Ok, there is a SLIGHT, teeny weeny possibility that I am the drama queen when grouting. But I’m pretty sure it’s the grout. Week #3 was supposed to be titled I’m All About That Tile, to be a logical succession from Week #2’s I’m All About That Paint. But, alas, the tile was not the star of this week.
If you have NO idea what in the world I’m talking about, I’m right in the middle of a six week, One Room Challenge. I’m taking on my walk in pantry. This rambling post will make more sense if you head back to read Week #1 & Week #2 first.
Everyone back with me now? Great!
My plan for week #3 was to do the tile focal wall. I picked up a sample of white penny tiles several months ago as an option for a pantry back splash. I fell in love with them! The other samples I tried were too formal for a pantry (think marble subway). As I was planning the pantry makeover, I had this flash of brilliance that I could tile the entire back wall. As soon as the thought flashed, I was OBSESSED.
And then I went to buy the tile last week…and it was gone…
…so I went to a total of EIGHT stores all over town. At store #5, a large local flooring company, a cranky man seriously told me that “no one was going to have a pantry full of tile just waiting on me to pick them up”. I think I get major credit for not punching him. Also, shouldn’t people at tile stores know what “white porcelain penny tiles” are? One guy asked me if they were actually made of pennies!!!
Store #7 was a Lowe’s. I realized that in my haste to find the tiles somewhere locally, I was a bit silly in my searching methodology and should have perhaps ASKED the first Lowe’s if any of the stores still carried them. Luck finally struck and there was a super nice guy at the Lowe’s. Perhaps he pitied me when he asked if I needed help and I said “Not really, I’m just staring at tile trying to will the ones I want to magically appear.” I’m certain this guy must have been married and in turn is used to dealing with emotional women.
I mentioned to my new favorite employee that my precious tiles were sold on Lowes.com, but I wanted them NOW. He went to the website, found the tiles I wanted, then searched all the stores until we found some. As impressed as I was that I controlled myself and didn’t punch store #5, I’m just as impressed I didn’t hug #7. Instead I drove directly to store #8 about 12 miles back in the direction I had just come from.
But I didn’t care! My tile wall was going to happen!!! I was so delirious by the time I checked out that I couldn’t find my car when I exited the store. Quite embarrassing when there is a guy helping you to the car with your cart full of tile and you can’t find the car. 🙂
Thankfully, the actual tiling was extremely uneventful. The small circles could be cut with nippers, so I didn’t even have to rent a wet saw. In just a few hours, I had all the tiles up on the wall. And I loved them. Every time I saw them, I would make the angel noise…you know…”Oahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” And each time, I’m quite certain my husband questioned his decision to marry me 15 years ago. And he laughed at me. But I didn’t care because I had an amazing tile wall.
And then came Monday. It was time to grout. I was excited and certain the single angel singing in my head would turn into a full choir.
That was before grout and I got in our first big fight.
I had to pick between a grout that was a little darker or a little lighter than what we have in the kitchen. I figured the One Room Challenge was about being bold, so I went darker. But it was REALLY dark. Blackish. Which I didn’t hate in isolation, but it was making the pantry darker instead of brighter.
And it was messier than I remembered from my last grouting experience. And my hand and arm were DYING after a small portion of the first shelf. Turns out little penny tiles require LOTS of grout and lots of pressure. And no, this is not whining, it’s just building my case against my new enemy.
I finally finished the first shelf of tile, stepped back, and was horrified. The super dark grout suddenly revealed that my oh so perfect tiling job was in fact, not perfect. You could see lines between every single sheet of tile! The horror!!! Evil drama queen grout amplifies flaws!
AND, the angel in my head stopped singing. It wasn’t just the awful lines, like I mentioned, the color was NOT my vision. I walked out of the pantry, shut the door, and ignored it the rest of the day. Tuesday, the grout was getting lighter and looking better, but was not at all perfect.
By Wednesday, the pouting and indecision had to stop. I picked up a bag of lighter gray grout to finish the rest of the shelves and the planned a skim coat on top of the darker section. I wiped A LOT of the grout out when I was cleaning it day one, so I’m hoping my little skim coat plan will work.
But it isn’t just grout’s evil point-out-all-your-flaws attitude that makes it a drama queen. It’s also a fickle fickle beast. I mixed it both too wet (even messier and never dries) and too dry (even harder to squish in all the spaces and dries too fast leaving little gaps). I started wiping the excess too early (holy mess Batman) and too late (sticks to the tile way too much). Of course, the time lapse before wiping depends on how wet or dry the original mix is. Like I said, it’s a fickle beast! Persistence finally won out and I got a good thing going. Mixing 2.5 lbs of grout with 13 oz of water seemed to be the magic consistency for me.
I’ve got one more batch to finish in the morning and then I can put the evil grouting process behind me forever. Or until the next project! I’m quite certain once the room is done, I’ll forget my grout woes and be ready to tile another wall.
Week #4 should be less intense. I hope. We need to put up some crown molding, work on the light fixture, and maybe do the cabinet hardware. I probably should order that tonight so we don’t have another driving all around town debacle.
Oh, and how could I forget the most important part of my ORC update? The grouting process took me all the way from the end of Jess to not just Logan, but Logan going to London. I’m on the final season!!! Yep, in 15 days I made it to season 7. I’m already planning a day of mourning for the final episode.
