How we found, destroyed(!) & rebuilt our first home

Marble Fools, I mean floors

To pick up where I left off, about those freshly painted walls, (you know, the ones I lost the pictures of last post)..

Upstairs view-

OK, back to new biz.

We (for basically the first time ever, this ‘we’ is literal) settled on a bathroom floor AND LAID IT.  Pulling some standard moves, we HAD to buy the tile floor, walk out with it in hand, and lay it the next day. As we found out, all the wonderful tile stores lining Washington Ave in South Philly don’t actually stock their tile. Delivery wait time was about a week. NOT COOL.

Then we found a single warehouse that actually stocked their tile and that pretty much did it for us. We went with a white Italian marble. 

So we bought it, brought it home, and prepared to beginning laying it first thing the next morn. We had already laid down hardi backer (cement board) so we were all prepped to just lay down the tile. A quick note about laying down the cement board: smarty pants Drew insisted on laying it down with thinset and THEN screwing it into the subfloor. Apparently, a common corner-cutter is to just screw in the board. Get that shiz double secured !

Neither of us had actually ever laid marble tile before (or cut it). Oopsies. Per usual, I was a delirious fool and Drew, well he knew it was some foolhardy thinking, and yet we carried on, precious marble floor in hand.

We used this behemoth to cut the tile-

Because, not to miss a chance to make things complicated as puurrfect as possible, Drew followed the wise ol’ Italian man’s advice and decided to cut the tiles in halves and lay them in thirds. Ya know, for pretty patternness. So we cut our 12X12 tiles in half (and then in smaller sections to fill in).

Like this:

BUT GUESS WHAT YOU GUYS? I totally rule at tile cutting. Trust. And I lubbed it. I will cut tile for all ya’ll (if you have this nifty machine, we which borrowed from a friend). 

We unthinkingly started tiling from the front of the bathroom, which eventually blocked Drew in. And you can’t step on freshly laid tile, soooo it was on your girl to get to cutting.

Halfway through, we ran out of tile. YEP, we had bought HALF the amount we needed. Luckily, we were able to run back to the tile shop and buy the other half we needed. This is luckier than it sounds, as stone tiles (should) come in lots, and each lot has its own unique variations. In order for ours to all match, we definitely wanted tile taken from the same lot. We had ALMOST bought a sale bundle of marble that was the tail end of a last lot. If we had, we would have been screwed and had to buy another half either mismatching, or all new tile. Glad we avoided that $$ mistake.

So what’s the tile look like all up close and personal?

The lil’ crosses sticking up are 1/16th spacers, which is the ‘proper’ amount to set marble tiles apart. It’s basically a toothpick spacing. Which makes me pumped because I have this thing with grout, and the less we have, the happier I am.

The entire process took us 13 hours. That doesn’t include grout, which we waited a few days to put in. While waiting for some of the first laid tile to dry, we ate our first din at the new house. On the stoop. Looking all weird and creepy.

 

Complete with wine and some beers (gluten free what what).

A few days later AND

Our floor grew a toilet. har har. Actually it got put in yesterday, because the floor was finally down, grouted, and done. The toilet is GREEN (is this annoying you yet?) in that it’s a dual flush. So you just push 1 rain drop or 2, depending what you’ve got going on. (ew, I’m done, promise xx)

The toilet is a huge flippin deal because it means one no longer has to use this-

DIY PEOPLE. NOT TRES CHIC. (no matter what HGTV tells you.)

Incase you are all “what’d the old bathroom look like again?” allow me to refresh:

Serious nightmares.

We are loving the new floor (and toilet !). It’s polished and museumesque and I don’t know, lushly rich. Which totally isn’t everyone’s style. But all those dark veins zigging through it like skinny tree branches or furious lightening JUST MAKES ME SWOON. 

And, taking a step away from the bathroom, when the plumbers were over to install the toilet, they installed our basement utility sink, which makes us all official for running-water-in-the-house. OH SNAP. 

We’re on a roll. Which is a good thing. Because we are looking to move in THIS WEEKEND! Cue deliriously naive picture. Also, cue super bummed picture. Because we are missing the party of the summer. AUNT KATH, WE LOVE YOU, MISS YOU, AND WILL BE THERE IN SPIRIT. Happy Birthday ! We hope Cape Cod survives the MacD invasion ;]

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