is still "sealed" with the glaze-- it's not like water will soak in or something. It's just that one way of doing it will look more like a grid of textured tiles and the other will look like many individual little pieces -- more like a mosaic.

I am so happy to see you here! I will have to go back and see if i can retrieve my posts... thought I would make them into a little book for my daughter, with photos. Quick run-down on the bathroom (not travels, no time) - The kitchen has a rather elegant sliding door with beveled glass panels. Painted white, since this was the original colour. GD's new bathroom has the doors I had picked earlier; i thought of polishing them but decided sprayed automobile paint (on a resin primer) would wear better. Especially since it is such a small bathroom, and she is so splashy. I have this finish in my kitchen and it has lasted 15 years now. A tad chipped here and there, but only needs a wipe down once a week. Same finish for the balcony doors, also split like the bathroom. We have a new wardrobe, a study table with built-in shelves, and a small chest of drawers for her odds and ends. I want to re-tile the tiny balcony, more as a little statement. Currently we are looking at Portuguese tiles, though I did think a mosaic with a funky cat might be nice. Let me see the costing. The room will be painted a neutral adobe, with bright white woodwork and an off-white ceiling. This means she can go wild with cushions and covers. Other changes in the flat; We have changed the glass in the master bedroom and living room from small cramped panes to a single pane for each section with a 1" bevel all round. Doubles the cost of the glass, but looks so elegant! The air-conditioning is being re-located. The compressors were all mounted in the bedroom and living room balconies, which looked terrible and meant the balconies (very narrow, only 30" deep) couldn't be used for anything. Not even plants. So they are being moved so that the compressors can be mounted at the rear of the building. two down, one to go. Now we can put in some nice plants, fishtail palms etc. The kitchen counter on one side came out intact and will be reused elsewhere. I am planning overhead storage, cupboards, and a draining cupboard for plates and glasses. Right now there is no dish washer, though a place is earmarked, but for now I will put in a cupboard with steel racks for cups, glasses and plates, all hidden behind pressed glass doors. This is all in the planning stage.... Pictures in a little while, they are mostly on my ipad and don't transfer well to the mac. They come without numbers... so I have to rename the or something. Somebody tell me how to do this!

@ Divya Sreedar. You will have to contact all of the ceramic boutiques that deal with imported tiles in Chennai. Attached below is a photo from AMSET ONE store in trivandrum with the subway tiles on display as I have seen. It takes 3 weeks to arrive from order date. If you like us to deal with the purchase please contact us or you could call them directly to find out.

The hassle with square wood-look tiles is that they look too artificial. The only way to avoid that would have been to lay them with the grains alternately- vertical, horizontal- in a chessboard pattern. However, you do get tiles in 6" x 24" which you can lay in a break jointed pattern as shown here. They mimic the look of decking planks