ode to tile

I’ve been to the tile store I think like 5 times now. I have rather legitimately changed my mind each time I went to the store. Fundamentally, the design is the “same” but I always come away with something slightly different. I’m an iterative person so this isn’t super surprising to me but I really want to feel confident that I’m getting closer to the right path.

Tile Shopping History

1 – we wrote a bunch of stuff down and I can’t even remember it. When I was there this past weekend, I said make sure you toss anything that is in my file out. It’s dead to me.

2- some nice woman. We talked about the downstairs bathroom

3 – with my sister. Talked about the downstairs bathroom and the upstairs hall bathroom.

4- by myself. Tried to think about the master bathroom.

5 – most recent trip. Actually wrote up another order for everything but the master bathroom

Yesterday I pulled all the tile samples from the back of the car and hauled them into the house. Haul is a very accurate word because this stuff is heavy, big, and awkward. The porcelain slate tile is 4 feet tall – maybe more?  In general I feel pretty good with the overall design direction for each of the rooms, but it’s the closing details that I’m wavering on real hard. I get a lot of clarity from actually writing these things out, so here we go:

1st floor bathroom / mudroom:

+ onboard with: darker slate on the floor, matte subway tile half walls and shower

+ concerned that:

•  the tile is too dark, should it be more blue than black/gray
• is the 12×24 pattern too boring? maybe

Kitchen

+ no concerns … yet.

+ I haven’t shared any of the designs or colors for this part of the house yet – but as of now I’m not freaking out about the backsplash

Fireplace Surrounds

+ Feeling pretty good about it.

+ Going with a marble subway tile shape that will be in a herringbone pattern on the hearth

2nd Floor Hall Bath

+ onboard with: (1) more traditional period appropriate tile on the floor (2) subway tile shower and (3) black penny inlay in the shower

+ concerned about:

• too much grout with 1 inc hex
• too much white
• is it too much to do 2 inch hex as the main pattern with a 1 inch hex black border?

Master Bath

+ onboard with a basketweave on the floor, nothing special

+ concerned about:

• tile shape for the shower (is 12×18 too big?)
• I don’t just want it to be a pile of tile

So what’s next? Really locking these decisions down. Jim the contractor is on vacation this week and when he comes back I know he’s going to ask about this. The good news is that I’m really not that far away. I just need to probably eat like 6 bags of Dunkin Donuts hashbrowns and make some decisions.