NewlyWoodwards

an unconventional home

Renovation progress report – week 28

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It’s probably pretty obvious what we were up to this week.

HEXAGON

TILE

FLOOR

Calling me obsessed with this floor would be an understatement. I’ve visited the floor every day, even when I didn’t have time to work on anything. I’ve talked to it. I’ve caressed it (with sealer… don’t think I’m going totally nuts).

Laying tile is a pretty intense feat. And have I mentioned that we’ve never done it?

Oh yeah… we’ve never installed tile. So, it’s pretty clear that it was a mean little trick to fall in love with hexagon tiles. But, Ryan loved them too and thought it couldn’t be that difficult.


Hardy-har-har…. that’s a good one.

You can laugh with me. Sounds kind of like every other difficult thing we’ve tried. It always starts out innocently.

Anyhoo… You remember last week when I was frantically looking for hexagon tiles so Ryan could lay the tile before he began traveling? Well, I was able to find the tiles locally through an awesome local tile shop and distributor. I talked to the owner on Thursday morning and Ryan picked up the tile from the distributor at 4 p.m. That was about the easiest part of the process. (Besides writing the check, of course.)

And would you even believe that our tiles were Made in America? I had one happy husband.

But, that happiness soon dissipated. After 8 hours of trying to dry-fit the tiles in the space, Ryan was on the verge of a melt-down.

Okay, let’s be honest. Ryan was having a meltdown. I am really not exaggerating when I say that I found him on the floor in the fetal position. That floor was kicking his arse.

Our house is so far from square and it was darn near impossible to get the tiles to fit properly. If we had ever done this before or had any real clue what we were doing, it probably would have went more smoothly. (Although if you google installing 1-inch hexagon tiles, you’ll find more people like us. Totally clueless and frustrated. The experts clearly don’t need to Google.)

At this point, it’s probably good to mention that this is one of the only projects in a long time that we have worked on together. We typically do our own things and work apart on separate projects. Not this one. We worked on this one together. This project needed two full beginner brains to accomplish.

I’ve started a more detailed post on the tips and tricks we learned about laying tiles, and more specifically laying hexagon unglazed ceramic tile. The truth was that we couldn’t find many really comprehensive tutorials or resources online for beginners. And, while we are certainly not experts (by any stretch of the imagination), there are a few things we learned that we hope can help any other DIYers who may lay this type of tile with zero experience in the future. (Ryan would like me to call it “Laying hexagon tiles for dummies.”)

But, the happy ending is that we had the tiles dry-fit by late Friday night. By that point, cutting, measuring and installing the black flower tiles was a breeze.

By Saturday at noon, the tiles were installed. By Monday, the tiles were cleaned, pre-sealed and grouted.

 And, at this point I need to finish cleaning them really well and seal them again and we are done.

So, these pictures aren’t the total finished results, but they give you an idea. I’m especially loving the daisies and think they really make the entire floor. We ended up going with white grout, and I’m hoping with sealer, it’s still easy to keep clean. (I’ll let you know.)

So, that’s our little tile adventure. I haven’t updated the house list, yet. Maybe soon.

What do you think?

Comments

  1. oh I feel your pain, we also put down similar tile in our bathroom; it was our first tile job…gaaaah!!! Curled up in the fetal position…yup, that’s what I felt like, at one point. and our house is “new-ish” (1990s,) but the walls and everything were SO crooked.

    It looks great!

  3. I love the floor, and love the flower pattern! We also did a black and white floor on our bathroom redo (post coming soon), but a different pattern. And I’m told it was a pain in the booty as well. Luckily I was pregnant and laying around on the other side of the house.

  5. You have every right to be obsessed with the floor- it’s beautiful! You’ll have to set your alarm half an hour early once you live in this house, just so you have enough time to admire the tiles every morning 😀

  6. kim! gorgeous!! you guys are amazing!! i am in love with that floor. i too would be caressing it! i’m so impressed – that floor looks 100% professional and that’s such a big undertaking for a first tile project! we’ve never done tile either -scares me.

    be-u-tiii-ful!

  8. It looks so wonderful! I am really loving it! Way to go Ryan! Also… What’s wrong with actually caressing newly laid tile?? Is that not normal?

  9. Kim! It’s beautiful! The tiles are great & I’m so jealous that Ryan let you have flowers on the floor (Jason told me that they are too “girly” and “ornate” – so we went with the black border instead). Great job!!!

  10. FANTASTIC! You guys did an awesome job, so glad you stuck with it. Working on separate projects is probably good for your marriage. Oh, and I really like your hair color.

  12. So absolutely GORGEOUS! 🙂 Totally worth the effort and the fetal position time on the floor for poor Ryan!

  14. I love it!! And I commend Ryan’s amazing tiling efforts! And the fact that you’re still married! 😉
    I’ve been dreaming about your carved, flower newel post for weeks now (since it was sneakily in a previous post). It is so beautiful. I should have told you that before, but I forgot. And you know, these daisy tiles kind of tie in with the newel post.

  16. I’m digging the tiles! They remind me of a cleaner version of the powder blue flower tiles I had in my very first college apartment. Very charming! 🙂

  17. Looks Great, I love the hexagon tiles and its fantastic that you and your hubby are doing the work yourself.

    By the way thanks for stopping by my blog and giving me your thoughts.

  20. Loving the hex tiles! You guys are so classy – the house will have a vintage vibe but, you know, not be grimy. I love that!

  23. Oh, that frustration must be (semi)forgotten once you have the immense pride in a job well done! It looks gorgeous.

    Speaking of which, is your hair darker in your tiling glamour shot? You look so cute! I’d have sweat dripping down my face with my hair every which way but correct, but you look stinkin’ cute.

    So.Not.Fair.

  24. I remember our own tiling adventure last year at this time – it was So. Hard. and we had big tiles not the itty bitty ones like yours – I can’t imagine trying to place those tiles – even though they comes in sheets. It looks great though! You guys did an amazing job!

  27. There is no doubt in my mind that my husband and I would kill each other if we attempted this, I’m so impressed you guys are still married and speaking!! It looks amazing – I can’t wait for your tutorial, I know there will be tons of great info in there! Really beautiful. 🙂

  33. Beautiful work.
    I’ve never done tile work, but I can only imagine it can be frustrating.
    P.S. How can you look so cute while doing home renovation?! It’s not fair haha!
    Biz

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