We are going to take a bit of a detour from Market Trends today and focus on a project-gone-wrong as promised on instagram. As I've mentioned in previous posts the design center that we used to build our home did not have many of the upgrades we were looking for. The most frustrating: white tile. You can always paint a wall or even replace kitchen countertops (which, as you know, we did) but changing flooring after the fact can be tricky. To maintain mass appeal for eventual sale we wanted to keep our bathrooms and laundry room neutral. We hired a third party to come as we were handed the keys to our home and had them pull up the hideous plastic flooring and replace it with this hexagon white tile from home depot. Since we were embarking on this project in a non-conventional way we decided to save money by purcashing tile in bulk ourselves and simply paying for installation. Sounds like a great idea, right?
Wrong. This project took over 6 months to complete. Why would a project that seemed so simple take so long you ask? We were two boxes of tile short in the guest bath and could not find a matching box to save our lives. Home Depot was still stocking the tile from our original order (same item # and everything) but when it showed up it was two shades off. We went through at least 5 re-orders, including two that came directly from the original tile manufacturer, and each time it was the wrong color. Infuriating.
Finally, about a month ago, my husband had the brilliant idea to order this tile and simply replace the black hexagons with white ones. The boxes arrived and the color matched! Just in time for 8 guests to show up at our house, thank god.
In the six months that we waited to complete the guest bathroom we also had time for a few new additions: shutters for the master, a wall-mounted drying rack in our laundry room and new mirrors in the guest bath.
The Master Bath
The Laundry Room
The Guest Bath
I am thrilled to call this update complete. If I can impart any wisdom upon DIY flooring projects it is this: order more material than you think you need. In fact, order a few units more than even the salesperson or your tradesman suggests. As long as the company you are working with has a decent return policy it's so much easier to take things back than it is to track down an exact match after the fact. Trust me.
Hope my mistake can help your project run smoothly!
3 comments:
Love your blog, Lauren! My husband and I are in the process of closing on a new condo and one of our first projects is going to be replacing the sheet mirrors in the bathrooms with mirrors that have a bit more personality. Quick question -- did you contract someone to remove the sheet mirror and install the new mirrors or was this DIY? Trying to figure out how big of a project this will be!
Thanks!
Ashley
Hi Ashley!
So fun to hear from you. Congratulations on your new condo, that is really exciting. To answer your question, our sheet mirrors were not glued down they were only held in by mirror clips in 4 places so it was a DIY. I requested that none of the sheets be glued when our house was built because I knew I would want to change them later. If yours are simply clipped it's a project two people can absolutely do, just be prepared for the mirror to be heavy. If it's glued in I would have a pro come out and remove them, the last thing you want is to ruin the wall behind it. As far as hanging the new mirrors, we also did that ourselves. It's pretty easy if you have a laser level and a few basic tools.
Here is a link to the mirror that we ordered: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002G1YBTW/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's a great size and they should carry this brand at Lowes as well. Feel free to email me at copperandwalnut@gmail.com if you have any more questions! Hope this helps. Good luck!
P.S. I LOVE your blog! The new logo is gorgeous and your recipes are to die for. We aren't vegetarians but always welcome a break from all the red meat down here in Texas.
Thank you so much for your input! I'm almost positive they're glued down, so I think we'll call in the professionals. I would hate to damage the wall or risk breaking the mirror while trying to get it off. I love the mirrors you installed. Clean, chic and practical. I will let you know how the project goes!
By the way, congratulations on all of your blog and business advancements! It sounds like your passion is truly turning into an opportunity. I can't wait to see your furniture line and accessories. Love, love, love your style and ideas.
Also, so glad you like the blog and new logo! It's so fun to find out who's reading and what they think!
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