Condo Renovation: Part II

It would be really hard for me to pick out my favorite thing about the finished condo, but the fireplace would definitely be towards the top of the list.  I liked the fireplace from the beginning, not so much the tile, but the way that it is sort of built out of the corner and the way the lines meet with the vaulted ceiling.

After                                                     Before

The issue with the laminate flooring that I discussed in the previous post is visible in the picture below.  It is like they ran the laminate up to the edge of the fireplace (corresponds with the edge of the tile in the entry way) and then didn't know what to do with the space between the entryway and fireplace.  In the end I guess they just threw some scraps of laminate in there and called it a day...awesome.  The yellow lines show the gaps between the scraps of laminate.  Note that one of the pieces even runs the wrong direction.  The arrow is pointing to the smoked glass globe that was hanging in the entry way...also awesome.

Before

It is also hard to see in the picture but there was some wear and damage to the tiles.  Since we were tearing out the matching tile in the entry way we decided to do the fireplace tile as well.

After removing the old tile

The tile came off of the floor okay but took some of the drywall with it despite my best efforts.  We cut out the damaged drywall and replaced it with some new pieces.  We also had to move one outlet over since the new tile would extend further than the original tile.
My dream fireplace was slate, which for some reason I thought was way out of my budget.  It turns out that slate for a fireplace is actually pretty cheap.  This is not the sort of stuff you would want on a floor in a high traffic area because it is somewhat inconsistent and can flake.  It works great for this application though.  I spent a lot of time selecting the slate pieces I wanted to use, and deciding on the layout.  With natural stone, spending the time to perfect the layout is time well spent as it can make a huge difference in the final look.  Once I had the layout I wanted, I numbered each tile with a piece of tape on the side that would be facing out so that they would be sure to go where I had decided.  This is sort of a simple, but critical step. 

Floor and wall repaired, on to laying tile.

There were a total of 6 pieces that needed to be cut, which is where we hit a snag.  At the hardware store in Washington they will cut a few pieces of tile for you.  Not so in California, or at least Sacramento.  We did not want to rent a tile saw for just a few cuts and there was no good place to set one up anyway.  In the end my mother took them home with her since she has her own tile saw.  It is a little impractical to ship heavy slate through the mail so I just waited a few months until she came to visit again.  We used a thick bed of mortar on the floor to help compensate for the inconsistency in thickness and shape of the tiles, resulting in a more even surface.
Next, on to grouting.  The normal way is to spread the grout over the surface of the tile, sort of work it into the joints and then wipe off the excess from the tile surfaces.  For slate, because of the uneven and porous surface, this process is a pain in the a**.  You can seal the slate first, which helps, but it will still take a long time to get the surface of the tiles clean.  This was my first time doing any kind of tile work and I didn't want to risk being left with a residue on the tile.  In the end, I carefully taped all the edges of the tiles with painters tape, applied the grout with an improvised sort of pastry piping bag and smoothed the joints with my finger (wear gloves).  It turned out great actually, much to my relief.
I used a grout that has some elasticity to help prevent cracking from temperature and humidity changes, especially since one joint between the tile and laminate had to be grouted.  I know this is not ideal, usually one would use a trim piece, but that was not an option here.  It ended up looking fine and is holding up really well. 

Finished!

The last step was simply cutting and painting some trim pieces to trim the edge of the fireplace where the tile meets the wall.  I painted some of the wall above the fireplace white, different from the rest of the room, to highlight the angles. 

I love it!