The old tiles on the floor have been removed and the paint and tile adhesive ground back and that is a job I never wish to do again. The dust created by the concrete grinder was beyond anything I ever imagined and literally coated every surface in the house and got into every tiny crack or hole, even into closed cupboards!
With that prep behind us now we have started laying the tiles.
In my head I had always dreamed of rustic slate floors, so that's what I naively brought. 100 square meters of ungauged, light rich indian slate in flagstone. So we received 100 square meters of very rough cut, dusty, flaky slate in four different sizes, square, big rectangle, long thin rectangle and small rectangle. The first challenge was coming up with a pattern to lay these tiles down in, then there was cleaning the dust off and removing the very flaky pieces, then sorting them into sizes as some were 10mm shorter or longer than they were supposed to be, then checking the tile thickness which varied from 3mm to 13mm. I'm still working on that job!
Finally we got our first twenty tiles laid down and they are beautiful. Even more so because of the hard work it has taken to put them down. Neither my husband and I are professional tile layers or know anyone who is, all our knowledge came from good ole Google and YouTube, but even with kids we are managing to renovate our own little cottage.
TOP TIPS FOR RENOVATING WITH KIDS
- Don't do it! If you can renovate before you have kids then do it. It will make the process much easier and less stressful.
- Secure play area. Make sure the kids have a secure play area to play in while you work. Our kids are playing in the shed and my oldest one rides his bike around the cottage. Because the shed door has to stay open I'm constantly chasing after my eighteen month old as he tries to eat my succulents and get into the pond.
- Ask for help. Enlist aid wherever possible, ask grandparents and friends to babysit, enrol your kids in occasional care (I've done this with my youngest during the week so I can get three hours of uninterrupted work done).
- Finger food. Have plenty of snacks that the kids can help themselves to, when their eating their quiet.
- Be realistic. Have a goal in mind of how much work you want to achieve that day and expect to only get half of it done. With kids comes many interuptions.
- Naptimes. Plan to get really hard messy work done during naptimes. My youngest has a portacot set up in the back of the shed so we can put him down there for a nap and expect at least one and a half hours of peace.
- Let them help. Give the kids a job and they will feel part of the team. My 4 year old loves helping me dust the tiles and because he is doing it my youngest will often grab a brush as well.
- Make time for play. Don't forget to take some time to play with the kids as well, if they are happy you'll be happier too.
If I think of anything else I'll add it to the list.
While renovating with kids is a lot of trouble it is very rewarding to do the work ourselves.
