When I put the tiles in place on the hall floor, the tile 'rug' that I thought would work well - just didn't - it looked too small and drew your eye and so the hall floor looked ridiculously small. It is only 8" x 12.75" any way so doesn't need shrinking any further. I also thought all the doorways would look much better with a defined line across them rather than a plain cream tile. This tile meets wood on the other side of each of the doors and needed something to underline that. So, I have ended up with the simplest of all floors - a chequerboard pattern with a darker tile surround.
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| trial and (spot the) error |
The border down each side is a half inch square tile, the border across the top is a one inch tile and the border across the bottom is a one inch tile from which I have to cut a quarter of an inch to make it fit the 12.75" length. Here again is a planning issue; had I been thinking about tiles when I planned the inner walls, they could have been made to fit the tiles better.
The strange looking brown tiles are the (now extra) cream ones laid face down so I could work out how many pale grey I would need to complete the floor. Thanks to Graham at Dollhouse-flooring.com I had them in a couple of days.
Here's how I cut them to fit.
Two really useful pieces of kit - a G-clamp and mitre box. I know the clamp is technically upside down but it is fine for small work and is easier to undo and redo for each thing if that's what you will need to do as I eventually did with this.
Here's how I cut them to fit.
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| G-clamp |
Two really useful pieces of kit - a G-clamp and mitre box. I know the clamp is technically upside down but it is fine for small work and is easier to undo and redo for each thing if that's what you will need to do as I eventually did with this.
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| the proper way |
Here I am using a piece of wood clamped in place along with the mitre block. The wood is being used as a stop-place for the tile so I don't have to measure and mark off the quarter inch each time. This works just fine. Thanks Graham for the tip.
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| my way |
Being me I just had to do it a different way. I was having trouble holding the tile in place while I was cutting it so I marked the cut and then just clamped each tile along with the mitre box and cut through.
By now I had done six of the eight.... I then discovered this!!
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| Aaaaarrrgh!! so simple |
Hello Marilyn,
ReplyDeleteIs that a pair of scissors you are using to cut Graham's tiles?? I have just tried that on one of his one-inch square tiles and am AMAZED how easy it cut! Why didn't I know that before? This might be my favorite idea that you have given me. He always told me to use a miter box and a fine blade, which I just could not get to work. So THANK YOU once again. Definitely missed this post during my first reading.
Yup Beth, like you I struggled with the saw and then discovered scissors worked fine!! Not sure why the saw should be better? Scissors do tend to squeeze things when you cut so may take the cut offline but just be slow and careful. I can be as far off line with a saw!! Marilyn
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