Grout....

 

 Challenges....

In Spite of a serious Heat Wave (days and days of above 90 degrees temperatures) Dear Readers, I decided that I might as well apply the grout to the Lord's Bed Chamber floor tiles. It would not take too long to do, and I could begin in the early part of the day before it became just too hot to think clearly. Above you can see I got right at it! I am using the pre-mixed grout I have used many times, bought from Hobby Builder's Supply. This time I did not have to wait for months for it to arrive. The basic plan is you smear it on making sure it gets into all the cracks and then before it begins to harden you wipe the extra grout off with a sponge. You have to wipe repeatedly because it doesn't all clear of in one swipe. So you apply it for a while then wipe for a while...

It leaves a film of grout that becomes chalky as it dries,

 so you go over it again with a damp sponge more than once.

I remembered to take some pictures as I went...

You have to not wipe too hard or too soon

 or it just pulls the grout out of the cracks.

You need to keep coming back for a while

 to make sure you have wiped the surface clean.

But as I was making one of these inspections, Dear Readers,

 I noticed an alarming problem!

I noticed that the "varnish" on the tiles had peeled in places!

And on closer inspection I could see it was partly gone from many of the tiles...

 including some of the ones with the painted roses!

Ay-yi-yi! What to do?

I had to just walk away.

It was too hot.

I couldn't think.

I have never had this problem before!

And the following morning... 

(still even hotter than the day before...)

Could I even bear to look....?

I know... you can't see a thing without the spotlight...

but I could tell it had not fixed itself overnight.

I reasoned that I needed to "muddy up" the grout anyway,

 in order to seal it and age it.... this is an old Castle after all...!

If I was going to have to apply more varnish to the entire floor,

 the grout would need to be aged first anyway.

This is another messy task. 

I mix a very watery blend of black and burnt umber acrylic paint,

 and slather it onto the floor with a large-ish paintbrush, 

and quickly wipe the mixture off the tiles

 before it has a chance to dry.

The grout soaks up the paint mixture,

 which is largely water, 

so you can't really tell how dark it will be when it is dry.

You just have to carry on... mix, slather, wipe and repeat.

And I was hoping it would not further alter the partly bare tiles...!

But it had to be done.

Then you have to leave it to dry thoroughly.

And when it is... the next day... or two even...

 because it is too hot and I don't dare look....

Can we see where we stand?

The grout looks fine.....if a little blotchy....

The tiles need a lot of repair.

*Sigh...*

It really does need a lot of repair.

Just when I thought I had tiles and grout all figured out, Dear Readers,

 it appears I have a whole lot more to learn!

Unexpected Challenges.......!

About Grout......

About Time....!

I am Sure you will be glad to hear, Dear Readers, that the grout I had ordered weeks ago arrived at last! It came last Tuesday, but grouting is not the sort of task you want to tackle without ample time, so I had to wait for the weekend before getting started. Above you can see the floor with the tiles all neatly glued and waiting. I am always surprised at how nervous it makes me to add the grout. Did I space the tiles right...? Will the grout ruin the finish...? Should I seal them again before the grout...? Will it make the plywood under the floor too wet and warp the structure...? You can see I lose my confidence with too many questions. At a certain point you just have to dive in! In this case I decided to remove the front door panels and the framework to allow better access to the back of the room. The doors were going to need to be painted anyway, so it was practical to do that now.

Without the front panel or the doors you can see 

the structure of the upper room as well.

And then it was time for the grout.

And I will tell you that grout is one of those messy tasks

 that don't encourage picture-taking at the same time! 

So there are no in-progress grout smearing shots!

Just the floor with the grout applied and partly wiped away.

And I was glad I waited for the supplies to arrive, 

because I did need part of the extra bag of mix!

Whew!

At this point you simply have to wipe enough grout away

 that the tiles are essentially clean, if not perfectly clean.

It leaves a silty residue.... 

which will eventually wipe away when it is dry. 

But you want to be sure the tiles are not 

covered where they shouldn't be.... 

dips and cracks wiped as clean as possible.

And then you have to let it dry completely.

Which takes a while. 

I leave it overnight. 

And I refuse to look at it... 

because I am already convinced it won't be right.

The spacing wasn't right... the grout is too thick....

 the color won't be right.....

Just walk away!

Because when you look in the next morning

 you will know you were right....

Aiyi yii.... what were you thinking....? 

It doesn't look anywhere near the way you hoped it would.

(Even the camera shots are bad.... you just don't want to look!)

And with the spotlight shining in.....

It needs a lot of work.

But I was sure that would be the case...

The grout color is much too pale to begin with.... 

and the floor is supposed to look old...

I knew I would have to "age" it anyway.

The first task was to "polish" the tiles 

to remove as much of the filmy grout layer as possible.

I used an old dishtowel, dry not wet.  

(The grout is quite abrasive and tears paper to bits)

And in one or two places I scraped back the grout

 where it encroached too much on the tile....

 (my hand-made tiles are very irregular in size)

But the chief task was going to be applying a

 "muddy wash" to the floor. 

This is another one of those steps

 that is very anxiety producing....!

It is just impossible to tell as you are applying the wash

 how dark it will end up once it is dry.

