Tile floor complete! - final reveal of the front entry

Oh my goodness... I'm so happy to report, my front entry tile is now complete!!

This was just last night while the grout was going on. THE GROUT! I've waited forever for this moment. The dog clung to me pretty tight as a thunderstorm was breaking through the sky. And yup, she stayed put just like you see here in the pic. Good girl!

All nice and grouted. Now the wait. Once it dries abit, I scraped it as clean as possible to remove as much access grout as possible, because the next job is twice as difficult if you don't do this. (and yes, I learned the hard way)

The floor comes to life! And this is a proud moment, for you can finally see how nicely (or how not so nicely) you've made all your cuts and joins. It's like icing on a cake!

I chose a pattern for the front entry. I designed and implemented the center first, then had the bias tile wrap around the center pattern. It turned out awesome! I love how all the apparatus in the room sits on the bias, and the pattern is free and clear. It's a neat visual.

What was once this... (which is actually an improved before believe it or not)

Is now the bright clean and ultra productive space we enjoy. With floor intact!

Some of you may have discovered I started blogging when my house was being renovated on. We're talking pulling out major walls, ripping up floors, new windows, the works. What I've been attempting to do was blog about the finished decorating type results on this blog. To see abit more writeup on the entry building and tile floors, you can spec out:

Our Extreme Home Makeover Experience - front entry
Funky Junk Interiors - all front entry posts

There's abit of repeat between the two blogs, however the building of the rooms of my home are better portrayed in the other blog.

Ahhh.... Sunday, a day of rest, yes? I'm going to go downstairs with a cup of freshly brewed coffee and admire my newly finished floor. :) (admit it, you would too!!

______________________

The FRONT ENTRY label has been shared with these two wonderful blogs ~

Flea Market Style's flea market find linky party, in Oct 2009.
Mustard Seed Creation's Furniture Feature Friday, Oct 2009.

Neighbourhood walk pics

There are soooo many wonderful inspiring pics on the net. However, I felt it was high time to pay homage to my own quaint little neighbourhood. I like to go for dyke walks along the riverbank with my dog in the AM, so here's what I came across today during my morning jaunt.

Isn't this the coolest idea ever?

So beautifully funky! Big giant green thumbs up there, neighbours Corinne and Rudy!

This is a hazelnut farm I like to walk (trespass) through on occasion. It's a little beautiful and a little Harry Potter on a dull day, all in one. Luckily the sun shone today.

The overhead lacy umbrella effect. It's really exquisite. I love meandering through here on a rainy day too.

Strung all along a roadside. Really really gorgeous...

Here's the river dyke I was referring to. You're always greeted with streams of glorious wildflowers.

And the dyke gradually leads to these hidden garden type trails to the river. Wanna see what's just around that corner? Me too. Let's run! It's abit of a Harry Potter path, don't like that part. DOG, OUTA MY WAY.

Ahhh... wonderful, isn't it? Dog shown cooling off her sore overworked feet from the creepy Magical Forest run.

This is so unique. In fact, every square inch of this house is ultra unique. You cannot buy one thing ready made that is installed in this yard.

Last two pics from the same yard. I could take pics forever in that place but didn't want to come across as a crazed stalker with a killer (non barking) dog.

Quiet cottage quaintness. Isn't this sweet?

Um... yeah. We got outa there pretty fast.

Now, brace yourselves for these next pics.

SHABBY CHIC CHIPPY RUST ENHANCED WHITE DISTRESSED truck. Did I catch all the hip yet deathly overused bloggy tagnotes on that one? This truck sure did. I know. Got me going too. Hang on, it gets better.


Holey what the heck is about to hatch here?!? I'm so not stickin' around while these incubate!



Don't even TELL me. These guys are now on swings?!? Creepy! I'm so going home!



Welcome to my backyard grapevine. Isn't it glorious?

The yield will be spectacular once again. Come Sept/Oct they'll be vivid purple. I allowed some to also freeze on the vine last winter and WOW were they ever good!

Ok, time to de-stress in my pool from all things creepy from the morning walk today. I just have one pondering question left.

Why SMURF BLUE for these things?!?

Character outbuilding - Part 4 - all jewelled up!

I've given up attempting to kill the wasp nest that's keeping me from finishing the outbuilding. Because there are now TWO of them to deal with. Forgetaboutit. I can letter a firetruck, I can tile floors and pull an RV, and even yank up and fix a toilet. But when it comes to attempting to kill off something that is gonna try and get me back with stingers, NO THANKS. Come fall, I'll knock them down and hang up fake wasp nest things.

I kinda like the building a bit rough looking and unfinished here and there, because...



