I love tiling. There I said it. I’m not afraid to admit it. This is the part of the reno that I enjoy… until it gets to the hard bits. The bathroom is small and does not get a lot of natural light so I decided to stick with lighter colours to reflect back as much light as possible. I had lusted after small grey hexagon marble tiles I had seen used in the States many moons ago but I just couldn’t afford them. (Check out my tile tip under Tips & Tricks!)

Instead I went completely off my own brief and chose what was a relatively new product back then – ceramic “floor boards” for the floors. This was in keeping with the relaxed beachy feel I was going for in the house.

Only problem was, they were 90cm long and 10cm (100mil) thick so my manual tile cutter wasn’t going to cut the mustard. So I bought a tile cutter. Yes, a diamond blade wet tile cutter. It’s messy but I love it. It cut through the tiles perfectly and was less than $100. 

The floors didn’t take that long but the walls were another story. There were a few late nights on this one. 

Negotiating the window. (Milk crate becomes a hand stand)

Almost there

As much as I love a dark grout between subway tiles, it would have been too much in this small space so I stuck with traditional white. 

Site manager Buddy on his morning tea break.

And once the plumber installed the toilet and bath there was call for bubbles of a different sort! Still lots to do including the shower screen and adapting the cabinet a bought into a vanity but hey, the hard yards were done.