Josh also plans to revamp his upstairs bath in the future, so just like us, he is making sure he has all the necessities covered before he tears things out upstairs.
For his tiny downstairs bath, Josh has his mind set on 8" square tiles. Normally, everything Josh does to his antique house is perfect, so I was surprised at this. I think he should use small mosaic tiles, be it hex, square or penny round.
To this, I have compiled a short list of links to help sway him to my way of thinking. I thought I would share them with you, too.Loads of gorgeous pictures at American Restoration Tile:
http://www.restorationtile.com/index.html
For the love of marble tile:
http://www.besttile.com/index.php?mact=Products,cntnt01,details,0&cntnt01category=Marble%20Collection&cntnt01pagelimit=12&cntnt01summarytemplate=Category-Line-List&cntnt01productid=285&cntnt01returnid=99
Envision your room with American Olean:
http://ao.swatchbox.com/EnvisionYourRoom/main.asp
http://americanolean.com/catalog.cfm?c=51
If you feel like playing with patterns, check out Freestyle from marbledesigner.com:
http://www.marbledesigner.com/index.html
Or mosaic maximizer:
http://www.mosaicmaximizer.com/max/MaxP.html
I haven't sent him my list yet. I remember playing with a mosaic tile pattern creator that was even better than the two above. I thought it might have been DalTile or American Olean, but no. Can anybody help me out?
Any other links I can send to Josh to help him fall in love with mosaic tiles?
2 comments:
I can think of many other compelling arguments against 8" tile other than the historic accuracy and better look. Bigger tile will be more prone to movement in the substrate and it might crack more easily. Bigger tile is usually more slippery, it helps to have the grout joints in smaller tile to give more grip. In a small bathroom as described, there will be a lot of cut pieces that might make the room look awkward, a small bathroom benefits from having lots of little pieces like the 1" hex tile. Ultimately, your friend will have to decide though. If he is set on 8" square, then he should go with it.
Thanks, throwsmud! All good points. Just yesterday, in my own bathroom (with unglazed hex tiles)I noticed how much more traction we have as compared to the 8" glazed tiles I grew up with at mom's house. (Even Oliver agrees. Doggies like traction- better for running.) I'll be sure to mention the safety factor!
-Christine
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