Pictures of Entry Tiling Project

Here are the promised pictures of the entry project. Enjoy.

The area was not very large; I even had to trim the carpet back a bit to fit a 3' x 5' backer-board.

The backer-board did fit perfectly when I laid it. I was also lucky the front door has a good amount of extra clearance so I didn't have to cut out the hardwood under the peel-and-stick tile.

Laying the tile out and grinding down the diagonal edges to fit the mosaic tile in the center while maintaining the grout line width took the most time.


Placing the tiles went smoothly and quickly, with the exception of running out of the thin set and having to run to two stores to find more. Other than that, and having a little squeeze up through the center mosaic section, setting the tile was quite easy.

I was able to lay the outer mosaic border before dinner that night...

With the final outer layer of tiles being laid later that night.

After grouting on Monday night, the finished product looks pretty nice.

Some of the grout lines aren't perfect regarding consistent width...

...but Carolyn and I think the center mosaic feature turned out especially nice!

Thanks for taking the time to look. The relative ease of this project has made Carolyn more confident of my ability to tile larger rooms in the future. This will probably not occur for some time, but tiling rooms of a house is a relatively easy way to boost the appeal of a house, and you definitely can save some money by doing it yourself.

Entry Tiling Project Introduction

So the first project is one we have had in mind for almost as long as we have owned the house. The current entry area of our home consists of an area approximately 3' x 5' of bad peal-and-stick vinyl (pictures will be posted eventually). We wanted to tile the area, figuring it would be an easy, relatively cheap way to improve the looks of the living room. At first I wanted granite or marble tile, but after looking at the available selection and considering the size of the area, that did not seem the best choice. Carolyn wanted slate, but after reviewing our options we decided the natural stone was simply too expensive.

We found some nice slate-look ceramic tile and matching mosaic-style tiles at The Home Depot, and decided to go with that. Our plan is to have the entire project done by the end of Memorial Day. We have already begun, cutting the carpet to a uniform edge and cutting a few tiles for the center of the design. More updates will follow, with pictures of the layout and the current vinyl.