Remodeling Our Home...

We've been here a decade and it is time to spruce things up a bit!

By far the biggest project is the "main living/entertainment" area: Laying down 350sq/ft of 18x18 Tile. Replacing all furniture and redoing my Entertainment and Home Theater setup (TV stand, Speakers and Receiver).
Replacing carpet and kids furniture.
Exciting but a pita (and wallet) too.

Stay tuned....




~ Big Marcus

Cool!

Is your house on a slab? That's pretty much standard in Texas right? Like in Florida?

We did tile in the hallway/kitchen/bath at my parents condo a year or two ago, makes it SOOO much easier to do when the house is on a slab.

Remember to spend $15 on a good set of kneepads or you will be hobbling for a week.

Originally Posted by Coconutpete

Cool!

Is your house on a slab? That's pretty much standard in Texas right? Like in Florida?

We did tile in the hallway/kitchen/bath at my parents condo a year or two ago, makes it SOOO much easier to do when the house is on a slab.

Remember to spend $15 on a good set of kneepads or you will be hobbling for a week.

Yes sir. Concrete slab. Oh... If you closely in the first pic, my buddy Felix (outside) and his brother Juan are handling the labor. I just picked out materials. I did decide to stagger the tiles rather than lay them side-by-side. Gonna look awesome!

~ Big Marcus

Oh geez, let me feel sorry for you having SOMEONE ELSE do this work for you...

Just kiding! We've been re-doing our kitchen for the past months and doing the majority of the work ourselves. It's a pain in the ass but worth the savings (plus we like to be handy people.)

Looking forward to the after pictures. Are you re-painting?

I admire anyone who isn't a pro, to install tile. I'd attempt it in a bathroom... Maybe. Watching these guys, this is not for beginners IMO.

Now painting I will and have done. We are painting one bedroom a we did major painting not that far back.

BigMarcus ~ EVO 4G LTE

Coming along nicely! The colors work very well with our paint. I doubt I would have covered even half of what these guys have thus far....



BigMarcus ~ EVO 4G LTE

Looking good! Pros certainly know how to quickly get going and 18x18 tile is big enough to make progress fast if the room is mostly square. You'd be surprised, tiling a floor is much easier than tiling a shower or a backsplash. Your slab looks to be in great condition too, so I bet for a pro this is a piece of cake. Applying thinset to the floor is much easier as well! But the true difference between an amateur DIY and a pro is that they know how to handle all situations (difficult cuts, etc) and know how to properly lay out the tile. That takes longer than the tiling itself sometimes!

When we retiled our shower some years back, we bought the cheapest wet saw Home Depot had at the time ($70 I think) and it has been a trooper for us making tiling projects much easier. Snap and score on large porcelain tile is not much of an option.

It's going to look nice. In for updates.

Looking good!

Cwinter is right on with floor being different than backsplash. After tiling the floor in my parents condo I was all gung-ho and my wife and I decided on the tumbled marble backsplash on 3 walls in the kitchen. Holy crap! Very different experience, first of all you can't really lay it out as easily since you'll have to tape the crap out of any tiles you want to mock up on the wall!

Originally Posted by Coconutpete

Looking good!

I was all gung-ho and my wife and I decided on the tumbled marble backsplash on 3 walls in the kitchen. Holy crap! Very different experience, first of all you can't really lay it out as easily since you'll have to tape the crap out of any tiles you want to mock up on the wall!

I did my backsplash a few years ago. Wife wanted Minton Hollins tile from the UK. The design is 5 pieces, a 6x6, a roping, a field tile with a design, another roping and a 6x6. I had to rip each 6x6 to about 4in high. The layout took a day. Wet cut tile saw makes it pretty simple to cut though, even around receptacles and window sills.

Now she wants it ripped out and white subway tile instead.

I absolutely loved the 18 X 18 tile I had in my old house. It was so easy to keep clean (though if I ever did it again I would go with a slightly darker color of grout). Your color choice looks good!

Originally Posted by ///M3lissa

I absolutely loved the 18 X 18 tile I had in my old house. It was so easy to keep clean (though if I ever did it again I would go with a slightly darker color of grout). Your color choice looks good!

Why thank you.

It will certainly improve my allergies and cleanup in the room we spend most of our time.
From vacuuming to a quick Swiffering.

~ Big Marcus

Originally Posted by TXSTYLE

Why thank you.

It will certainly improve my allergies and cleanup in the room we spend most of our time.
From vacuuming to a quick Swiffering.

