Well, I'll be ...

Well, with the long weekend, we actually got some chores done around the house, including the install of the final wall of tile. Working together, Scott and I really made great progress on that last wall. So fantastic to finally have that out of the way. But, of course, it isn't all that easy. With it complete, comes the argument, eh hem! discussion, about what color grout we should use. I was finding it hard to choose between white and grey, but Scott was all white - and not budging. In an effort to make me see what he was envisioning, he scoured the Internet to find this beautiful bathroom:

Now, it's interesting that he found this as it is so extremely close to a near perfect example of what the bathroom might feel like after it's finished. A hexagonal floor, with banded trim; white subway tile with white grout; a beautiful porcelain console sink - ours arrives tomorrow!; and panelling (albeit on the ceiling). I nearly fell over when he sat me down to look at it and told me that this is what he wanted. Immediately I was on board! Now, short of winning a powerball - the exact thing ain't happenin! I mean - a barrel ceiling in the bathroom? Oy ve! But the white grout on the subway tile - I can do!

So I started. Now, the best bit of advice that I can share with you when it comes to grouting is this - COVER YOUR TUB! Grouting is messy. It gets all over the place no matter what you try to do, and the best way to save yourself from having any unnecessary clean ups is to cover your tub with a plastic drop cloth ($1.28) and some blue painters tape.

Once I had turned the corner I stepped back and took a good look. FANTASTIC, right? Now, remember - the walls will be a lighter shade of blue/green/grey. The wainscoting will cover about 4.5' of wall space and also be white ... so this white on white on white is really going to brighten up the space and give it that 1920's flair Scott wanted with the spa experience I wanted. On a tight budget, of course.

And with most of the work done, it was time to sit and wait for it to harden so that I can clean the haze off of the tiles. When we decided to use the subway tile we asked our contractor how much it would cost for him to do the project. He gave us a quote of $850 in labor plus the cost of materials. As many of you know - that's not a bad deal! But working this reno on the tight budget I have, and really wanting to splurge in other areas, we decided to save the money and do the tiling ourselves. How much did it cost?


Just a little over $300.00. Not bad, considering I can now put that $850 I would have spent in labor toward fantastic fixtures ... like the one I'll show you tomorrow!