This room, the room that we use as the master bedroom, is a work in process. It was an addition to the original house; I’m not sure when it was added but it has a concrete floor, unlike the rest of the house which is hardwood (in desperate need of sanding and refinishing). I’m afraid the whole place is a work in process just to keep it standing. Our home was built, as near as I can tell, some time in the mid to late 1800′s, of native stone and wood. There’s no foundation as we know it today- it was built on stone footings that rest right on the earth. Seriously. I shit you, not. (I almost knocked my front porch down by double digging flower beds in front of it- but that’s a story for another day).
This room had been used for storage for as long as I can remember. Sometime in the ’90′s, unbeknown to me, a flock of pigeons had managed to get in through a hole in the eaves and roosted back here. By the time my Grama moved in with me in ’98 and we discovered the wreck back here, everything in the room was pretty much ruined and the pigeon guano was so strong it burned the eyes and we had to wear respirators to breathe safely while we gutted the room.
Two of the exterior walls are stone and one is wood siding on the outside. There was no insulation (which makes me think that it’s likely that the rest of the house isn’t insulated, either) when we tore the old lathe and plaster wallboard out, and once we had it bare to the framing we sprayed it down with contractor grade chlorine bleach to kill any molds, mildews and bacteria left by the pigeon poop.
Okay! Did you have a great 24 hours?? I did here in my desert paradise. Are you ready to grout? It’s messy, so lay out a bunch of newspaper outside somewhere. Make sure you have gloves if you’re using colored grout; it stains. You can use any ol’ latex or neoprene gloves, but I like my purple ones.
You’re going to want to have a large container of water, as opposed to running your hose. (When you’re all done make sure to dump the water on a thirsty tree, okay?) A couple of sponges. See the big one with the black rubber on one side? That is a sponge specifically for grouting, but it’s not really necessary for a small project like this.
I like the latex grout for small projects and for garden art. It holds up well outside. Sanded grout is okay, if it’s all you’ve got. After you do a few projects, you’ll find your own way with it. It’s a bit rough to gauge how much you’ll need, so start with a small amount. You can always mix a little more as needed (I did for this project. The initial mix wasn’t quite enough).
Make a little well in the center of your grout. Make it about a quarter to a third of the volume of the dry mix.
Add water a little at a time. It’s much easier to mix in additional water if it needs more than it is to add the dry. Mix well, as the water is absorbed into the lumps it will get wetter than you think. Also it always seems to get lumpier and require a lot more mixing when you have to add more dry. Also when that happens you always seem to end up with more than you can use. We hate waste!
I think this photo shows the consistency pretty well. It’s about the consistency of cake frosting or maybe a little thicker than custard, (but not as smooth, of course!)
You can scoop up some grout on a sponge and begin pressing it in and on your pot, but it’s a little awkward on something this small, so I usually just use my hands. Press the grout firmly and make sure to fully fill all the spaces. Press down and toward the center of the individual tiles so that the grout goes underneath them a bit, too.
After you have the tile fully covered, use the foam “brush” or a small sponge to smooth and push the grout in some more.
Use the sponge brush to remove some of the excess grout, too.
Before you begin to wipe, wring the large sponge out very well! Wipe, rinse, wring; repeat. You don’t want to use too much water, it will just wash the grout out from between the spaces.
If you are using sanded grout, too much water will also make your grout grainy looking and will wash out the color and make it cloudy looking. Too much water (or too sloppy of a consistency) can make your grout crack as it dries. Bad news! Get it reasonably clean, but don’t worry about leaving a haze of color on the surface of the tiles. It will wipe off easily when the grout is dry. Focus more on making your grout lines smooth and consistent, especially along the edges.
How cool is that?! The grout will take about 24 hours to dry. Don’t sit the piece in the sun, it will dry too fast. If you have tiled something that is in the sun already; some piece of permanent or too heavy to move yard art, drape a cloth over it and mist it with a spray bottle periodically to allow the grout to dry slowly and evenly and to prevent cracking. When the grout is fully dry, buff it with a soft cloth to remove the haze and any excess grout on the surface of the tiles, then seal your tile and grout with any tile and grout sealant.
See? Who needs “new” stuff? Upcycle your old stuff into new art that is perfectly your style! Check back in with me here in Thorne’s World for more recycled art How-Tos. Coming up soon: Yard art Mosaic Bowling Balls (scroll down to #6). You can also see some of my tile mosaic and broken tile mosaic about halfway down this page of things that make me happy!
Back to Part 1: Green Up Your Garden Decor Questions in comments are welcome. I’ll try my best to answer and advise. I’d love to see your creative projects, too, so leave me a link!
A couple weeks ago I wrote a list of fantastic junk to use in mosaics. Before we get into attaching some of the more randomly shaped items of various materials (which can get a lil tricksy if you don’t want your parts falling off randomly and for no apparent reason), I thought I’d give you a step by step how-to on a small project to get you started.
I know you have some old pots around that are just too worn and ugly to use, but still too serviceable to break up for planter-bottom-drainage. Maybe you are wanting to change the color scheme of your patio or porch and are feeling guilty about your secret desire to just say “To hell with being green! I want new STUFF!” Maybe you’re broke, like me! Maybe it has simply never occurred to you that you can have “new” stuff by giving a makeover to old stuff! In any case, this is a great way to give a facelift to a worn out old terra cotta planter (and with just a couple small changes works on plastic planters, too)!Click on the thumbnails for a larger view, or watch the flickr slideshow at the bottom of the post.
"Whoooo are you?", The caterpillar asked Alice.
"Why, I'm not quite sure at the moment, Sir. You see, I knew who I was when I got up this morning, but I must have changed a thousand times since then."
Before you buy a companion parrot please understand that only 10% of your bird is pretty. The other 90% is noisy, messy, moody, jealous and downright painful at times. Before you spend big bucks on that 10% pretty, make sure you understand the 90% you get for free!!
