My Bathroom Makeover

I bought my house secondhand and many of the choices made in the design were far from what I would have liked.  But, it is what it is and I have tried to make things work with a little bit of DIY (do it yourself projects) and decorating.  We don't have the budget right now to make the house of our dreams but one step at a time we can make improvements. 
I really didn't like my main bathroom floor.   It bothered me.  The tile was a dull greyish bluish color that had some texture.  The original grouting job was done so poorly that all the grooves in the tile had hard dry grout that was not removable.  My floors looked eternally dirty which is something I can't handle.  There was also a small area separated by a metal floor frame for a potential shower (which I didn't want) so the floor ended up looking 'choppy'.  The time had finally come when I decided to re tile the bathroom floor.
   I spoke to Shelley Winick (0507178123...he does tiling, drywall, electrical, pergolas etc.) and he calmly explained to me that I did not need to rip up my old floor to put a new one in.  He was able to lay down new tiles on top, no problem.  Yeah!  that makes things less expensive.  I called my friend Tova and told her the good news.  She has the exact same bathroom as me and was just as miserable.  We set off on our mission to buy new bathroom floor tiles.  Our bathroom was not even 2 square meters so it was not a big investment.  We looked for something that fit our budget and we did the 'spit' test.  My friend Yael introduced me to this test when we went to choose tiles for our front walkway.  You need to spit on the tile, then walk all over it with your dirty shoes and look at the damage.  If it's really noticeable then 'bye bye'.  If it's minimally noticeable, then it's an option.  We finally chose two completely different tiles (after a couple of hours!) and made our order.   I also chose one sheet of mosaics to tie the existing wall tile and the new floor tile together.  Here's what I chose...

Wood tile

I picked out a mosaic sheet that would compliment the floor tile and the existing wall tile.

I like the copper squares with the etching on it

The wall tile, floor tile and the mosaic.

Now let's take a look at the process....

The old tiles were 'scored' for better adherence

I decided to 'stagger' the new tiles for an authentic hardwood floor look.  I also had the legs of the vanity sawed off so that we wouldn't have to cut the new tiles around them.  The legs weren't necessary in actually holding up the vanity.  A few hours later the tiles were basically down...

It's hard to see with all the dust but I was so excited

The floor had to dry for a couple of days and then Shellie came back and did the grout.

I chose a greyish brownish grout

After that I had diamond shaped cut outs done on the wall tile for the mosaics.

There were a total of 8 diamonds made around the bathroom

As luck would have it Shellie had another commitment and couldn't come back for 2 weeks.  So, being impatient like I am, I decided to take matters into my own hands and do the rest of the job.  I bought tile cement (ready to go in a small tub) at 'HaKol L'Bayit' in the Merkaz.

This cost me 20 shekel

I smeared the stuff in each diamond and carefully placed a section of mosaics in the area.  I let it dry over night and the next morning I grouted it...

I mixed the grout powder with water until it was like hummus.

The grout always looks like a different color when it's wet, so don't panic.  It dries much lighter!  Now, for the cleaned up finished picture....

Not the greatest lighting yet but you get the picture

Here is the bathroom almost completed, I still have to get the light fixture up which will enhance the whole picture.

The new bathroom

Another angle

There was a small amount of mosaics left over so of course I put them to good use.  I bought a cheap ceramic soap dispenser at HaMachsan for 15 shekel and just added some mosaic and grouted it.

Stay tuned for the cool light fixture I chose.  I got it at Machsane Teora and loved it right away.  I was able to buy a regular light fixture since there is no shower or bath in this bathroom otherwise you have to choose one suitable for moisture.