Don’t forget to check out all the other rooms being made over by the Official Participants and the Linking Participants over at Calling It Home.
Oh, and I’d love you to enter your email address at the top of this page so you don’t miss out on my weekly progress posts.
mrs. V | Chez V says
Grout and I have not been on speaking terms since 2005, to be exact, when I did my bathroom floor in hex penny tiles. Fickle beast for sure. My last tile project, I sprung for the more expensive pre-mixed stuff and my arm and sanity thanked me, profusely.
The tile wall is gorgeous and the drama will be easily forgotten come week 6 when that queen of a wall gets all the glory.
Melissa George says
Dang! All the reviews I read of the pre-mixed stuff were not so good. I was super tempted to try it anyways. I’ll try it next time! And sorry about 2005 🙂
Laura Ingalls Gunn says
Oh my, hang in there and here’s hoping the final grout will be perfection!
Melissa George says
Thank you Laura – the angel was REALLY close to singing this morning when I peeked in. I’m thinking by tomorrow things should be looking good!
Linda @ Calling it Home says
Yay, for the employee at Lowes! It is looking amazing. Hang in there.
Melissa George says
Thank you Linda! And yes – I told him he was the best employee ever.
kate@willowinteriors says
Ugh, that stinks about your tile and grout. I’m sure it will look great…worst-case scenario just put a box of cereal in front of the places you don’t love. 🙂 I’m impressed you did it all on your own…I was throwing myself a pity party this week b/c I had to paint my room on my own. 🙂
Melissa George says
I”m totally with you on the cereal idea! I’ve been telling myself the awesome will be doubled because I did it all by myself, but I’m also secretly hoping to win the lottery before the spring ORC so I can get some workers to help out 🙂
Christine Dovey says
So impressed that you’re doing all that tiling yourself- well done!!! And I love those pennies:)
Melissa George says
Thanks Christine! My hourly rate was the right price for me to do the tiling myself 🙂 Really, before the grouting step, I was even contemplating starting to do some back splash tiling on the side for extra money. That thought was officially banished from my mind once the grout started.
tara // sproutzdesign says
pretty sure i just laughed for a solid 5 minutes while reading that….that would make me a really slow reader so maybe it was more like 90 seconds but that was funny stuff! So sorry it was drama-ful but you are done, yay! on to easier projects this week. xoxo
Melissa George says
Yay!!! I’m glad it was funny – I was trying to veil the whining with humor.
Summer says
Love, love, love the penny tile! You are rockin’!! Can’t wait to see more!
Melissa George says
Thank you Summer!
Amy c says
Oh I completely agree with you… TOTAL drama queen! I can’t recall ever saying “Wow, that grout job was so easy and painless!” But on the plus side… that penny tile is Amazing!!! Can’t wait to see the finished product!
Melissa George says
Thank goodness it wasn’t just me! I must have completely blocked out the grout horror from our last back splash.
Alana in Canada says
Enjoyed reading all aout your war n Grout. Good for you for persevering to the end! It ill all be worth it.
Melissa George says
Thanks Alana, it’s looking better already!!!
Natasha at The Simply Luxe Life says
Beautiful work! I’ve watched your progress on Instagram, and I have to say, all the drama and stress didn’t show. Good luck on the rest – it sounds like the worst is behind you!
Melissa George says
OH good!!! I really was trying to save up all my whining for this post so I could get it out in one swoop and then move on 🙂
Carrie says
I love the penny tile! Good for you for getting the grout done. I’ve never even tried doing it. 🙂
Brit | House Updated says
I like your attitude! Grouting penny tiles can be rough. I did them for two solid walls of our guest bathroom and it took for-ev-uh…
Good luck with your ORC!
Erin says
I’m glad your persistence paid off and you found the penny tile you were looking for! It’s also nice to know I’m not the only one who will drive around town and go into countless stores until I find exactly what I’m looking for 🙂 Oh and I also hate rude salespeople! Next time I say punch away, haha! Can’t wait to see this wall completely. I think all of your hard work is definitely paying off 🙂
Abby @ Just a Girl and Her Blog says
You are cracking me up, girl! You are stronger than the grout! You can do it! Can’t wait to see how this room turns out! It’s looking fab so far!
~Abby =)
Katie says
Love the tile!!! I’m sure it will be awesome soon! Glad you found a helpful Lowes guy, too!
Sarah @ 702 Park Project says
The hard part is over!! I can’t wait to see how it comes together! 🙂
Frances @ Improvement List says
So glad your persistence paid off! That looks so good in the room! I battled window trim this week for my room, so I have empathy for you and your grout issues;)
Kim@ The Green Room Interiors says
Here’s a quick pointer on how I handle ALL of my tile/grout projects. I married a amazingly talented and generous man who owned a tile business for years. Done and done! Excited to see the rest of your project!
celine@aquahaus says
yeah, the grout issue is quickly becoming a non-issue because I’m pretty sure you’re gonna have the prettiest pantry in all the land. Kudos for doing the tile yourself. woo hoo!!
Carrie - Curate & Co. says
I love the penny tile! Can’t wait to see this come together. I once tried to tile our laundry room, it didn’t go well either. It’s not as easy as all the DIYers make it seem. Hang in there & good luck!