Re-Tiling Our Shower I
Longer ago than I really care to admit, one wall of our master bathroom revealed that it had been damaged by water (and poor construction) and needed remedial treatment.
Over time all of the tiles on that wall, an exterior wall with a window at one end of our large shower, were removed, the old, damaged wallboard was removed, fresh green-wall put up in its place (by our ever-handy, ever-resourceful neighbor Michael) and its surface finished, ready to receive new tile. Then, of course, came the difficult task for Isaac and me: choosing a new tile. We decided we didn't simply want to replace or reproduce the medium-gray tile that had been there and still covered the other two walls of the shower. Instead we wanted some color and a different tile that would harmonize with the gray ceramic but perk things up a bit. It turned out to be a quest that revealed us at our most indecisive. We never quite found something that excited us that we agreed on and that we thought would meet our specs.
Well, today we had success. A friend had suggested we go to The Tile Shop in Rockville, Maryland, about a 40-minute drive if the traffic is good on the capital beltway. We did and it was.
We roamed systematically around the store and saw lots of nice tiles that didn't do anything for us until we got to the back corner of the store and saw this "Sky Blue Porcelain Mosaic". It caught the attention of both of us in a "hmm, that's not bad" sort of way. Then we discovered, as we roamed further, that we compared everything we saw to the "Sky Blue Porcelain Mosaic". Could it be? Could it possibly be as simple as that? Had we at long last found a tile that would suit us both and look good on that wall.
We quickly decided that the answer was yes! We were aided by discovering that one of the display walls in the store was decorated in "Sky Blue Porcelain Mosaic" and it looked lovely to us, just the sort of effect we were thinking of. The individual tiles are 0.75" square, medium-saturated sky-blue color with irregular, medium-gray markings on the edges. The photograph is a fair representation, although I don't think it give a comprehensive idea of the effect of an entire wall covered in the tile, but it is quietly attractive without being outlandish. We will use a bright white grout, which brings out the tiles' colors without being garish.
As it happened there was a matching tile in a dark blue called "Sapphire" that we could use for an accent, so we decided to use the "Sapphire" to make a strip across the wall that would contain the long, skinny window, using it to cover the window sill and such, too. The tiles are ordered and should arrive in a week or two.
A few of you have seen the inside of our house and will be able to imagine the situation, perhaps. For the rest, I will try to remember to keep a photo-diary as the work progresses because I know how very much y'all will want to see what's going on.
Anyway, we're quite happy to be moving at long last into this final phase of getting our bathroom put back together after altogether too long an exile.
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on Monday, 16 June 2008 at 00.41
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Very nice color and effect, to my eye. But I'm a little surprised at your selection of tiles that small. Are the tiles on the other walls that size?
on Monday, 16 June 2008 at 15.56
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No, the gray tiles are nominally four-inches square. We had decided that, in addition to avoiding trying to match the gray color exactly, we'd like to get a new tile in a markedly different size as well. We never saw large tiles, foot-square or so, that appealed to us, but the small tiles did.