tiles

In keeping with our black grey white colour scheme, we set off looking for some tiles for the kitchen and balcony. We essentially wanted the two to be of the same colour, so that the apartment wouldn't look too mis-matched. Being in two different parts of the apartment, we wanted to tie the two together visually, and so we thought we would look for a tile that came in two different finishes - polished for the kitched and a honed (matte) for the balcony. 

It was not as easy as we thought. Most tiles have slight grains, veins or patterns and we wanted a flat medium grey because the stone benchtops and marble splashback have enough texture in them already.After browsing a few stores we had almost given up for the day and headed for the car when out of the corner of my eye I spotted it. A big sign that said SALE, and underneath, a big pile of grey tiles in exactly the style we were looking for. We bought 600mm x 600mm for the kitchen in polished, and 300mm x 300mm for the balcony. 7sqm each. Parma from Hardware and General.

Tiling is not an easy job, particularly if you've ripped out a previous kitchen and used a jackhammer on the ground to remove tiles stuck on with 35yr old glue. We already poured levelling concrete but that is only to make it easier, not make it perfectly flat. So when it came time to lay the tiles we encountered a few problems. Keeping all four corners flat the the cement is very hard on an uneven surface. But we got there in the end, and after taking a second look, it actually came up pretty well. Here's hoping the balcony will be easier.