It’s time to think about TILE. Hubby and I went to Home Depot back in April to look at the different colors and styles of tile. We decided to go with Hampshire slate:
We borrowed a piece to take home and decided it would definitely work in the front hall. Although I might need to re-paint the walls a lighter grey. Jim’s friend Torrey [who is responsible for the brilliant wall colors in most of our condo] suggested I match the new wall color to whatever grout color I go with. I’m planning on using a light grey grout and I think a similar color will be perfect for the walls 🙂
Last week I ordered 40 12×12″ Hampshire grey slate tiles from Home Depot, which I picked up today – each tile is slightly different:
Aren’t they beautiful? I love the natural variation of slate. The front entrance hall is approximately 38 square feet so hopefully I’ll be OK with 40 tiles… They come 10 to a box. Worst case, I’ll have to order a 5th box. At $30/box they’re pretty affordable. I’ll do the main room first, then the closet. That way if I run out, it won’t look too horrid!
So I got started smashing the existing white ceramic tile in the front hall. I used a ball-peen hammer. It was FUN!!!:
Yuk, spider…:
I originally attempted to use my hammer and cold chisel to gently pry up the tiles [like I’d done with the tile I replaced in the master bathroom], but quickly switched to the “smash the hell out of them with a hammer” method. Which made a mess, but was SO MUCH QUICKER! I put the larger pieces/chunks in a cardboard box for the dump, and shop-vac’d the rest.
All of those floors are nice, but my favorite is the river rock. Why don’t you take the door thingamajig off? I can’t imagine why you need it.
You know? That’s one of those things I never even considered… holy crap. I will try that and see if anything catastrophic happens. Thank you, Jessica! Sometimes I feel like such a space cadet.
I love the slate floors but want to warn that a dark floor really darkens up a space even more than dark walls. You’ll probably get a good idea with your new black rug whether that’s the way you want to go. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
Good point, Jo! Anything has to be better than plain, tediously boring white squares… the new black rug will cover most of the floor, so it will help us decide the avenue to take with tiles… slate tiles just look so fun to break in straight lines… i watched lots of youtube tutorials and i’m itching to try it. I suppose I could just buy a bunch and break them LOL…
Busy, busy, busy.
The slate floor should look perfect – I think that’s a really good choice.
And regarding the iron, my super cheap iron from Target has holes for steam, but you can also turn the steam function off. Does yours do that?
I think so, yes. I think the steam function is optional.