Wood Look Porcelain Tile in a Bathroom

Hello, new tile floor.

To call this an improvement is an understatement.

You might remember from the original plan that we were considering installing the tile ourselves. However, as we got into the project several things changed our minds:

1. It took 4 days to remove the wallpaper {spread out over a few weeks as we had time} and though it isn’t difficult, it is time consuming. This bathroom is only the first of 8 different rooms with wallpaper. So, we have plenty more hours of labor ahead of us — just in wallpaper alone.
2. The bathroom floor is slanted and we were even more intimidated at the idea of laying tile on something that needs to be leveled first.
3. Our bathroom is just over 50 sq ft, so from a cost standpoint it wasn’t a huge area to tile.

We chose a local installer who was highly recommended. He completed the entire job in less than 4 hours… and our floor is level. For us, that is worth the extra expense. Mike and I did complete all the demo {removing the baseboards, old vinyl flooring, vanity, etc} which saved us some money from the labor cost.

prior to grout // tile color is not very accurate in this photo due to lighting and iphone

Which… I just want to jump in at this point and say that removing the sink, vanity and vinyl flooring were all easy for this first timer — don’t be afraid to try it! We just looked up some “how to” videos on Youtube and then got to work.

grouted tile with grout haze still over the tile

The tile is from Lowes and I can’t find it online, so I’ve included this photo I took at the store. We had a 10% off coupon which reduced the price to $2.24 per tile.

I’ve rinsed the tile once to remove the grout haze and expect I’ll need to wipe it down at least once more. Then, per the recommendation of the installer, we will seal it in about a week.

The tile we ended up choosing isn’t exactly what was shown in our mood board. We DID purchase that tile originally but returned it because in person it was too light, almost white.

Seeing the tile in the room makes me so excited to see the rest of the room start coming together! This week I’m hoping to repair walls and knock out some painting. We have our vanity in the garage and the countertop is on order, so I should have more updates to come in the next few weeks!

Have you installed tile? Did you DIY or hire it out? Why?