Bathroom Progress Peek at Tiling and Vanity

The Tiler has spent 5 days doing the bathroom - front and back doors wide open all day long, drop sheets running all through the house to protect the floorboards, some days he bought a helper and other days he worked alone singing and grinding and tiling by himself. And this is how I keep the tradies happy - lots of drinks and biscuits!

Wednesday he chipped into the walls with the back of a hammer which helps the tiles stick

After that he screeded and levelled out the floor which meant he had to bring back into the house most of those limestone blocks that I spent days carrying out of the bathroom and buckets of sand to bring the floor level up again. Then he concreted it and level it off.

That long rectangle shape in the floor is for the shower grate, because of the size of our tiles (300 x 600) we couldn't have a round grate its too hard to tile around and everywhere we looked Bunnings and bathroom shops wanted $500 + for one. So we jumped online and found a great store Vincent Buda who shipped it from the eastern states in 3 days for a total cost of $250 (yep half price!)

Thursday was waterproofing day, the shower area and behind the vanity got a few coats of waterproofer painted on

Then we had a Tiler Vs Cabinet Maker battle of opinions - we had to decide whether to put the vanity in now and tile around it or to tile the floor first and put the vanity on top. The Tiler was saying put the vanity in last and the Cabinet Maker was saying put the vanity in first. Ahhhh what to do ... phone a friend that's what we did! We decided to put the vanity in first because then you could tile to it and hide any imperfections.

Late Thursday our custom made vanity was delivered in 3 pieces. We had to cut out the holes for the plumbing. Then screwed it to one another checking it was level and straight the whole time by adjusting the legs underneath. Then bolted it to the back wall. Nailed in the front kick plate to hide the legs.

Friday morning the granite benchtop was delivered and the guys glued it to the top. When the tiling is done and we're ready to put the glass basins on we'll have to cut holes in the top of the granite and hook up the plumbing.

Friday afternoon the Tiler came to plan and lay the gorgeous grey floor tiles. I spent about an hour with him as he showed me where each tile would go and where the cuts would be made. Yes a man that actually planned before he cut - pretty rare I think. Because we have large tiles I wanted the whole tile to be the feature on the main walls you see, and the small cuts behind the door or on the side walls that you don't see as much.

All day Saturday the Tiler was here laying the sleek white wall tiles

All day Sunday the mosaics were laid straight down the centre of the vanity - that was tricky trying to get the tiles even on either side but with a bit of measuring and cutting off 2 of the mosaics they fit perfectly. I didn't want a thin stripe, I love the  look of the thick bold mosaic stripes such a feature.

The shower box has come up a treat, you know how much time and effort went into getting that little box in there and look at it all mosaiced up (is that even a word?!) and taking pride of place in the centre of the wall.

The walls need to be grouted white, the mosiacs grouted grey, everything cleaned up and the tiling will be done. Ahhhhhh how exciting! Most of all I'm looking forward to having the house back to myself, it's very hard to be hungover on the couch with tradies in the house all the time!

[All images my own other than shower grate from Vincent Buda]