HD tile for the entryway
I am going to retile my very small entry (about 4 by 7 feet) in a brick row house. The original tile (uncovered under layers of vinyl) is damaged penny tiles. I don’t want to go that route again because I want larger tiles (less grout to scrub). I will be using Home Depot tile…
I am going to retile my very small entry (about 4 by 7 feet) in a brick row house. The original tile (uncovered under layers of vinyl) is damaged penny tiles. I don’t want to go that route again because I want larger tiles (less grout to scrub). I will be using Home Depot tile (I have a big gift card). I have no experience decorating, so any ideas about what sort of tile would look best or be the best bet at HD are much appreciated.
If your house is pre-1910 and you use 12-inch tile, you will ruin the entry. Use something classic in keeping with the era even if it is not penny tiles.
Or re-grout the existing tile and throw a welcome mat over it.
Pick a tile that is same color thru and thru, it won’t show wear or minor chips. With such a small area money shouldn’t be an issue pick something you’ll love for the next 15-20 years.
I got some HD tile for the rental kitchens, about $1.50 per square foot, 12 inch tile, grey slate color. Not too horsey looking, very durable. For the entryway I went to Auction Outlet of Queens, 9504 Liberty Ave, near Rockaway and Woodhaven. Great for low-end and mid-range tile, good selection, better than HD IMO.
2 additional pieces of advice:
1. do not get the tile that has obviously printed pattern. You can tell by looking real close, if you see a screen type pattern, run away, that’s ghetto.
2. whatever you put down, keep 4-5 square feet extra, in case next year someone drops an anvil or a piano and breaks the tile. It would be a whole lot easier to fix if you already have some of the same tile.
Also, factor grout color into the equation. You don’t have to worry about lots of grout lines with small tiles if you pick a grout color that does not show much dirt. That said, we did it tinarina’s way, and it came out pretty nicely, although not traditional.
Two comments:
*Be aware that new tile laid over old will add height. Make sure it will work.
*Personally I like the old stuff and believe it preserves the value of your home. If you can’t just leave it as it is, patch it, or regrout it, I would stick to something classic in the same general vein. For example, HD carries old-fashioned type mosiac basketweave tiles. They are identical to the old thing, except the “white” and “black” are slightly different shades than the original, and the pre-set distance between the tiles is bigger (more room for dirt). On the topic of patching, there is a hair salon called Fringe on the Lower East Side on Broome St. that has a Victorian encaustic tile floor. They patched the holes in the floor with octagonal black and white tile. It looks so cool I cannot even tell you. It’s like some kind of art thing.
We used HD 6″ x 6″ terra cotta tile in the entrance to our garden apt. It looks good, is super-durable, and not expensive.
Laying it on the diagonal would be a nice touch.
The Hamilton Ave. HD had some great 13×13 Dal-tile right before New Year’s
approx. $1-$2/sq.ft. (can’t remember exactly, nor whether they had smaller sizes). Not a prominent display—kind of buried down the aisles.
Agreed, I think larger tile generally looks horsey.
Make sure you get tile that’s rated for heavy foot traffic. A simple design of a light colored “field” and then maybe just a rectangle of color in the center??? In that size space smaller tile is going to look better.