How I “Tiled” My Floors on the Cheap

Hi Friend's! I know it's been a while, but I'm back (and hopefully more often). I've been extremely busy with the kiddos, work and the multitude of unfinished projects waiting to be completed. I just can't figure out why I can't fully complete anything!

Well, one of my most recent projects is my new "Tile" floors. We have been living with white ceramic tile floors throughout our kitchen hallway, bath and stair landing for six years now- the grout was dingy and dated and some of the tiles were cracked, not to mention the amount of times I had to sweep/mop in a week! Here’s an equation for ya: 3kids+white tile floors=insanity!

(these pics were taken one morning when I woke up to find my ten year old doing dishes after “cleaning”(as only a ten year old could) as a surprise for me-melt my heart-he is the sweetest boy)

(the pink/white desk is a project and is only temporary-we tend to stockpile thrifted furniture)

Unfortunately, chipping away at the floors and re-tiling wasn’t an option within our budget, but the new traffic master Traffic Master ceramica tiles were!

They are peel and stick vinyl tiles that can go over the existing floor and can actually be grouted.  They look and almost feel like the real thing!

Here’s what I did:

I washed the floor thoroughly and decided on a diagonal pattern.

I didn’t use any exact science in figuring out the center of the floor and what-not (1. because I’m impatient and 2. because who would really notice anyway?)

I then did a dry run and started laying out my tiles in the diagonal pattern in the kitchen area.

So I then began peeling and sticking the tiles in place using 1/8” tile spacers as my guide.

I removed some baseboards, but not all -as I planned to use quarter round molding to cover the edges(which I saved for very last).

(please ignore messy kitchen-this is the typical view when I’m working on a project, finishing dinner and need to do dishes---oh and the kitchen island/peninsula thingy is a whole other project!)

I peeled and sticked, peeled and sticked, and peeled and sticked some more, trying to complete one straight row at a time.  However, I have issues and kept jumping from row to row. 

It’s helpful if you have someone peel while you stick.  Hubby stayed around for about ten minutes peeling for me then handed the job over to my 7 year old.

She even put some down-Ez Peazy!

AND now for the Fun part- Grouting!

Kitchen and dining area ready.

We removed all spacers and began grouting using the Simple grout premixed grout-in Haystack. 

We used:

A big ol’ bucket of water

Simple grout

A double sided grouting sponge

and a small plastic putty knife to force grout into grout lines

also the directions say to use a utility knife-which worked great for the straight cuts, but I found that snips work wonders for cutting around tricky edges

Then my helper and I got to work

*One Piece of advice*: if you plan to grout be sure you are fully clothed and gloved-we were peeling/scrubbing grout off of our feet and hands for hours!

Glamour Shot!-I think Not!

Grouted

Picture shows it rinsed 1x-

(you’ll need to wipe with a clean, rinsed sponge every few minutes)

We filled in the lines being careful not to get grout all over the tiles-as it makes much more mess to clean.

Then we wiped the excess grout away using a wet sponge.  Try to wipe the tile clear (not like in the second pic above) because once it dries it leaves a nasty haze on the tile, making them look dirty.

Here’s a peek at one of the finished sections.

I love, love, LOVE the results.  They are easy to clean and look great!  Now on to finishing the hall, bathroom and stair landing! Wish me luck! I’ll be back to show you the finished product!

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