One tile at a time

Gary and I chose to stick with a retro design/colour scheme for our new bathroom, just not quite as retro as the 1929 original. In fact, we love the little hexagon tiles but Gary had his heart set on a shower with a sloped floor rather than a pre-fab base. Cutting and installing a mosaic pattern would have been extremely difficult, so we chose a small square tile that was going to be cheaper and much more user-friendly. Or so we thought. Did I mention that we also chose a white grout? Our intention to contrast the tiles would be easily achieved, but we predicted that a slight misalignment or imperfection would pop out too. The 2×2 tiles come pre-imperfectly aligned on 12×12 mats. In other words, to install a mat perfectly square, each tile needed to be rotated by hand before it set. (This step can be skipped if you can live with some irregularities and do not suffer from OCD, unfortunately, that is not the case for us). We had some crooked grout lines after the first try. After much deliberation lying on his belly, peering down the rows to confirm misalignment, Gary decided to demolish brand new tiles and I agreed. Who was actually going to view the bathroom from this vantage point? Probably no one, but it would have bothered us and it if we were going to redo it, it was going to be before we did the grout. Now or never. Sure, not having a functioning bathroom was pushing the move-in date further and further back but meh! with Christmas approaching, what was another couple of days? Another lesson learned. Gary tore up a few tiles and started over. The floor is now grouted, the plumbing in place and the walls are tiled. I had to peel Inspector Gary off the floor, but I assure you, the grout lines are straight, even by our standards. We still have some finishing to do in the bathroom but it’s up and running and we love it!

: layout time

: waterproof membrane under shower

: see the fat line in the centre and that they are all uneven? perfectionism is a disease!

: probably not as bad as we made it out to be….

: taking up brand new tile

: and we were super happy about it

: tough job

: then Gary got a little carried away

: take two. making sure it’s super square

: the new wall tile

: and it’s coming together

: the shower slope and drain

: groutin’

: new wall tile

: smiling again 🙂

: floor groutin’

: more groutin’

: et voila!

: perfecto

: shower fixtures being installed

: and the vanity

: painting the upper walls

: maybe should have done it without red nail polish

: nail polish marks on the freshly painted ceiling. in the end it didnt matter more paint came off with the tape and I had to sand and repaint the ceiling anyway!! I think everything that could possibly go wrong in here, did.