Hey guys!
First, ohh my gosh what a super fun time the Totally Awesome Blog Hop was! or is...as I still have soo many blogs to visit! So many new faces and worlds to explore! You still have time to link up and join the fun.
So, this weekend...we finished getting all of that old flooring up (what a pain), and Aaron's dad Skip came over to assist us in laying down a new floor (what a help). First we covered over the old stripped floor with some thin plywood to give us a fresh start and an even base for the vinyl tiles. I am super excited about the tiles we are going with. They are very 1970s-80s grocery store. You know, with the speckles of color. We are going with a tan/cream checkered pattern. This is a fairly easy floor to lay down and it's going to be perfectly durable for our studio space. And it's not expensive. Tiles come in a box of 45 or you can buy them loose for .79 each.
In case you're interested here are the particulars for purchasing:
All is from Home Depot
Armstrong Imperial Texture Tiles...I don't know the names of the colors but these are the numbers of them: 51899 and 51858
The adhesive is Armstrong Premium Floor Tile Adhesive and we bought adhesive remover in case of spills.
Pick whatever trowel feels comfortable for you...but get one with an 1/8 inch tooth...they are right there in the aisle beside the tiles and the adhesive etc...
Around the bottom perimeter of the room Aaron and Skip had to piece in some sheetrock to fill in gaps in the walls from storm damage. They did this after the plywood layer and before the tile layer...this way the sheetrock wall would lay flush to the new wood floor and then when the tiles go down they can be measured to butt right up to the sheetrock.
Then after giving the room a good sweep and vacuum they measured to find the center of the room. They rolled out some string and snapped a chalkline that split the room into four quadrants. They then started working from the center of the room out to the walls. This way all the tiles from wall to wall will be equal. The cut tiles on one side of the room will match the cut tiles on the opposite side.
The tiles are applied with a water based adhesive that doesn't smell so bad...I mean, it doesn't smell great, but I've smelled way worse. You apply the adhesive with a fine tooth trowel and comb out the adhesive, kinda giving it a corduroy texture. You then let the adhesive "dry" for about 30 minutes so that it is tacky to the touch but doesn't transfer to your finger tip. And the open time is great...you've got six hours to lay down your tiles. Even with all this open time, Aaron and Skip thought it best to take it a quadrant at a time. They stuck down a quarter of the room earlier today and right now me and Aaron are waiting for the adhesive to setup so that we can lay down another quarter of tile before we hit the hay.
You can see in the pic above that we've got some weights pressing the tiles down. This might not be completely necessary but we like to be thorough. Oh, and as far as cutting the tiles goes...all you need is a straight edge and a utility knife. You score the tile as deep as you can with the utility knife and then flip it over, give it a little punch, and it breaks along your score line.
I'm really excited. Gosh what a difference a day or two make. This room was so utterly depressing...and it really is coming along. So so excited to have at least one room on the road to recovery after the storm. And it's so so fitting that it's our our studio. Our work is everything to us. Show me an artist with no where to create and I'll show you a sad face. We cannot wait to paint the walls and then move everything in!
This is just the beginning of sooo many projects. Thanks so much for popping in and following along!
Have a great week!
xo Jenny