... the building has some new jewellery and is looking just fine!

What was once this...

Is now this. Ahhh... listen. The birds are happily chirping during this lazy summer day.

I scavenged old and rusted tools from my garden shed to add interest, with little/no colour. I wanted the coke sign and flowers to do all the talking and the rest, to simply be their background.

This funky round thing in the soil is a broken wheel base off a wheelbarrow you'll see down below. It adorns just the right amount of rust to make it a little interesting.

The license plate is off my previous truck. An antique one would be cool, however this one has meaning to me. That little license plate holds ALOT of memories.

The rusty patina on this old shovel is really exquisite in real life!

 The outbuilding resembles all the things I adore. Weathered elements, rustic appeal, my love of antique signs, with just a touch of pretty without it being over the top.

As for those silly wasps, they sure have a nice little hangout, wouldn't you say?!?

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Tile install tip (from a rookie!)

Well, hello there little kitty cat! Have you come for my tile tutorial?


Have a seat and let's get started then!

I'm currently tiling an entryway. I'll be doing a before and after when the floor is complete so I actually have something interesting to show you. However, I thought perhaps I could share this little rookie tip with you I created.

(all real tile installers, please leave the building NOW. Or, keep the laughter down to a dull roar as my hearing protection is now off. Thank-you.)

So here we have this fancy dancy tile twisted diagonally, or, on the bias.

It's a great gimmick to use when your walls aren't square. However, that wasn't my true intent this go around in this room. It's part of the design. If you look back at the cat picture, you can see there's a pattern smack dab in the middle of the floor. And now what I'm doing is wrapping the bias tile around the pattern.

(yes I'm out of my mind crazy for doing this, but I was bored out of my tree with just doing it normally and needed some massive adventure here! So I got fancy)

I had been using a ruler and tediously measured and measured and measured until there were no numbers left on the ruler. (true story, they rubbed off and I had to find another) And then I figured out an easier way.

Place a piece of paper in position, taking note to avoid the grout spacing. (1/4" in this case). Bend the paper where it hits the wall, again, taking in account that you want abit of a gap against the wall.

(tiles don't move, however walls expand and contract and you don't want to have your tile snap on you, hence the gap against the wall)

For crazy corners in tight spaces, I use post it notes instead! Stick them down in your space while slightly overlapping them so they stay intact to create your pattern.

Place the paper (or stuck together post it notes) on the tile against the outer edges and draw your angled line as per the fold in the paper. (no measuring, see?!? How exciting!)

Cut your line.

I've been using a heavy duty wet saw, however you can rent smaller variations or even buy manual cutters too. (the type where you drag, cut and snap) But if you have the opportunity to tile with one of these... ohhhh yeahhhh. GOOD hearing protection and safetly glasses are a must. Yes I look like an alien when I work but it's what all the pros are doing these days.

Place your tile into position. I do dry runs first, doing alot of cuts, then mortaring later just to keep things moving a little quicker.

Isn't that perfect fit just the cat's meow?!?

Come back! It was just a joke!

(more 'building of the front entry' stories HERE)

FUNNY must read blog entries

I've been busy.

I'm working on my character building. The holdup? Hornet's nest. DANG! Got me a sprayer thing ready to zap that little evil fun house but I'm afraid. VERY afraid. The internet says to go out at night, with no skin exposed, flashlight, zap and RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. Yeah... on my top 10 list. No where does it say how long to just wait out the life of the thing! So I wait. For what I don't know. For them to miss my blood curdling screams and just LEAVE perhaps. My character building NEEDS me, you freaky long legged bee models!

I'm also working on the tiling of my front entry. It's going slooooowwwww. I keep breaking tiles. And get interrupted. I figured pics of shoes strewn all over, broken fragments of this and that and things turned upside down don't really belong on a blog entry. So we wait there too.

So, I thought perhaps amidst all this currently intense turmoil I'm dredging through, a laugh may be in order.

Introducing, 5 of the funniest blog entries I've ever had the pleasure of snickering over during the late evening hours when I haunt the net. Enjoy! I'll be back soon posting progress of.. dunno yet. But by golly, I will!! YESSIREE, I WILL be back soon! (wimper...)


The Suburban Cottage shows you what fine living ought to be like. I'll take three of these please.


Meet Jackson at Old Beach Bungalow. A fuddy duddy dog. Who knew?



Design Ties is truely dieing in the process of beautifying. I feel her pain.

Do you wear white pants? You may not after reading what Mrs. Fussy Pants has to say about it.

Is Goodwill the hilt of no guilt or Halloween quality creepy to you? Love, Laughter and Lyrics shows us what she sees. I can almost smell the place...