I used a watered down mixture of black and burnt umber acrylic paint....

 more black than umber... and very watered down.

I started in the back corner by the stairs... 

and it instantly looks much too dark!

You have to apply it in small areas and wipe it off the tiles before they dry.

 I basically want the grout darker, but the tiles not too dulled down.

It is hard to see back there.... but knowing that

 I am probably not making it dark enough....

 I went back over it a couple of times....

I decided to mostly work in from the edges.... 

doing the outer darker tiles first... 

and deciding about the middle later....

The grout drinks the water right up..... 

(And the acrylic paint actually seals the grout nicely)

but you have to clean the tiles off....

 mix, slather, wipe....

(It is rather messy!)

At this point you are sure that it won't be right....

The middle won't look right with the darker grout....

But you just have to carry on!

Because you won't be able to tell for sure until it is dry!

And if you made it too dark..... 

it will just have to stay too dark!

(Like a dirty old floor!)

It does help to walk away.

 

And maybe look in later with a little atmospheric lighting....

 just to check on it.... 

because who can resist....?

I know... you can't really see it without the spotlights!

Which do shed rather a lot of light.....

And maybe make me think it doesn't look too bad...?

But it is night.... will I still like it in the morning....?

On a Dark and Gloomy morning...... 

in a hurry because I must go to work....

I can't tell.... 

but I run my hand over the floor and it feels beautiful!

And much later.... can we add the lights....?

It is growing on me....!

And with the spotlights....?

Is it the right amount of dirty.... or not enough....?

Ah.... perhaps it is too soon to tell!

I will have to wait for a beautiful brilliant morning....

I will have to add the door and the ceiling....

I might have to live with it for a while...

But really, Dear Readers, perfect or not...

I am loving this floor with the grout!

It feels so real!

It's about time!

Lucky Winner!

Legos and Other Little Things....

A Few weeks ago, Dear Readers, I was lucky enough to be the Winner of Noelle's giveaway on her blog Nono mini Nostalgie! I could not believe my good fortune to win her teeny tiny mini Lego set! My sons' favorite toys were Legos (and we still have a big box of them!) so I was enchanted to see them in mini on Noelle's blog. But for some reason our emails would not connect to each other... so after a couple of tries both ways I put my mailing address on her comments so she could send me the prize. It worked and the little package arrived last week in my mailbox. I tell you, I am always amazed that a little parcel can cross the Ocean and reach its destination without mishap!

But here it is!!! 

The little box itself is a tiny wonder...!

But the contents are beyond amazing!

Can you believe how perfect these tiny Legos are?

I feel so Lucky to have them!

Thank you, Noelle, for sharing your treasures!

They are Awesome!

And in another way I also feel very lucky, Dear Readers,

 because I have had a few alarming set-backs

 with my stone floor for The Dollmaker's Studio....

which might have turned out alright after all!

You might recall that I had showed the floor

 with the newly applied grout all dry and ready for "dirtying up"....

The pale color of the dry grout was too new and

 clean looking for such an "old" stone floor!

So I mixed up a watered down acrylic mix of brown and black

 and began to brush it onto the floor, 

planning to wipe most of it off the stones 

but leave the grout a darker shade.

I started in the back corner where it would naturally be very dirty...

and quickly realized I had not swept off the dry grout residue

 from the original application.

 It would be too gritty if I didn't clean it first.

So I did a little careful sweeping... 

only to realize that the grout was lifting out of the cracks...!!

Yikes! That was not supposed to happen!

Since most of the grout was still in the cracks,

 I decided to go ahead with the "dirtying" process... 

and fill in gaps later if necessary.

You will understand if there are no pictures of this part of the process...!

As I brushed on the dirty water.... 

the grout just melted... 

apparently it had dried to dust!!

 It was really very alarming....! 

So I just "dabbed on" the color... 

and wiped it off with a paper towel... 

and where the grout "lifted" I smeared it back into the cracks 

with the wet paint mixture...

And then I let it dry.... again....!

I could not get the paint tones to mix carefully.... 

it was scrub and dash and smoosh and dab....

Yikes!!!

Here it is part way dried....  

At this point I couldn't be sure

 if I was going to have to scrub it ALL off and start over.

So the next morning I had a closer look

 once the "grout" was dry again.

I was planning all along to add a sealer coat of matte varnish, 

and decided to give it a try

 in spite of the gaps and the uneven colors..... 

it is supposed to be an Old floor after all.

Of course, the newly applied varnish 

just adds a milky looking glossy sheen.... 

so it is really hard to tell how it will look when dry....

But at this point I was telling myself 

that I could just  cover the whole floor with a carpet....

(possibly part of the plan anyway...!) 

so who cares how it looks?

(Yes, I Know.... I would know anyway....)

So I let it dry and refused to look at it for a couple of days!

And when I did look at it again,

 I scuffed the tiles a bit with a scrubbing sponge.....

 and decided that they might not look so bad after all!

There are a couple of spots where I will 

"repair" the missing grout with a paintbrush....

 

Somehow, Dear Readers,

 the floor seems to have turned out alright....

and I guess I am starting to feel like 

I'm a Lucky Winner after all!