Waiting for life to begin: Friday the 13th

When I woke up on Friday morning, it was cold and raining. I pulled the covers over my head and regretted booking my National Tiles appointment for several reasons. Superstition was my excuse, but I guess it really came down to nerves and the cold weather. The bed was warm and safe. Out there, where I needed to make independent decisions, was a scary.

I plucked up my courage and headed to Ballarat for the inevitable Tile appointment (the last step in the planning process).

I had already decided to change my wall paint colour and had it approved by Simonds. I found ‘Bliss’ was too dark. I consulted my uncle, a painter with a good eye for colour; you can’t go past his experience. He recommended ‘Off White’ from the colours I had. And so ‘Off White’ it is.

The National Tile guy was really nice and very helpful.

First I had to choose floor tiles. I needed floor tiles for the ensuit, bathroom, toilet and laundry. I decided to go with the standard range: Grigio Satin 400x400. They cut down this tile for the skirting boards on the bottom of the wall as well.

Next we looked at wall tiles for the ensuit, bathroom and laundry. I decided to go with the same colour but in a gloss and 200x400: Portofino Plateau Gloss (also standard). Also in the ensuit and bathroom showers, I chose a feature tile: Polished Grey Wood Mosaic 15mmX100mm. It is a light stone mosaic that matches the other house colours really well. This feature tile wasn’t standard and cost extra: $184 for both showers (a good price if you ask me).

I also put a soap holder in both showers. There is nothing worse than having no place to put your soap but on the bottom of the shower floor. I chose cream because it matched better with my colour scheme.

And finally, the kitchen! This is the one area I have debated over and over. In an ideal world I would have red glass splashback, or red aluminium splashback. Sadly however, both of these options were out of my price range.

I have to admit, I’ve been looking for an alternative. I went into National Tiles several weeks ago, looking for a deep glass red tile. But of course they had none (every colour but). Disappointed, I have been to other tile places and seen lots of tiles that would be wonderful (and yes, RED). But I have to go with National Tiles, or pay the cost of someone else (of which I can’t afford).

I have been into National Tiles about four times in the last month, mainly to look at kitchen splashback tiles. And finally, new stock came in!

I fell in love! With a tile!

It’s called Silk Olive 300x600. I held my breath as the tile guy worked out a quote for all of the kitchen splashback tiles. (I hope you are holding your breath right now too.)

$127.00

Yes, $127. I didn’t forget a zero or mix the numbers up! $127 to tile my whole, yes whole, kitchen splashback in Silk Olive.

So now, this is my kitchen; Kempas wooden floors, Feldspar Shimmer skirting boards under the cupboards, Dawn on the cupboard doors, Oiled Soapstone bench top and Silk Olive tiles.