 The checkerboard floor pattern is a classic, from Europe to North America, and it remains one of my favourites for enlivening a room that is large enough to ‘hold’ a checkerboard’s bold design statement. Done well, you can think of the black-white counter-contrast of checkerboard as a design calling-card that draws potential buyers inside a listed property, subtly whispering 'good taste lives here', and invites them to bid.  20th century rock-n-roll era diners in North America used checkerboard floors as a cheap, utilitarian design element.  But there is nothing cheap about a design that also graces parts of the Versailles palace in France, one of the world’s most sumptuous spaces. You can also find checkerboard tiling in buildings from ancient Egypt and Rome, not to mention their ubiquity in Victorian entryways.
Checkerboard tile works well in transition areas: hallways, foyers, porches and laundry rooms. Think well-trafficked, hard-working, non-intimate spaces. The tile most commonly used for checkerboards is heavy duty, so it wears well, but it can also lend a sense of elegant pizazz to an otherwise plain room. It’s best to leave checkerboard designs out of bedrooms and living rooms. Their natural chaos (busyness) is at odds with the lay-back-and-relax tone that bedrooms and living rooms strive to evoke.
 When laid diagonally at a 45-degree angle, designers say checkerboards create a more dressed-up and traditional look, while straight-laid checkerboards are said to be more playful and contemporary. I personally prefer the diagonal method. Just note that this will cost more to install and there will be additional wastage of 10 to 15 percent due to all the cut-offs on the edges. I also recommend matching your grout to the lighter-coloured tile. Be careful when choosing tile size. Small checkerboard tiles in a large room will feel overwhelming, like being stuck in a life-sized, overly-pixelated photograph. Or in a Roy Liechtenstein image. If you use tile that is too large in a small room, the pattern won’t repeat enough.   A modern twist is to paint a checker board on to wood flooring – which I’m not wild about – as well as experimenting with colours beyond the traditional black and white. That last experiment I can get on board with. November 2023 Listed Properties with Checkerboard FloorsBeverly Hills, California (J-Lo & Ben Affleck's former rental) 12 bedrooms | 18 bathrooms | Jenifer Lopez and Ben Affleck lived in this Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, home for two years as newly weds while they looked for a palace ... place ... to call their own. Owned by Australian tycoon James Packer, a former love-partner of Mariah Carey, it is currently listed for $85 million USD. Before Packer, the 1930's-built house belonged to Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman who lived there for two decades before selling up for $26.6 million USD in 2015. Architectural Digest says, "The property hosts several additional well-appointed structures: a one-bedroom pool house; a three-story ADU connected to a six-car garage with additional living quarters, a gym, a sauna, a bar, and a staff room with its own sauna; a 5,000-square-foot theater with a bar, game room, two bathrooms, a cigar room, and a wine cellar; and an additional two-car garage." https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/jennifer-lopez-and-ben-afflecks-former-beverly-hills-rental-lists       Oh, and this James Packer/Ben Affleck/J-Lo/Danny De Vito luxury pad has a glorious diagonal checkerboard floor down the hallway and out into the expansive opening at the foot of the staircase. Just in case you were wondering.
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