This is really part one of our family room transformation. The floors come next (starting this Saturday). The off white tiles have been bothering me since we moved in since it was so boring against the white mantel. Luckily we have a nice mantel and surround which extends up to the ceiling so it's just the tiles around the fireplace and on the hearth that need to go. At first we thought we'd just have the tile people do this when we were getting the floors done but Al's a handy guy and decided that he could do it himself.
Finding the right tiles was almost the hardest part (for me anyway). We knew we wanted a mosaic type tile for around the fireplace but weren't sure what size tiles to get for the hearth. I started out with a nice glass tile mosaic and brought home one plus some potential hearth tiles to test. Unfortunately it didn't look quite as nice against our wall color or even the floor stain we'll have. The other thing to consider was that Al would have to cut an extra strip per mosaic so we had to take that into consideration when looking at size. I was surprised to find out that not all were 12"x12". We found two more that we were happy with but had to check out one more tile store, Floor & Decor, which was recommended by a friend. It was a huge place with lots of choices and the price was right.
We had always picked tiles that were a mix of glass and stone, some rectangle shapes and others squares. What we ended up with was a travertine mosaic which has a stacked ledger look but our job wasn't done because we still needed the hearth tile to go with it. The thing to remember when picking a hearth tile is that it should be a floor tile because it will be walked on. Size of the hearth is something that may be different depending on where you live so check that out when designing it. We looked at ceramic tiles because they do have a lot of nice ones these days but ended up with a travertine tile that went beautifully with the mosaic tile. Then there's size of the tile and patterns to consider. They had a nice handout of designs which was very helpful but in any case there's some math to be done to figure out how many you need plus you'll want to add some in case of mistakes. We chose a rectangular tiles so bought a couple of boxes. Be sure to look at them before bringing home because natural tiles can be different colors and patterns. Ours contrasted which I liked.
I'm not going to post many details on the installation. There are tutorials all over the internet but please feel free to ask questions (so I can ask Al). You'll need a tile cutter so Al timed the rental so he could take it back after 24 hours. The hearth tiles went in first. I laid out the pattern I liked and then Al maked them so he knew where they went. We made a decision on the pattern first and then he had to decide how much to cut for the first in each row. Once that was done he put the wall tiles in starting at the bottom and had to prop up the ones over the fireplace opening so they wouldn't sag. Even so it did a little but he was able to hide with the caulking. He pulled off pieces from the leftover tiles to fit in along the mantel surround. This type of mosaic didn't need grouting which saved some time although of course the hearth tiles did which came last. It was a workout getting the last pieces cut in time to return the cutter but he made it.
All in all Al did a great job and it turned out even better than I'd hoped. I had totally forgotten about my valance color but even that co-ordinates perfectly. You'll see in the photos that the new hearth isn't quite the same size as the old one but since we're getting hardwood floors we weren't too worried about the gap. Speaking of the floors, they're coming in 2 days to take out the carpet and install the wood. I'm looking forward to having it done but it's a bit of a process with them having to leave the floors for several days to make sure they're completely dry. Then comes the sanding, stain, & sealer. ***It's taken me a while to post this so the floors are in. Yay! Will be doing a future post but there's a taste of them in the fireplace pics. To be continued...