This project is hands down my most favorite we have done so far!
I have been pinning and saving word tile for some time now. I always knew I wanted to do this but I just wasn't quite sure where I wanted to do it at. I had the chance to design a salon and we are incorporating word tile in the bathroom. Well it really got my wheels turning about how much I love it and where could I design it into our home?
We don't have many spaces that are in need of new flooring... until I remembered.. this little landing that leads to our basement and a door to our side yard. Originally it had tile on it, travertine, which we had since removed and unearthed the natural oak wood flooring, swoon!
Well this space is such a high traffic and nasty area between our unfinished basement and the unfinished side yard that it was begging for tile. But not just any tile.. it needed character and charm and I knew exactly what to do.
It was a Sunday morning, I woke up with a wild hair ready to take on the day and a new big challenging project. I swung the idea by Brandon and to my surprise he said YES! So off to the tile store we went.
Classic black and white hexagon tiles was what we were after. When you put us in a tile store it is like a kid in a candy shop. So hard to focus when there are other shiny things.
So we came home with the tile, and a new marble sink.
Never. Fails.
Ok so lets get started.. Well I had NO CLUE what we were going to write. We went back and forth on writing the original owners last name Mead... we thought about writing Est. and then the date of when our house was built, problem is.. we aren't certain on when our house was built.
We didn't want it to be too personal that when we moved someday our last name was tiled into the floor.. I wanted it to be fun yet meaningful.
So I kept thinking about this house and how we are making it our home.. how it tells a story of our life. It came to me. La Vie En Rose. This is our wedding song and truly the way we love to live life. Looking at life through rose colored lenses. Brandon and I really do try to live life really positively. We see the good instead of the bad, we celebrate everyday. Thats our love too.
So now that I know what we are writing it is time to figure out the layout while Brandon preps the floor.
This was super challenging.
I wanted the font to look cursive and not to mechanical looking. Figuring out the right sizing and placement was tough. With a lot of trial and error I finally pulled it all together. I snapped a photo of it and counted the tiles so I knew how to recreate this.
Ok, the floor is ready but we wanted to make an exact dry fit so we knew where to place the words and how it would read from the top of the stairs.
We were trying to figure out the boarder as well. Since this is an old home, nothing is straight or level so it was a bit of a struggle lining it all up to look and be as straight as possible.
So the next step was to remove the white tiles where the black tiles were going to go. I marked them with a blue sharpie and peeled them off as I went. I had a system down so I didn't mess up!
I added two little flowers off to the side, one for me and one for Brandon.
Ok lets lay some tile!
It took some adjusting but once we got it we had to hustle to get the black pieces in and set before the mortar started drying.
This was a back breaking process, especially when you have a 7 month pregnant belly along for the ride!
But we did it and it was well worth it!
BEFORE
So this is where we started a couple years back. In time we removed the travertine, changed the door, painted and now retiled and gave it life again!
AFTER
This space is so much brighter and a lot more fun!
I absolutely love how it turned out.
It is an homage to our marriage and a sweet reminder. I love the character it adds to our home, how it tells the story of us and our life. That is how I want to tackle each project, big or small. With intention for our home to showcase our memories.
All in this project was around 18 sq ft. and cost us a little under $200. We have all of the tools for tile. So our expense included tile, quarter round, mortar, grout, and concrete board. It took 3 days, not full days, but between mortar and grout drying we started on Sunday and finished on Wednesday!
Not a bad little project for the sweet memory it now holds.
xx.
kasey