DIY: tile floors in the living room
Americans generally reserve tile flooring for the kitchen or bathroom. But if you’ve ever spent time in a Mexican hacienda, you know the deep and exotic pleasure of walking barefoot over beautiful mosaic tiles in a space that’s not designed for dripping dishwater or stepping out of the shower.
My husband and I honeymooned in San Miguel de Allende, in a tile-floored villa in Saltillo. When we bought a house last year with a tattered rug in the living room, we began to wonder, what’s stopping us from recreating that here?
At first we were looking for terracotta-colored ceramic tiles, with the idea of bringing our honeymoon to our home in the most exact replica possible. Honestly, I think we would have loved it too. Those were the most romantic days of our lives, after all.
But we live in Portland, Oregon, where it rains and the grass grows green, and it seemed a little out of place. We wanted a tile floor that referenced Mexico, but also honored Portland. You know, being here now.
Then we stumbled upon natural stone tiles and fell in love all over again. We chose a randomly sized mosaic of cut pebbles in a shade of green called “Taipei” (after Taiwan’s capital) that reminded us all of the creek beds we hike in the Oregon mountains.
Here’s a little tutorial on DIY tile flooring, based on our experience. We’ve been walking around our cobblestone living room for six months, and I swear I’ve never felt such peace in a non-holiday home. Marital bliss, or just a good damn flat? A bit of both, if we do say so ourselves.
1. Make sure the floor is clean. Get on your knees and rub, basically. Dust, oil, wax or grease will prevent the tile adhesive from working properly.
2. Work from the center as you plan your layout. You want any tiles cut into the edges of the wall. (Ideally, the tiles cut at each end of the room would be the same size, but with our pebble tiles, we didn’t have to worry about this.)
3. Lay all the whole tiles first. When you are ready to do all the tile cutting, go and hire a professional tile cutter. Really. I won’t name names, but a certain person I vowed to love through sickness and health etc. he thought he could cut the tiles himself with his circular saw and basically long story short we had to order another batch of tiles. Live and learn!
4. Grouting pebble mosaics is time consuming, I won’t lie. It is also a bit complicated. This tip is important: SEAL PEBBLE TILE BEFORE GROUTING. Because the pebbles have a natural finish, they absorb the grout. Insert frowning face here. But if you seal the tiles (once the adhesive dries), voila, no absorption. Insert happy face.
5. Cover the entire tile with grout. Drink. Wait 20 minutes. Wipe it down with a damp sponge until it’s nice again. Hey perfectionist, don’t clean so hard that the grout disappears between the pebbles!
6. Allow the grouted tile floor to dry for 24 hours. During the early hours of those hours, go out for a drink the two of you. You deserve it.
7. Seal it.
8. Hi honey, am I home? You can keep your hat on, but please leave your shoes by the door.