Guest Bathroom Flooring: Tile That Looks Like Hardwood

It’s almost ridiculous how much I love fixing up this house. 18 months later and I’m still just having a field day! I haven’t done anything big around the house the last six months or so because we’ve been a little preoccupied with, oh say, deployments and baby prep, but it’s felt so good to get back in the game by refreshing another room.

A few weeks ago I tested out a couple different shades of gray that I had leftover in my paint supplies and knocked out quickly painting our basement guest bathroom without ever putting it on my to-do list, and you guys know I rarely accomplish anything that’s not written down on a list! I used Sherwin William’s “Dorian Gray”.

Once the walls were painted, I grabbed some Annie Sloan chalk paint and wax and went to town knocking out the oak vanity. I loved the finished product so much, but it was hard to ignore the outdated linoleum floors.

Tile that looks like hardwood

Less than two weeks ago I contacted my flooring guy who installed our guest room carpet last summer, and he quickly made time to come out and give me an estimate and a little advice.

I told him that I just figured we could install some laminate hardwood or something, and he looked at me with a smirk like I was a little bananas. Apparently putting in any kind of basement bathroom flooring besides tile is a big no-no for several reasons, so I quickly shifted gears in my mind that we were going to go with tile.

Learning as we go, folks. 🙂

I picked up a couple cases of this hardwood-looking tile from Menards as well as a 12 ft. long untreated piece of quarter round. My materials came to $72 total. My handyman and I settled on a price of $250 which covered his labor to remove the toilet, provide the mortar and grout, and lay/grout the tile. He’s not a licensed plumber, so I had to hire someone else separately to install the toilet back in. Not a big deal.

Here’s what the bathroom looked like a few weeks ago. Note that I’d already painted the trim and replaced the doors about a  year ago.

Here’s how it looks today!

Here’s another before shot.

And now!

Because the linoleum was laid well years ago, Richie (my flooring guy) said that he could lay the tile right on top of it. As far as the baseboards go, I could have either removed them and asked Richie to install new baseboards (which meant paying out more money) or he could just apply quarter round. We went the cheaper route which I think looks great! You’ll see the quarter round below.

I gave Richie the reigns to use whatever grout he thought would look best, and I really love his choice. He explained that he went with a dark color because it makes the finished look appear more hardwood-like. He said that a lighter grout would make it look more obviously like tile (makes sense).

I have a long wish list of decor that I want to keep my eye out for to brighten up the space (a new mirror and light fixture for starters), but for now I’m just thrilled to have the expensive and time-consuming tasks out of the way. We’re hoping to see every penny that we spent on this bathroom back when we sell in the future. Fingers crossed!

Local readers:

I highly recommend Richie’s Flooring for all of your flooring needs. Not only are his prices reasonable, but he is extremely particular about his work. He wants his jobs to be perfect and will point out every little roadblock that may cause his work to look less than flawless. He’s timely and skilled. Very happy with his services so far. You can find him on Facebook here.

I also recommend Bob’s Plumbing (thanks to my MOPS friends for that recommendation). They reinstalled my toilet and were also very timely and particular about doing a perfect job (they ran into a few issues with my toilet that they worked around and promptly fixed).

Psssst! Did you see my updated home tour?! I hope you’ll take a look!