Time to Tile

If you have been following along on my blog, you know that my intent is not a restoration to the original 1941 home. I am trying to honor the original architecture while keeping up with a modern lifestyle. In the bathroom, this means keeping the minihex floor tile which was so popular in the early half of the 1900s BUT a modern spin of making them all black. Mom kind of freaked out a bit when I proposed the idea - "It's too dark!" But it really isnt'. it is a small room, and the rest of the the finished are much lighter, so the dark floor is very grounding - and forgiving. Have I mentioned I have three boys?

First I laid out the sheets so I knew where to cut (and yes, I did fill in around the toilet drain). I knew I was going to add a baseboard on top, so I didn't worry bout cutting all of those little half hexes. I only needed to do that by the door. 

After I had everything laid out and cut, setting the tile was pretty simple. I worked a couple of sheets at a time. I folded them back, spread the mud and set the tiles back, working from tub to door.

If you have seen, my  Glitter Countertop post, you know I wanted this room to sparkle. When I saw this premixed glitter grout, I knew I needed it. I was not disappointed! Just a touch of sparkle to hilight the hexes. Since it was premixed, I didn't have to deal with glitter fallout all over the house.

I went with the old reliable white subway tiles for the walls. I didn't take a good picture of it, but it worked out that the bathtub height ended up being a full course and didn't require any cuts. Based on the tub, I knew I didn't need any cuts on the floor height. I set the height of the backsplash based on an even course off of the floor.

With the old window trim gone, I went for a tile edge. I cut bullnose pieces to fit the depth of the window and made sure that they were pitched wawy from the window to prevent the water from pooling. The finished window now is not going to rot or collect water and has a very simple clean line expected in Midcentry design.

My original plan was to only tile to just above the window - right where the red waterproofing ends, then I would trim it out in bullnose. It ended up so close to the ceiling that I didn't like how it looked. I decided to take the tile to, but not on the ceiling. 

So, yeah, I ran out of tiles. l almost made it! but I only bought enough for Plan A and switching to Plan B left me short by a few, so back to The Deopt I went...

I'm still a novice tiler, so I went with white grout to hide my sins, but  I think it didn't turn out all that bad. the above photo was taken with the field complete and ready for the bullnose. I looked at several options for edge/trim tile, but opted to keep it simple in the end. the bullnose went on pretty easy. the only complicated cut was the miter from backsplash to shower height. 

I am proud to say that I nailed that miter on the first set of cuts.

Next week, I will take you through the finishes and decorating, so stay tuned.