How To Choose A Grout Colour

Choosing your grout colour is an important decision when making your mosaic. Get it right, and your piece can look amazing. Get it wrong, and you can ruin your piece, wasting your time, creativity and money. This guide contains vital information to help you get your grout colour right.

The colour of your grout is essential - it can make or break your piece. Grouting unites the mosaic and highlights the layout of the tiles. The colour of your grout should contrast the colours of the tiles so that the design is highlighted. If the colour of your grout blends in with your tiles, the individual tiles will be lost. The mosaic will look more like a picture than a mosaic.

As a general rule:

White grout can appear very harsh, as it will draw the eye to the gaps rather than the coloured tiles. In saying that, it complements lighter tones, so it is perfect for showing off pale mosaics, but when used with bright solid colours, it will produce a Mediterranean feel.
Dark grout unifies darker coloured tesserae and segregates lighter ones.
Grey grout enhances most coloured tesserae and has the most unifying effect of all the coloured grouts.

Two Simple Techniques To Choose Your Grout Colour

Techique No. 1

Using powered grout, sprinkle it over the ungrouted mosaic. This technique is messy and a bit wasteful but an effective way to get an idea of what the grout colour will look like. I planned to use Travertine grout in the mosaic below, but after using this technique, I changed it to black, which looks much better.

techniques for choosing your grout colour

Technique No. 2

Make up several test panels with the tile colours you've used in your project. This can be as simple as gluing the tiles onto a spare piece of board. Technique no. 2 is a more accurate technique, but it is more time-consuming.

a technique for working out your grout colour

Some Fundamentals to Remember

A gap of 3mm is typically used to allow the grout to flow into the space between the tiles.
Aesthetically, bigger tiles can support wider lines and smaller tiles thinner lines.
You should be aiming to have consistent grout spacing over the whole mosaic (i.e. consistently thin or consistently thick grout lines). This can be virtually impossible to achieve when using irregularly shaped tesserae (e.g. broken crockery), but try to achieve consistency when possible.
There may be instances where you intentionally vary the thickness of the grout lines; for example, wider grout lines may be used to emphasise a shape.
Using thick grout lines over the entire mosaic can cause the mosaic to appear fractured and disjointed.
Thin grout lines are usually better than think grout lines.