DIY = Tired, sore, achy, but worth it!

I have been a little busy these days.  You know parenting three kids, working full time, laundry, housework, yardwork, everyday stuff.  But, this weekend I took on a new challenge!  I laid tile at the entryway of our home.   Well, you long-time readers may remember that I laid ceramic tile and renovated the kids bathroom a while back.  That was my first experience in laying tile.  But this time I laid 4-inch travertine stone tiles!  It is a little different than ceramic tiles, and we laid them on the diagonal so that meant extra cuts.  It took me all weekend to strip the linoleum off the floor, lay the new tile, seal the tile, grout the tile, clean the tile, and scream my head off at anyone who threatened to walk near it while it was setting.  We rented a wet saw because I don't believe there is any other way to cut stone tiles.  Of course it was just my luck that you have to rent the most expensive saw they have in order to be able to cut stone.  Either that or I was just a sucker for the sales pitch.  (If you an expert in wet saws and you think I was just gullible please don't tell me about it.) 

I was amazed at how these chalky pale white tiles took on a new vibrancy and color once I applied the sealant.  Once I grouted, however, they lost a little of that sheen due to the grouting process.  I am thinking they should perk up again with a final coat or two of sealant.   So, here it is in it's nearly finished state:   (Please note that my walls are NOT a bright yellow - they just came out that way on the picture.  They are actually a much softer yellow than it seems.)

When we were shopping at the flooring store we had such a hard time deciding.  We were thinking about a mosaic medallion design - but that was way too expensive.  So, we started looking at mosaic borders.   I liked them all but we still couldn't decide.   We were just about to leave the store when right near the front door we saw this tile and we actually loved it!   The sample had this tile in the center:

It's a tile unlike I had seen before. It had deep areas between the designs and you fill the whole thing in with grout so has the look of inlaid stone.  We decided to lay three of these in a row down the center of the floor.   I am so happy with how it turned out.  The pictures really don't do it justice, (or maybe I am just too proud of myself )  So, now I am really feeling my age (if you don't know, don't ask), my back, shoulders, neck, sides, hips are all sore from sitting and kneeling on the floor for two days.  Tylenol and a heating pad have become my friends.  Not to mention that I have literally grouted all the little creases in my hands.  They are still white today.  Fortunately, my wonderful husband got me a nice gift basket with some fabulous smelling body care products for our anniversary two weeks ago (22 years!).  I think I will go give my fingers a rest from the keyboard now and pamper them with some nice soft lotion.

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