Basement Shower: It's Tiled!

THE RAVENNA HOUSE Due to an unexpected commute apocalypse yesterday (if you live in Seattle, you know what I'm talking about), Garrett spent the morning at home, grouting the basement shower.  It was great to get an impromptu work session in.  And even better to have the shower almost done.  Almost.  Just a little paint, hardware, and grout sealer left to do.  Not too bad.

This is what the shower looks like now:

The shower is really shaping up, right?!  But I had better back up and tell you about tiling.  We did that little job on Monday (Memorial Day holiday) when Gramma was here to watch Wilder.  Garrett and I got to work together, which is a rare treat these days.  It almost felt like a date.  Is that sad?

Wall tiles: Home Depot | Shower floor tiles: Home Depot | Bathroom floor tiles: Home Depot

We started by tiling the walls.  We've done subway at all three houses and it really ain't no thing.  Seriously, they're pretty easy.  They come with built-in spacers and as long as you start with a level first row and work up, it goes really fast.  It took us about 5 hours to get all 4 walls done.

And then came the floors.  I've laid hexagon tiles before and I swore I'd never do it again.  But here we are.  Sure they come on matts and look innocent enough.  But don't be fooled.  They are a real pain in the ass.  Why?  Well I think it comes down to the subsurface.  Do you have a perfectly square, perfectly level place to lay them?  Well then you should have no problem. But if you're in an old house with walls that are anything but square and floors that are anything but level, then good luck.  Do yourself a favor and read this tutorial before you start tiling - I wish I had.  These sheet-tile-laying tips from House*Tweaking are also super helpful.  And if all else fails, use the same color grout as the tiles and you'll never notice that weird spacing.

I'm really happy with how the floor turned out. It was significantly less of a pain in the ass to lay then the last time around.  So there's that.

Now we just have to decide who gets to take the first shower.

xoxo

p.s. Wilder took his first real steps yesterday.  Five confident, sturdy steps between mama and dada.  I sure do love this parent thing!

p.p.s. $0 for this house?  Might just be worth a move to Ohio.