~ Big Marcus

Time to get a Roomba!

Going from carpet to any hard surface (wood or tile) the first thing you notice is the constant need for vacuuming. Otherwise, any little stone, dust ball or hair (if you have pets) will drive you bonkers when you walk barefoot.

Our Roomba runs three times a week and keeps the house cleaner than we ever did. We have about 90% hard surfaces in the home with the MBed being the only carpeted area. It WILL significantly help the allergies though. Wasn't it just nasty when they pulled that carpet out?

Originally Posted by cwinter

Going from carpet to any hard surface (wood or tile) the first thing you notice is the constant need for vacuuming.

My OCD will show here, but who cares ... I lOOOOOVE that about the fact that we have wood or tile in 90% of our house. Any dirt you can see it and you can vacuum it

Originally Posted by Coconutpete

My OCD will show here, but who cares ... I lOOOOOVE that about the fact that we have wood or tile in 90% of our house. Any dirt you can see it and you can vacuum it

I love it too, BUT we tend to never vacuum. The little one is kinda scared of the vacuum, so Roomba runs on his own when we're out of the house. Problem solved.

Floor is done and now painting...

We picked out the grout yesterday. It matches up quite well with the paint!





Another thing of note... I insisted we 'stagger' the tile rows which really make them "pop" rather than a simple side by side lineup.

Big Marcus

Just about finished remodeling my wife's kitchen. I custom built all the cabinets myself. All 100% solid wood or plywood (no press wood). Even custom built the drawers and cabinet doors. It's a triple wide mobile home and everything was junk so I ripped it out all the way to the studs and started from scratch. Ceiling too.... The upper cabinets will have reeded glass doors and then I'll be done.

Originally Posted by TXSTYLE

Floor is done and now painting...

We picked out the grout yesterday. It matches up quite well with the paint!





Another thing of note... I insisted we 'stagger' the tile rows which really make them "pop" rather than a simple side by side lineup.

Big Marcus

Very nice work. Looks 100% professional.

Originally Posted by usaret

Very nice work. Looks 100% professional.

Thanks!

Your project looks nice as well.

This is just the beginning... Furniture, curtains, and significant Home Theater upgrades coming...

BigMarcus ~ EVO 4G LTE

Originally Posted by TXSTYLE

I admire anyone who isn't a pro, to install tile. I'd attempt it in a bathroom... Maybe. Watching these guys, this is not for beginners IMO.

Now painting I will and have done. We are painting one bedroom a we did major painting not that far back.

BigMarcus ~ EVO 4G LTE

Tile is harder than it looks. In some ways, it's not much different from finish carpentry - measure, cut, put in place. But there's a learning curve on mixing and applying thinset. Getting a good uniform surface, relatively in the same plane can be tricky.

Knee pads are indeed a must.

Originally Posted by TXSTYLE

Thanks!

Your project looks nice as well.

This is just the beginning... Furniture, curtains, and significant Home Theater upgrades coming...

BigMarcus ~ EVO 4G LTE

Thank you. Here is a before....

I would love to see more pictures of your projects as they progress.

Originally Posted by usaret

Thank you. Here is a before....

I would love to see more pictures of your projects as they progress.

damn -those are some efficient robbers... they stole everything that would fit through the door...

Originally Posted by TXSTYLE

Floor is done and now painting...

We picked out the grout yesterday. It matches up quite well with the paint!





Another thing of note... I insisted we 'stagger' the tile rows which really make them "pop" rather than a simple side by side lineup.

Big Marcus

looks nice - why paint AFTER the floor? I'd do it the other way round and not worry too much about dropping paint... but heck, I'm not expert at home improvement by a long shot...

Originally Posted by wyb

looks nice - why paint AFTER the floor? I'd do it the other way round and not worry too much about dropping paint... but heck, I'm not expert at home improvement by a long shot...

The pros decided their order. Whatever works.
After seeing all the cutting and measuring and re cutting for those perfect angles and how quick and efficient they layed the thin set... I'd pay then again. Oh and they didn't even use knee pads!

BigMarcus ~ EVO 4G LTE

Originally Posted by wyb

looks nice - why paint AFTER the floor? I'd do it the other way round and not worry too much about dropping paint... but heck, I'm not expert at home improvement by a long shot...

Floor guys are far more careless than painters. At least in my experience. Floor guys tear off baseboard, bang into walls, etc. Painters have to fix all that.