Ever seen someone who is not a tiler, not even close to being one, deciding to take such a big job in their own house? A floor 145m2? 😆 Well, that's us. My fiancé and I, with more enthusiasm than experience and with YouTube and Google as our little helpers.
To be honest, speed of our work, that part was... let's just say flexible. But if we count only the effective working days, the days when we actually worked, cut, measured, glued, argued a bit and laughed a lot, then it's not so bad. Whole thing just stretched out over months and months. Mostly because of the weather, too cold in winter or too hot in summer and also because of our other jobs. I also spent a good part of last year in my hometown, since I decided to get my driver's license there. Anyway, what matters is that everything looks quite nice together now. Even though we made a lot of mess in the process. 😁 There was glue flying everywhere, some of it found its way to the walls (still don't know how, hihi) and later the grout joined the party. Let's just say we will definitely need to paint them again.
So far, we have finished tiling all five rooms and the hallway. What's left is to grout two more rooms and after that, we'll be able to officially say "done". Well... except for the bathroom, which we haven't even started yet. xD But the tiles arrived and they are really beautiful. Floor tiles are beige, similar to the hallway, but more rough of course, 60x60cm. One wall (where the shower will be) will be covered with tiles the color of the sea 🌊, mix of the shades that makes you feel calm just by looking at it. Those tiles are 31.6x60 but have eight small squares within each piece. Other 3 walls will be shiny white, 25x75 cm.
We are realy curious how it will all turn out. It will be our first time doing wall tiles. Now floor don’t scare us anymore, but walls are another story. There’s more cutting, more precise alignment. Still, I think we will kick its ass. xD I mean, how harder can it be, right? Before we even start, we need to do the waterproofing. That's the next step. We'll probably start in a few days, when the weather outside gets colder and we turn on the floor heating upstairs. Right now, we're still trying to finish some outdoor tasks while it's warm, it's like spring in the middle of autumn here in Serbia these days. ☀️
Anyway, what do you think, for someone who isn't a professional, does this look okay to you? Everyone who saw the house in person said it looks great, even better than they expected. But of course, we know exactly where we made mistakes. There's always something that could have been better. And once you know where it is, you can't just unsee it, (OCD in da house?). Every time I walk into a room, my eyes go directly to that one tile that's just a little bit uneven. Others don't notice it at all, even when we point right at it, people are like "We don't see a problem". And it's both funny and annoying at the same time. xD
Tiling is realy satisfying job. A moment when we glue last tile in room or just finish a perfect line in one of them, it instantly feels like we achieved something real ... something visible. Like doing puzzles. And breaks for coffee when we were surrounded by buckets of glue and glued tools, snacks we usually had on our stairs, those are moments that make this project more than just a work. It's something we built together, with our own hands, time and mistakes. 😍
Soon, we also need to start making the doors and wooden treads for the stairs. We will use our own wood. The only thing we haven't decided yet is the color. I keep thinking about pastel shades for doors, soft beige, maybe a bit of gray or pale green. I like that modern, calm look and it seems easier to maintain than natural lacquered wood. Lacquer tends to get rough over time (and _yellow_ish) so I think a smooth, painted surface would be a winner. I promised myself not to overthink this part. We'll tell the carpenter what we like and let him figure out the best technical way to do it. After all, we can't become experts in everything at once, right? xD
I think the biggest lesson of this work for us is patience. When you do something by yourself, you need to accept that it won't be perfect. And that is okay. Every small imperfection is part of the story. If someone else did it, it might look better, but it wouldn't have that personal touch. Even though it is not finished yet, it already feels like home. Bit dusty, bit chaotic, but ours. ❤️