There’s always one

Yesterday, I think we finally did it; we completed the last major job before we start on the garden.

We tiled the conservatory floor. It is mid February and it is cold out, very cold, but if we want our living room back, we need to finish the conservatory. The living room currently has all the conservatory furniture in it, as well as a lot of tiles and it would be good to move it out again.

“What did we learn?” I find myself saying this a lot at work, and so I thought I’d share with you what we learnt doing this in February. We learnt that porcelain tiles are considerably colder than concrete. Kneeling on the floor was cold, but just about bearable when Ian was putting the tiles down. 

We learnt that once the tiles were laid it was not bearable! It was freezing. Grouting became painful, warm water was needed to stop our hands going numb, and cutting tiles outside was positively arctic. 

We also learnt there is always one. One tile that didn’t bed down. Not so bad with an uneven floor and frozen fingers. So here it is, tiled. A beautiful window to the world and will a reminder that summer will come and we will have time to just sit, read, daydream and enjoy our new home.    

We learnt that February is not the best month to do a job like this, but with determination it can be done. 

I leant that a hot bath is the only way to warm up after a day on the tiles.