Hello all,
First time poster & new to the DIY world. My fiance and I thought we would have more time to research grout, but that was before we realized the 'pro help' at box stores is... well... less than helpful, and before my fiance (during the course of our remodel) blew out his back, crushed a hand, got the stomach flu and to top it all off, fell off a ladder and injured his ribs.... he's much better now, but we're up against the wall for time, and we're in desperate need of expert advice.

Our needs look something like this:
* Start by getting a color that'll hide dirt (grey or brown?)
* We rent out a couple rooms in our home, have pets and have a couple large parties (read: bar, laser lights & DJ) every year ... so the floors will see a lot of abuse.
* We plan on renting this house sometime down the road, and we're a little concerned we'll get that one renter who doesn't give a [explative deleted] about the hard work we're putting into this, and will apply who-knows-what abuse to our poor floors.
* We've tiled one bathroom, living room, dining room, kitchen and family room (flooring only)
* We've both become unemployed in the middle of the remodel, so this is all going on my one and only credit card, so every dollar going out is being scrutinized. That said, we'd still much rather pay more money & spend more time up front, 'be lazy' later (we're not the type of people to reseal grout every year or scrub daily), and prepare the home for years of abuse by an unknown renter.

I guess what we're looking for is low maintenance, extremely difficult to stain, near bulletproof grout. Spectralock comes up a lot, but we're concerned it may be cost prohibitive. Half the people swear by it, the other half call it extreme overkill for residents and have pointed us to Permacolor (I believe a traditional grout?). Some people say to just start applying the Spectralock, others recommend filling the gaps with more thinset, and only applying a 'sealing layer' of Spectralock over that. Some people say to skip all that, and go with QuartzLock II.

With so many products out there in combination with all the different "uses" the grouts can / do / will see. At this point, we're dizzyingly lost. I feel a bit like screaming, "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi!!"

Side question: We have a couple places that transition from hard wood to tile. It's our understanding we can buy colored calking that will remain flexible, but (mostly) match our grout lines. Is this true? Is there a recommended product (or alternate)? Since the transition is pretty flush (within credit card width) between the hardwood & tile, we'd like to avoid using a traditional transition piece if it's practical.