Adventures In Bathroom Remodeling- Picking Out Tile


Welcome back!

New here? I have been blogging about my recent bathroom remodel. So far I have covered:
-My design inspiration
- Picking a Contractor & Setting a Budget
- My DIY Crochet bathrug

Today I wanted to talk a little about how I picked my floor and bath tile. This was a somewhat overwhelming process for me. I know very little about laying/buying/picking tile. I learned when setting my budget that you don't want to skimp on tile. I wanted to get what I paid for-tile that would look good and last a long time, durable even under the constant wear of wheelchair wheels. It's a tough life to be the flooring of a wheelchair user ; ). 

What I struggle with was 'my style is bigger than my budget' syndrome. I like color. And I am drawn to doing what others don't in terms of design. I really wanted something unique.

I fell head over heels in love with this floor. Hard. I loved everything about this: the colors, the pattern (herringbone, but with longer lines), the fact that it made a real statement in this small space. Then I started to research. I could not find anything near this premade. When I sourced the individual tiles it was going to cost about as much as I paid for my car. Whomp, Whomp.

I cursed my budget. I cursed my lack of tile laying skills (alot of the cost goes to the contractor). I considered going out and picking up a contractor at a bar and marrying him. Then I had a glass of wine. I decided to refocus on putting color and pattern in other places. On the walls. In the accessories. And I tucked that photo into my Pintrest board for the day when I have an unlimited bathroom budget ; )

Next day I fell in love with this picture

I mean......how pretty is that? It looks like a pretty basic set up-hexi tiles, maybe white with a gray border and gray grout? Well... I looked and looked and no luck finding the source of this beautiful bathroom (curses, Pintrest!). I took this picture to a dozen different local tile shops and noone had anything like this. I may have tried to Google 'how to paint gray borders on white tiles' I gave up on this idea. Another glass of wine, and I moved on...

I moved along to the hexagon style of bathroom tile. In a bright, classic white.  I found some in a larger size.(2 ") for a couple of reasons. To me it looked more modern. I also thought less grout would mean less chance for breakage from rolling over too many seams. (Not sure that's really a thing? But it made sense to me). 



I found this picture online, and learned that it is not as common as I would have thought to get wide white hexagon tiles. After a little research I found them from Fired Earth Mosaic Company. They are a British company, but luckily I found a local shop that carried them. Success! 


Here they are, all stacked up and waiting to be installed.Once they were put in I really fell in love with them. However, if I had it to do over again I would NOT have chosen white grout. It is impossible to keep clean (did I mention my wheelchair rolls over them 3 billion times a week? yeeaahhhh.). Life lesson: choose dark grout, save copious time on your knees scrubbing grout.


Here's a closeup of the tiled bath surround. I went with another white tile, and the combo really brightens up the space and when I but the dimmer on the lights.....it just sparkles. So lovely. Like I mentioned in my last post, my contractor used flat marble tiles on the surround at the end of the tub and they are perfect.

In the end I did not get the original idea that excited me so much, but I did get a floor and bath room that I love. And did not go into debt for. Be prepared when you set a budget-if you cannot DIY your floor tiling can eat up a fair share of your money. The tile and labor was about 40% of my overall budget (mind you, I did floor to wall surround, so it was alot). I have heard from so many people that investing in updating your bath can really pay off when you resell. Until then, I am enjoying every single bubble bath in my new tub.

If you want to see the Pintrest board where I pinned all my very expensive ideas- check it out here!

See you back here on Friday for the some card making talk!

Later, peeps,
Michelle