The great thing about working with mosaic tiles is that little or no tile cutting is involved. These tiles come in squares of 15 tiles by 15 tiles, attached by a net backing. We wanted our bathtub border to be just 6 little tiles tall, instead of the 15 that come per sheet, so we simply cut the backing with a pair of scissors to get just the right amount of tiles for us. Easy peasy and we didn't even have to borrow my Dad's tile saw!
So once our tiles were all trimmed, it was time to actually stickem' to the wall. Back when we installed our kitchen backsplash, we learned that sometimes the easy route is the better route so we chose a pre-mixed tile adhesive. Yes, it's pricier than old school adhesive which you have to mix yourself, but its also a heck of a lot easier. No mixing is required, the adhesive is ready to use right out of the tub.
Starting in the corner of the walls and working in small chuncks, I spread a thick layer of adhesive onto the walls using a wide putty knife and then ran across it with a notched trowel to ensure we had an even coat on the wall. It was a lot like frosting a cake. Once there was a nice level coat of adhesive of the wall, I placed the tiles on the wall making sure they were being placed at a level height. You can see my trusty leveler below which I used to make sure that the tiles were being placed on a nice even line.
Then I repeated the process section by section until all of the tile went up. As I went along, I used a big sponge to wipe off any excess adhesive that got on the front of the tiles.
So that's where we are today and our tub is looking like this:
It's looking better already, but of course we aren't done yet. Our next step is to grout the tiles. We might not get to grouting until next weekend, but I'll be sure to share an update as soon as it happens!
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