Tile floor complete! - final reveal of the front entry

Oh my goodness... I'm so happy to report, my front entry tile is now complete!!

This was just last night while the grout was going on. THE GROUT! I've waited forever for this moment. The dog clung to me pretty tight as a thunderstorm was breaking through the sky. And yup, she stayed put just like you see here in the pic. Good girl!

All nice and grouted. Now the wait. Once it dries abit, I scraped it as clean as possible to remove as much access grout as possible, because the next job is twice as difficult if you don't do this. (and yes, I learned the hard way)

The floor comes to life! And this is a proud moment, for you can finally see how nicely (or how not so nicely) you've made all your cuts and joins. It's like icing on a cake!

I chose a pattern for the front entry. I designed and implemented the center first, then had the bias tile wrap around the center pattern. It turned out awesome! I love how all the apparatus in the room sits on the bias, and the pattern is free and clear. It's a neat visual.

What was once this... (which is actually an improved before believe it or not)

Is now the bright clean and ultra productive space we enjoy. With floor intact!

Some of you may have discovered I started blogging when my house was being renovated on. We're talking pulling out major walls, ripping up floors, new windows, the works. What I've been attempting to do was blog about the finished decorating type results on this blog. To see abit more writeup on the entry building and tile floors, you can spec out:

Our Extreme Home Makeover Experience - front entry
Funky Junk Interiors - all front entry posts

There's abit of repeat between the two blogs, however the building of the rooms of my home are better portrayed in the other blog.

Ahhh.... Sunday, a day of rest, yes? I'm going to go downstairs with a cup of freshly brewed coffee and admire my newly finished floor. :) (admit it, you would too!!

______________________

The FRONT ENTRY label has been shared with these two wonderful blogs ~

Flea Market Style's flea market find linky party, in Oct 2009.
Mustard Seed Creation's Furniture Feature Friday, Oct 2009.

Tile install tip (from a rookie!)

Well, hello there little kitty cat! Have you come for my tile tutorial?


Have a seat and let's get started then!

I'm currently tiling an entryway. I'll be doing a before and after when the floor is complete so I actually have something interesting to show you. However, I thought perhaps I could share this little rookie tip with you I created.

(all real tile installers, please leave the building NOW. Or, keep the laughter down to a dull roar as my hearing protection is now off. Thank-you.)

So here we have this fancy dancy tile twisted diagonally, or, on the bias.

It's a great gimmick to use when your walls aren't square. However, that wasn't my true intent this go around in this room. It's part of the design. If you look back at the cat picture, you can see there's a pattern smack dab in the middle of the floor. And now what I'm doing is wrapping the bias tile around the pattern.

(yes I'm out of my mind crazy for doing this, but I was bored out of my tree with just doing it normally and needed some massive adventure here! So I got fancy)

I had been using a ruler and tediously measured and measured and measured until there were no numbers left on the ruler. (true story, they rubbed off and I had to find another) And then I figured out an easier way.

Place a piece of paper in position, taking note to avoid the grout spacing. (1/4" in this case). Bend the paper where it hits the wall, again, taking in account that you want abit of a gap against the wall.

(tiles don't move, however walls expand and contract and you don't want to have your tile snap on you, hence the gap against the wall)

For crazy corners in tight spaces, I use post it notes instead! Stick them down in your space while slightly overlapping them so they stay intact to create your pattern.

Place the paper (or stuck together post it notes) on the tile against the outer edges and draw your angled line as per the fold in the paper. (no measuring, see?!? How exciting!)

Cut your line.

I've been using a heavy duty wet saw, however you can rent smaller variations or even buy manual cutters too. (the type where you drag, cut and snap) But if you have the opportunity to tile with one of these... ohhhh yeahhhh. GOOD hearing protection and safetly glasses are a must. Yes I look like an alien when I work but it's what all the pros are doing these days.

Place your tile into position. I do dry runs first, doing alot of cuts, then mortaring later just to keep things moving a little quicker.

Isn't that perfect fit just the cat's meow?!?

Come back! It was just a joke!

(more 'building of the front entry' stories HERE)