Tile Hacks With In Stock Tile

*This series is in partnership with Lowe’s, but all thoughts, opinions, and selections are my own. 

When it comes to renovation, I’m all about the “save here so you can splurge there.”  We DIY what we can, I buy some things secondhand, and I will go for in-stock options when it makes sense, all so I can get that custom or special order piece I’ve been eyeing.  One of my favorite areas to save is tile.  We do the work ourselves, which is a huge savings because often your biggest cost in tile is the labor and the in stock options at Lowe’s are so good.  While they have some beautiful patterns, like the one we used on Xander’s floor, getting creative with what they have is the best way to get a custom look on a big box budget.

CREATE A FOCAL POINT WITH A DIFFERENT TILE:  As I mentioned in the reveal post, Xander’s bath had a domino effect of issues that left me feeling a little underwhelmed by his tile.  White subway is always beautiful and classic, but I wanted to add an element that felt special.  We decided to create a baseboard using black subway.  The effect grounds the space and is a nice transition from the floor tile to the walls.  You can add a band of any kind of tile at the base, on the floor itself like we did on our kitchen floor, a chair rail (typically 32″ from the floor), a picture rail (12-20″ from the ceiling), or even a crown.

THINK OUTSIDE THE GIVEN SHAPE:  Our kitchen tile is one of my absolute favorites.  A black and white checkerboard on a diagonal is always classic.  I loved the idea of taking the same tile and doing something a bit more modern.  Micah cut the tiles into 4″ strips and laid them in alternating stripes for a fresh look that was still really budget-friendly.  Plus the smaller pattern makes the narrow bathroom feel bigger.  When you’re looking at tile, ask yourself if you can cut it into a different shape easily.  Squares can become triangles or rectangles, rectangles can become squares.  Think outside the shape.

PLAY WITH PATTERN:  Don’t feel like you have to lay tile in the pattern you’re used to seeing.  Sure, subway tiles are traditionally laid in a horizontal, offset pattern, but they can also be laid in a vertical offset, herringbone, basketweave, straight set…a quick search on Pinterest will give you all sorts of ideas!  You can take tiles and mix them together to make a pattern, think stripes with two different colors running vertically or horizontally, or alternating like we did on the girls’ bath floor.  For the girls shower I wanted to try something a bit more challenging.  I loved the idea of adding a greek key within the offset subway tile.  I showed Micah the idea, and he ran with it.  I’m still so proud of the time and attention he put into this detail.  It feels really special!  Here’s a peek at how he did it.

First, Micah figured out how big he wanted the outer border and marked it onto the wall using a laser level.  If you don’t have a laser level and you do a lot of home projects, we can’t recommend it enough.  It will save you so much time laying tile, hanging trim and woodwork, setting cabinets.  After drawing the outer border we decided we wanted one row of tiles in between it and the inner boarder.  Then Micah began laying out the inner border with the level.  Then he tiled the outer subway and border.  

I was unsuccessful in finding a picture, but he actually laid the inner border pencil tiles and then cut the white subway to fit around the inner border.  The result is a completely custom shower that feels so special, yet is made up of two of the most budget-friendly tiles around!

| TILE SOURCES |

 WHITE FLOOR TILE    BLACK FLOOR TILE    WHITE SUBWAY    GREEK KEY TILE    BOYS FLOOR TILE    WHITE SUBWAY     BLACK SUBWAY

Mixing tiles, laying them in different patterns, cutting them into different shapes: all of these take time but don’t necessarily cost you anything, and the results can be a high end look on a budget.  If you missed the bath reveals, you can see all the images and get all the details here.  Have you done a cool tile hack in your home?  I’d love to hear about it!

 

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