December 7, 2011

Epic Fail

Sometimes you can absolutely stun your friends, and yourself with the amazing projects you can DIY. 

And sometimes, we fail.

The other day I was taking a look at our Downstairs Bathroom.  Want to take a look with me?




Yep, that’s a hot mess.

I couldn’t help but think about the white subway-esk tiles, laid in a herringbone pattern, with the brownish red grout.  It’s so frustrating, because it feels like such a waste of otherwise good, white tiles.  And I thought for a moment about how other bloggers, like It’s Great to be Home, embraced the herringbone pattern and it looked great.



And I also thought about examples of how a white tile wainscoting and dark indigo walls can look crisp and modern and exciting.  Like these:




 If only that grout was white.  That’s when things went badly for me, because I spotted this leftover bucket of white grout in the storage room and thought... Well... Maybe...



So I attempted to out smart the room, and to regrout over the poo-sandwich reddish-brown grout.
 



It did make a difference....



But in the end, even with freshly painted walls, I don’t think I’m going to get the results I was hoping for.  

 
Even if the white grout could be completely replaced throughout the room, I'm not sure that this same pattern on the floor would work.  I'm just going to chalk this up as a big epic fail, and we'll have to revisit this bathroom remodel after we get done with the upstairs one, which we're saving until after the holidays.  (The holidays are can be stressful enough with a working toilet.) 

Any one else have any big DIY failures that their willing to share with the group?  Come on, it would make me feel better!

7 comments:

  1. Are we looking at two different rooms? I think it could totally work! I vote you dive in with the dark indigo paint and then decide!

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  2. I don't know anything about tiles, but is it possible to shimmy them off and relay/reuse them with new grout? xo

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  3. Hey there - I had this issue with my old house's kitchen floor. Nice white tiles, yucky dark grout. I tried grout cleaner, bleach, srubbing, but didn't help much at all. I ended up painting them with some white grout paint, and presto! Gorgeous floor. You had to be careful to not paint the tiles but still get really close, but since it was white on white I could do it by hand. I know you're giving up on the tiles in general, but just wanted to give you another option!

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  4. Could you maybe the paint the tile? I've got awful white tile backsplash that I'm considering maybe painting if I can ever find a tutorial on it that looks easy enough (i.e. goofproof enough for even me to complete!)

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  5. Gloria- I was sort of thinking that... but didn't want to waste any more time and money. You might have just convinced me to take the plunge though. Maybe if I could pry it off the floors and put a larger tile down there instead to break things up a bit.
    Beth- We tried to pry one off, but unfortunately the only way they are coming down is in pieces. I didn't realize there was such thing as grout paint, but that might help get me better coverage. Right now it's not just that the grout is stained, it was always this deep red color. Maybe I'll tackle this after all...

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  6. Another option is to wainscot the walls with something else (like the picture with the teal walls) to break up the tile a bit, then leave the shower and the floor (after fixing the grout, of course). The room above looks like it has some 1x4 pine boards laid vertically for the wainscot? I really don't think this one's a fail just yet...

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  7. Great idea Carrie! I'm so glad I posted about this, you all are giving me the guts to keep trying on this one.

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