We have lived with carpet in our bathroom for 12 years.
TWELVE long years.
Here's how that happened:
Mark lived with carpeting in the bathrooms of the homes he grew up in.
I lived with carpeting in the dining rooms of the homes I grew up in.
When we built this home, I wanted hardwood in the dining room, which I got.
In exchange, and as part of the bargain, he got carpeting in the master bath.
It was not a thrilling trade off for me, but it was for him for a few years.
Then one day he decided that tile would look so much nicer,
and I knew it would help sell our home much better
since we have been staging this house to sell.
(We actually listed a few days ago!
Now that I have time to blog again, as everything is done,
I will begin to show you the work
that we did to get our house ready-to-list.)
Back to the master bathroom floor...
At Lowe's, we found groutable vinyl tile:
My hubby lined up the threshold trim
between the carpet in our bedroom and the carpet in our bathroom,
and then cut along the edge for a straight line.
He removed the carpet while I took pictures (what a great helper I am!).
Tacking strips are painful on one's feet; don't ask me how I know this.
Because our subfloor is plywood, the tiles would not be able to stick.
I actually did join in to roll on Henry "Bond Enhancer" Self-Stick Tile Primer.
Yep. It looked like milk, only it was runny, like water.
When it was dry, maybe two hours later,
Mr. Man found the center of the room,
Mr. Man found the center of the room,
and the first tile was placed.
He did this for awhile and I helped again by taking pictures.
I also let him borrow my rolling pin. I'm such a nice wife.
The staple remover was used to get the staples
that held down the other pieces of vinyl tile
that were in the toilet room and near the shower.
that held down the other pieces of vinyl tile
that were in the toilet room and near the shower.
And it's finished!
But it's not grouted yet.
Break out the Blue Hawk Pre-Mixed Vinyl Tile Grout in Saddle Gray.
Ideally, it is supposed to be spread with a trowel,
and we tried that at first, but that just made a big mess.
So Miss S (college girl) decided to use her fingers instead.
It worked very well!
(She had no fingerprint on her finger when she was finished, but the floor looked great!)
She very quickly wiped up the excess with a rag before it dried.
I kept her supplied with rinsed clean rags.
So, for comparison, this is BEFORE the grout.
This is AFTER the grout.
More befores and afters:
(Here the quarter-round molding isn't down yet.)
(Here we were working on changing out the brass fixtures for chrome.)
Here is the room completely finished for the MLS listing:
We have lived with this flooring for about four months now, and it is wonderful!
It is warm, cleans up well, and isn't slippery.
The room cost about $150 to re-do the floor.
Not too shabby!
Stay tuned for more pictures of the bathroom.
Blessing and peace to you as you make your home!
