When I first moved in, there were some loose tiles in front of the sink.
No long after, a few others got loose. I investigated with my knife and discovered that the cement below was broken and chunky. So, like any good and thrifty homeowner, I threw a rug over it and put it off.
Three years later, I decided I really hated that rug. I had to face the underlying problem.
I went on a quest for tile. Hoo boy, is that a post in itself. The short version is that I looked online and visited three different tile shops in NYC, everything from a boutique in the West Village to a Dal Tile showroom in Murray Hill. Turns out the individual pieces I have are not really made any move, and the exact thickness is no longer standard. So, I spent a few months entertaining the idea of replacing the entire floor tile, which led to considering the walls as well, and then I decided I just wanted to patch the floor in a creative way.
Here was my idea: the hole was directly in front of the sink, and so I thought a simple mosaic of different shades of blue could be used to make a simple puddle mosaic. I would only need a few pieces. This last piece was the most challenging: no one sells tiles in anything smaller than 55 gallon drums, or something equally ludicrous for my purposes. I just grabbed some sample packs and sketched out a design.
I got the building super to fix the whole - much cheaper and simpler than hiring a contractor. However, I ended with a simpler version of my original vision: a square of squares, light blue.
So, not perfect, not even brilliant, but serviceable. A few months later, the repair is holding up, and as I prepare to fix up the rest of the bathroom, it's a nice touch - something to point out hat is personalized and a little creative.
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