My Gorgeous Bathroom Tile Floor – Then the Unthinkable Happened!

Hi Everyone,

How are y’all doing?

I hope well. Are you watching the Olympics? I have been, but only for the last few days (after getting Peacock), and frankly, I would be very happy just watching the Olympics and not thinking about what’s happening all around me.

This is the last lap of the renovation, and let me tell you, it is very painful– in every way.*

My entire body hurts. The humidity is through the roof, and the barometric pressure must be very low. Well, I just went to look, and oh my, I saw another hurricane hit the US. I hope y’all affected are okay.

It’s a good reminder that whatever I’m going through will be over soon and is, at most, aggravating, not devastating.

Normally, the post is out about 20 hours earlier, but I know the feeling that something’s about to break.

I usually push through it, but right now, I need any available reserves to meet this challenging time.

Last year, I recall telling myself that these were the halcyon days.

Indeed.

However, this is not unlike giving a natural birth. If only there were a renovation epidural.

*It is Wednesday, and I’m feeling much better.

Right now, the floors upstairs are getting their final sanding. It went from 8:00 AM to 5:00! The hardwood floor repairs and refinishing story will be shared very soon.

However, for now, we need to look at the new bathroom floor tile!

Some of you might be wondering because I went dead-silent after it was installed.

Last week, I made a little video for you after the new level subfloor was put in. I was ecstatically happy. And really, if you need to have your floors leveled, it is not a big deal at all—at least, not in a small space like my primary bathroom, which is roughly 8′ x 8′. The next day, Wednesday and Thursday, the tile was installed.

Well, I can’t tell you how much I loved it. Except for an inconsistency in the corner detail, which isn’t noticeable, I couldn’t have asked for anything more perfect.

That is… ungrouted.

This is something I’ve learned. It was the same with the kitchen backsplash tile. Remember that saga? (Of course you do!) I adore the look of ungrouted tile, especially for an old home.

Here, let me show you how the tile looked last Thursday.

The white tiles are all Dolomite. And the black border is Nero Marquina.

The floor leveling and tile installation took three days. The only issue with that part of the installation was that after a few hours on the day he began installing the tile, it began to rain.

Oh, you know what’s coming…

The wet saw was brought inside and parked in the only available space—the common building hallway leading to the back entrance. The door with the moulding is my lower-level entry door that was moved. The door opens out, so you see the moulding Eugene glued on. The outside is the same plain door as the rest of the doors you see.

Well, this happened the same day my stuff got moved from upstairs to downstairs via the building staircase behind where I’m standing.

However, aside from this inconvenience (mostly for my neighbors who’ve been as patient as can be), changing the floor from sloped hardwood to level marble bathroom floor tile was not a big deal at all. I wish I had made the decision sooner.

I was surprised that no one showed up to put in the grout on Friday, but that’s no biggie. They’ll probably show up on Monday, but that’s not what happened.

What happened is that Saturday morning around 10:00 AM, two young guys in Jose Tile t-shirts knocked on my bedroom garden door. Yes, they were there to install the grout, and no, I wasn’t told they were coming, but they were there, so I let them in.

Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, I said, “You’re going to seal the MARBLE bathroom floor tile before grouting, right?”

Neither spoke much English, but they understood “seal” and nodded yes.

It wasn’t the super stinky one, but it wasn’t the one with no smell, either. One of the guys said, “Wait only 20 minutes.”

That seemed a little short, but I figured they knew what they were doing.

***This is an important lesson.***

Please assume they have no idea what they are doing and double-check the instructions on the bottle or box.

Anyway, they were all done in less than three hours and left. But before they left, they put up a piece of blue tape… (Guys, it’s only me here!) and told me, “Please don’t use the bathroom until tomorrow.”

Six hours after they left, the grout looked to be fully dry.

I took a few steps back and stared at the bathroom tile floor in disbelief.

My beautiful milky white dolomite looked like milk that had been used to mop a very dirty floor.

It was GRAY. And, not only that, but it looked more like penny tile than hexagonal tile.

Okay, this grout wasn’t white but the lightest gray (Silver Shadow) manufactured by Laticrete. I wanted a little contrast; otherwise, the tile would disappear.

And no, I didn’t take any pictures. I didn’t want any record of this. It needed to vanish NOW!

Of course, I was supposed to be working on my blog post.

But instead, I was googling how to fix stained marble. OR, how to lighten grout.

I tried a few remedies, one of which was to use a diluted bleach solution. Oh, I don’t know. I might be making that up. Haha, no matter. This is Laurel, the lady who poured lemon juice on her hellishly expensive marble kitchen counters. I got the Clorox cleaner with bleach and mopped the floor like mad.

Indeed, I was definitely a mad woman. So much for not using the bathroom until the following day. lol

After a bit of mopping, I got some paper towels and wiped up a lot of gray. That gave me hope.

And yes, in the morning, it looked infinitely better.

It’s fine, but I got some magic erasers and Bona floor cleaner today. More gray has come up.

It’s going to be fine. And a little gray is okay.

Below, you can see how beautiful the bathroom floor tile is.

Of course, the mouldings aren’t back on yet.

Laurel, I can see the shower tile. Ummm… Do you like that?

Hell, no, but we need to save that for the next post.

This one shows that the floor is nice and level. The electrician has also moved the wires for the sconces.

As I mentioned, I had the house cleaners come for two hours on Friday. I pitched in, too. When they left, for the first time in 14 months, it felt like I had a home again—albeit a hollow, echoey one upstairs. But it is so pretty!

Then, on Sunday evening, I used my shower for the first time in 14 months.

I closed the bedroom embrasure doors for privacy. Still, the lights looked much better with the soft, warm Benjamin Moore White Dove-painted floor.

But, here’s the thing… I got out of the shower and as I was toweling off, it felt like I was in the most posh suite at the JK Place Capri.  It was everything.

The beautiful, creamy white marble bathroom tile floor and the mouldings—all of the planning, drawing, and angst were so worth it. The white-on-white is incredibly elegant.

And to be clear, the walls are only primed at this point.

It was an awesome experience. Alas, it was short-lived.

Yesterday, the hardwood floor installers descended on the upstairs as planned. I was out for most of the day. However, when I returned at about 5:30, what I discovered horrified me.

To be continued…

xo,

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