Kitchen before
Kitchen removed...no stove...2 burner hotplate cooking at its best...
The laying of 2 foot by 1 foot slate, each piece weighing in at about 10 pounds each...350 tiles.
Buttering the tile with mortar...laying tile is HEAVY, labor intensive and VERY time consuming work. First you have to remove the existing flooring. Mix the mortar, trowel mortar onto floor, lay orange plastic Ditra onto the mortar. Plastic Ditra provides stability for the tiles as well as tooth for the mortar to stick to. Then trowel on another layer of mortar, then lay buttered tile onto the mortared floor...I am getting tired just thinking about it.
Mixing grout
After you finish laying the tile ...you then have to seal it...TWICE...ugggg.
I was on my knees with a small sponge brush painting each tile with sealer. We then grouted all the tile seams(((can I say...HUGE MUCKY MESS)))...scrubbed the whole floor...TWICE. Then I again painted each tile with sealer...are you tired yet? I was! I didn't even mention all the tile cuts you have to make. All in all I am completely in love with my new slate floor...I have to say that I didn't take into consideration how much work it would be for hubby and I...would I do it again...maybe...a big maybe. But the best part is we saved about $5000.00 to $6000.00 by doing it ourselves. Professionals charge exorbitant amounts to lay this type of floor just because it is so labor and time intensive.
The finished floor...
I individually picked and placed and replaced each tile a dozen times till I was happy with where it was...colors and textures evenly placed throughout the floor...again...time consuming but worth every minute.
The photo above shows where our kitchen was...we actually have our new cupboard boxes installed but I haven't taken photos of them yet...that will be a later post. We are currently waiting on our painted cupboard doors,counter-tops...in the meantime we are beginning the task of laying wide plank fir flooring. Whats that old adage..."No rest for wicked"!
OTHER NEWS
I have begun setting aside time so I can to create new pieces...I will have one or more listed on TDIPT January 15th. My studio space is all set up and I am very excited and happy to be working again. To celebrate my return I will be hosting a Give-Away which I plan to have in January or February...so stay tuned.
Please feel free to join my email list(upper right of blog) to be notified of my up and coming sales.
In the News
Part two of TDIPT'S Stampington article will be in the January issue of Prim's Magazine...it will feature some of my work as well as other TDIPT artisans.
Cheerio for now..Susan
Posts
9 comments:
Love the new floors, can't wait to see your cabinets.
Debbie
Oh Susan you and your hubby have really put in the hours haven't you.
It is a wonderful pay off though.
Your labor has resulted in the most beautiful floor. I can't wait to see more!
Hugs, Audrey
Oh wow, your kitchen is looking amazing! I did this same process with my master bath room. I had no idea how much work it was going to be. But boy did I know how to cut and lay tile by the time I was done!
You are doing a fabulous job!
Hugs,
Terri
The hubs is NOT happy with your post, because I used it to show him how gorgeous the slate is...been going on about slate tiles for um, years now. ;~)
Enjoy your beautiful new kitchen!
OMG...your floor is amazing. My husband has done a few floors but I don't think he'd tackle slate. Well done both of you:)
It's a lot of hard work, but well worth the effort. We have been "restoring" our 120 year old house for years and years. Yours is looking great, the floors are marvelous.
Hi Susan! Your home is coming along beautifully, and no wonder, with so much hard work! The floor is stunning, and no surprise w/ you being so particular as to where each piece of stone is laid.
I voted ;)
Looks beautiful Susan,Id say it was well worth all the back breaking work you guys did.~I voted too. :)
Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas to you! ~~Pam
I am catching up on blogs as my email was hacked so am enjoying catching up on yours. The kitchen floor is so fab - your arrangement of the tiles is perfect - made me tired to read about all the work but as you say it was worth it! Can't wait to see the finished kitchen!
Signing on as Anonymous as I don't have a Google Account.
Jean
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