The Miracle Sealants website FAQ on stripping sealants. It sounds like you need to learn to like it...

Just bumping. I have the same question of what exactly to buy. We bought some tiles at HD and the color was antique gold I think. I thought it was too orangey and I would like the chiaro or the noce better...but the gold is REALLY nice. I'm still undecided at present. Here it is wet with my new cabs I tried to make the pic smaller but I was the same size each time I reduced it!

(I say train the 2 yr old to pee outside and potty train the puppy!). janefan-- I've got a funny story about that! I'm originally from Connecticut, and 25 years ago, I had inlaws up here in Maine that we used to come up and visit during the summer. Now, when we'd come up and visit, my brother in law and his family only had running water in the sink, and still used a "privvy" (Outhouse). At the time our kids were all boys, under the age of 3, so being that the closest neighbor was about 2 miles down the road, we told them just to pee off the back porch. Well, we came back down from vacation this one summer-- we'd moved out of our apartment, and were waiting one more week after we got back to close on our first home, during which time, we were staying with my sister and her husband in a very nice "yuppy" neighborhood in Milford. We got up that first morning (a beautiful spring sunday) and my son got up, not giving it a second thought, marched right past us, rubbing his eyes, out to the back porch to go pee!! Obviously, with the situation a little different, my sister just looked at us like we had two heads, and I had to run out there and let him know that we don't do that any more, while my wife sat there and explained things to my sister! Even my sister laughs now when we look back at it, but she wasn't laughing too much that day!! :-)

Thanks so much for your input, Jim! I wasn't actually thinking about sealing the stones prior to installation; I was going to wait the 4-5 days before sealing.... but now you've started me thinking in new directions. We did a sample piece and it dries really quickly. Maybe I could get up early tomorrow and seal it all before the installer comes. He could do the back foyer floor while it's drying. I'm really glad you gave your advice about not getting sealer on the grout-sides of the tiles. I was thinking the exact opposite! I didn't think about adhesion. I just thought that if the marble absorbed the moisture from the grout, it might crack/crumble fairly soon. I too hope a definitive answer comes through soon. I should have considered all this long before now. Good luck with your project. My guess (which isn't likely worth much) is that the sealer will slightly darken your grout. You probably wouldn't need too much grout sealer for the job... Is there one on the market that is not an enhancer as well (water-based, not solvent based) and therefore might allow your grout to remain its intended colour? Sandra