Our Affordable Checkerboard Porcelain Tile – all the details!
It’s been a whole year since we updated our outdated 1990s builder grade primary bathroom into a more modern, beautiful space that feels special and custom.
Out of everything we have accomplished in this space, I must say that our porcelain checkerboard floor tiles continue to win me over daily!
These checkerboard floors of mine have definitely become a hot commodity in my email inbox, so I figured I would dedicate another post to them. Most importantly, to share how much I STILL LOVE these tiles after a year of use.
So, if you have been searching for grey and white checkerboard floor tiles that do not cost a fortune, read on! 🙂
Our Affordable Checkerboard Porcelain Tile
For being one of the most classic tile flooring designs, I was so surprised by how difficult it was to find affordable 12×12 checkerboard tiles. I consider myself to be a seasoned google searcher (lol), and I struggled for days.
The hardest part was finding two separate 12×12 (ish) tiles that were 100% compatible in all of the following specifications:
- size
- thickness
- finish (matte, satin, polished)
- edge cut (pressed/rounded vs. rectified/straight)
- visual appearance (similar tones, marble look, etc.)
Needless to say, I was on a treasure hunt and ultimately struck gold…well, porcelain technically.
Affordable Grey & White Checkerboard Tile
Just as I was about to settle for a different bathroom floor design, I finally found the perfect affordable porcelain (marble look) grey and white checkerboard tiles I had been obsessively searching for.
Best of all, they are the exact same tile but in two different “checkerboard compatible” colors. Which meant, all the tile specifications (size, thickness, finish, edges, etc.) were all the same. Easy, peasy, lemon, squeezy …and a hallelujah!
Since we opted for a diamond checkerboard look with these tiles, we purchased two equal sets of tiles. Once we found the amount of tile we needed for our square footage (plus an extra 10% for cushion) we divided the number of boxes in half. Half of the boxes we purchased were the Grey Floor Tile and the other half were the White Floor Tile.
- Grey Floor Tile (13″x13″)
- White Floor Tile (13″x13″)
- Grout “silver shadow”
- 1/8 Grout Spacers
Our Checkerboard Porcelain Tile Review – after a year
After a year of daily foot traffic, showers, baths, doggy baths, harsh arizona western sun exposure, accidental makeup spills… our checkerboard porcelain tiles still look good as new!
Porcelain was an excellent choice for our family. Unlike most marble flooring, Porcelain tiles are quite durable, affordable and low maintenance. I am just not in my expensive marble flooring era yet, and that’s okay.
Cleaning is a breeze! We vacuum our bathroom flooring as we would normally vacuum the whole house (every few days or so) and steam mop once a week. Since the porcelain tiles have a marble veining look, most minor debris (lint, water spots, dust particles, dog fur mostly lol) is not noticeable.
The journey to find (approx) 12×12 checkerboard tile ends
I hope you found this helpful in finding the perfect affordable checkered floor tiles for your next project! You just cannot beat the affordability, durable porcelain material and beautiful grey & white marble checkerboard look that these tiles have to offer.
I will share our full primary bathroom makeover post below along with a few other home projects we’ve been up to 🙂