Bath Time - More on Wood Look Tile

I had a request from Lori for more pictures showing our bathroom tile.  I have a couple of posts with some information about them.  The one in March probably has the most information.

I have added a few pieces to my master bathroom over the past year and never posted about them.  So... an updated bath post is in order.

The tile in the hall bath was my first choice.  I love the light color.  The tile width is  6 inches.  Hey - my shower curtain looks crooked!

The hall bath has a pedestal sink, beadboard with a ledge and a hanging cabinet that needs a makeover.  I love the shower curtain in this room.  It's made of hemp and requires no liner.  That's no issue - we don't use this shower.  I would love to use it in our master bathroom, but the color wouldn't work there right now.

The master bath has a similar look - same pedestal sinks and beadboard. Lots of white. I like the vintage look.    I don't like the light fixtures - particularly the globes.  I'd like them better with plain globes, but they have a special way to connect and I need to special order replacements.  That's been on the back burner for ages.

The vanity was purchased about a year ago.  I looked for ages and never found exactly what I wanted at a reasonable price.  I wanted more drawers.  This piece doesn't have the storage, but it looked nice, fit perfectly, and the price was right.  I have especially enjoyed the lift-up top.  Our kitties can't knock things off.

I love the flowers on the ledge.  Before taking these photos, I had some tidying to do.  I moved a bunch of bath products off the ledge.  It was looking pretty messy.  I found these bottles at a yard sale this past weekend and had just put them out in the kitchen.  They didn't look right there, but mmmmm... I love them here.  If not for Lori forcing me to stage my bathroom and pretend that it's always neat and tidy, I wouldn't have discovered that these vases BELONG right there.  Thanks Lori!

This silly rug obviously doesn't belong in a bathroom. In our quest for rugs all over the house (so our senior dog with bad hips can walk easier) we ended up with this rug and discovered it fit perfectly here.  I thought this was going to be temporary but until I find anything I like better, it's staying.  It doesn't match the yellow and blue things I had started pulling into this room, but oddly, I like it.  Plus, it's nice and cushy.

The cabinet under the window was purchased this year, too.  I like the beadboard in the door.  It provides extra storage.  The curtains are a make-do fix.  I had them from the previous house.  I still haven't decided how I want to go color-wise in this room, so for now, I'm just using what I have.

Here's a closer look at the master bathroom tile.  I went with the dark tile for more drama, but felt sure it would show dirt and floating fur.  I also felt sure I wouldn't like it as much as the light tile in the hall bath.  Wrong.  It hides dirt well and I love the dark look.

Here's a better look at the tile in the hall bath.  It's only shiny because I gave it a quick mop just before taking the photos.

I love both of the looks.  I highly recommend them both. They would look fabulous in any room.  The tile is Havana by Mediterranea.  The colors we used are Tobacco and Tropicana. There are more colors to choose from as well.  There are two widths -6 inch (which we used in the hall bath) and 12 inch (which we used in the master bath.  The tiles are 24 inches long, so they look like planks.  They truly look like planks - we have fooled lots of guests. We've had so many compliments on them.

I have linked to the following parties:
White Wednesday at Faded Charm Cottage
Show & Share Day at Just a Girl
Be Inspired at Room to Inspire

My Bathroom Tile Looks Like Wood

I have had some questions about the tile floors in my bathroom.  I've mentioned them in a few other posts, but I've never devoted a post to them.  That's an oversight, because they are certainly worthy of a post!

Both tiles look like wood.  They are from the same line and same company -  (Havana by Mediterranea.  They are long like planks.  You can get them in two different widths and 5 different shades.  I love them!  We had planned to put this tile throughout our first floor, but have changed our minds.  I don't think I want to upkeep that much grout in our senior years!

We put the thinner width in Tropicana Gold in our hall bath.  On the Mediterranea site, the floor appears very yellow-y.  My pictures look a bit pinkish.  The color is something in between.  To me it looks like whitewashed wood. 

In the master bath, we used Tobacco Brown.  I thought the Gold was going to be my favorite color and that it would be the color to use throughout the house.  The tobacco brown was pretty but I thought it would be bad about showing dirt so it wouldn't be a good choice for other rooms in the house.  Wrong.  It's really good at hiding dirt!  It's very dramatic.

I love both floors.  There are many decisions I made about my house that I am now second guessing.  These tile floors are not one of my regrets.  I feel pretty sure I'll love them for a long, long time.

Note:  The photos I used were from just after our house was built. We hadn't even moved in yet.  There's still a little grout to be wiped up in places.  We now have mirrors and a vanity in the master bath.  As for the light fixtures in the master - those are one of my regrets.  I especially hate the globes - that tinted bit is really ugly and doesn't go with our bath at all.  I can't believe I haven't replaced them yet.  It turns out the globe has an odd shape where it fits into the fixture.  I can't find a replacement.  Eventually, I'd like to replace the whole fixture, but there are so many things ahead on the list.

Faux Wood Floors

We put tile in our bathrooms. The photo below shows the tile in our hall bath. The tiles (Havana by Mediterranea) are made to look like wood. The tiles have a long rectangular shape to resemble boards. They come in different colors. We put a dark wood (Tobacco) in the master bathroom, which is quite dramatic. The color below is Tropicana Gold, which looks like a whitewashed wood. This photo was taken before cleaning the grout dust off. I love, love, love it and this is what I want for the whole house as soon as our sad budget allows. Meanwhile, I had to fake it with paint.


Yesterday's post explained all the prep work. To fake the wood-look tile, I first measured and painted board lines onto the base-coated floor with a dark brown paint. In some places I could see where the pieces of subfloor met. I incorporated those plywood lines with my painted lines, so that now, no one notices them. I measured and marked where my lines would go with bits of blue tape. The first room I did, I drew out the lines first with pencil, but that was a wasted step. My husband cut a long piece of very straight metal for me to use as a guide and to steady my hand when painting the lines.
Next I painted lines in the opposite direction to mark off individual boards. My tile pieces are short so I kept my painted boards a bit short. That turned out to be helpful when painting because the boards weren't longer than my reach. If I were trying for a more real looking wood floor, I would have varied the length of the boards more and made many of them longer.


When putting in the color, I worked on one or two boards at a time. The top color is mixed with a glaze. I used a ratio of 1 part paint and 3 parts glaze. I used a wood graining tool to make it look like wood. First, I paint on the paint/glaze mix - it looks awful at this point. Next, I quickly ran the curved part of the graining tool over the board. Since plywood is a bit rough, it didn't look as real as it does when you use the graining tool on a really smooth surface. Next I took the edge of the tool and combed in lines, which made the boards look like rough hewn lumber. The photo below shows some boards before the wood graining and some after.
Here's a closeup showing the floor after the graining.

Here's a completed floor. I messed up a bit in this room. There's a section where my glaze ratio is different from the rest of the floor. The color appears lighter or darker with different ratios. It's not too noticeable and with furniture in, it's a non-issue. Still, if anyone is going to try this, it's a good caution for making sure you stay consistent with the ratios!

Click here 

to see the basic steps 

for painting sub-floors.

Here are more links on the topic of faux wood floors -
DIY
Home DZine
HomeEnvy
Dave's Garden