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chibimimi

Total change of direction -- tile

chibimimi
10 years ago

This is an update on the renovation of our hall bathroom -- former kids' bath, now just for occasional guest use.

So, the porcelain tile we loved (Emil Ceramica Fire) is not in stock anywhere in the US and the next shipment is on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic and will not arrive in time to meet our contractor's and our deadlines.

I admitted defeat. (Actually my husband did -- he did not want stone.) HD has an ivory travertine that we can live with. The local store did not have enough in stock, so I had to buy it sight-unseen from another store and have it delivered. The batch they delivered is A LOT different from the sample I had -- much darker, almost a walnut color. We are using 12x12s on the floor and in the shower; the contractor is cutting the rest in half to make 6x12s for the wainscot around the rest of the walls. Above the wainscot will be a simple border mosaic in various shades of travertine; above that, a pencil edge.

The good news is that the travertine is substantially less expensive than the porcelain. The bad news is that there is quite a bit of waste, as many tiles have too much fill or crack when they are cut. Even so, it will cost much less than our original choice.

It's turning out much better than I expected. If I can find the instructions on posting pictures, I'll post progress photos here. And final photos when it's complete, hopefully before our guests arrive at the end of the month!