Tiling Room #1

The tile work on my floors began despite the death of my father-in-law and despite our various illnesses. The tile man is my neighbor, Don, who owns a flooring and blind company, and he arrived at our door, coughing and hacking and sounding very much like me. He assured me he was good to go, and I assured him I was good to have him here, and so he began tearing up the carpet in the old library-soon-to-be-dining room.

We crammed the furniture, the books, and knick-knacks into the playroom, and closed it off. To keep the dog out of Don's hair while he worked, Elliot was either crated or with us in our bedrooms. By Saturday, the tile was spread out on the floor in a diamond layout, and by the next week, it was grouted with a color I made him choose. We love how it turned out.

While Don was busy with the tile, I spent three days searching for the paint chip I had used years ago in the library. Because I couldn't remove the bookcases back then, the area behind them was never painted. Now, the bookshelves have been removed, and I figured now was a great time to render that mistake. The only problem was I didn't have any leftover paint. I had extras of every other color I've used in my house, but not that particular color.

None of the chips I brought home from Lowe's and Home Depot matched. Eventually, I peeled off an area where there was a small glob of collected paint and took that with me to the store where I found it! I knew it was correct when I read the name of the color, Nature's Retreat. That was it! I remembered teasing my friend about the title as we'd painted the library long ago. I bought some paint and slapped it on the wall.

Then, I turned the library into a dining room...with books. I took down my photos from the inset in the wall and replaced it with glasses and decorative liquor bottles.

Then I went through all of my books and weeded them out so that I could have room for the pictures and the knick-knacks to make it look more like a dining area.

I read in a magazine a few months ago a trick for shelving books in two rows, and I followed the method of using empty aluminum foil and/or Saran boxes for the first row. The second row of books covers the cardboard, and because they are on the shelf lower than the first row of books, both can be seen. I liked the results. I also like the way the room turned out.

I also incorporated this shelving unit that Roger built when Tom was young. It fit perfectly in the opposite corner of the room.

Now I just need a table!