Tiling
So I lied....we ARE doing a remodel. Our townhome had been almost completely remodeled before we moved in, except for one part: the showers. The seller put in nice tile floor and granite counters in the bathrooms but left the sh0wer lined with plastic shower liner stuff (I don't know what you call it!) which kind of ruins the look. The shower also has really old hardware and a shower head that is so low we both have to duck to fit our heads under. Graham has been talking about wanting to tile around the tub ever since we moved in and so now it is finally going to happen! Do either of us know how to tile?? Certainly not! But the time has come to learn--at least for Graham. I have decided that it would be most healthy for our marriage if I made sure I booked a full schedule the day(s) of the remodel and stayed out of the house, not to return until the task is complete. I'm such a perfectionist and clean freak that I think I would do more harm than good, trying to clean up everything, worrying about chipping the paint on the wall or getting grout on the tub (and to think we want to someday remodel an entire house!! Now that could get real interesting!!) Anyway, Graham's dad is super excited about helping his oldest son. In fact, he's been calling US to see when he can come tile. So the way I see it, it's kinda like cooking. In the same way that you can easily have "too many cooks in the kitchen," you can also have "too many tilers in the bathroom" so I'm just going to stay out of it. :o)
As for materials, thankfully we found some of the leftover tile that the previous owner used when he remodeled and he's willing to sell it to us for pretty cheap (do you know how expensive tile is!!?) Yesterday we made a trip to Lowes, "just to make sure I didn't see something else I liked better." That store is so fun! And expensive! We ended up purchasing some tile for an accent strip as well as new shower hardware. So on Saturday, the destruction of the current shower begins...
Here are some before pictures:
THE SHOWER
THE BATHROOM
THE UGLY HARDWARE
A SAMPLE OF WHAT IS TO COME
As someone who has a tiled shower that was done by a "do it yourself-er" (not us, previous owner) here is my advise. Don't use too much grout to stick the tile to the wall. I think we have at LEAST 1/2 inch of grey grout between the tile and the wall and when the tile ends and meets up with the non-tiled part of the wall, it looks really awkward as it suddenly "drops off" and does not blend in whatsoever to the wall. Does this make sense? Just tell Graham to not go grout crazy and he will be fine. :o)
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