Tile, Shops, and Tile Shops – Part 7.2

Good afternoon. We are still in Vichy and we going back to the bathroom and tile place. So you know it is going to be a good afternoon.

So what we are doing is just combining the two tiles that will be next to each other in the house.

We have picked the floor tiles for the two bedrooms and the office. It is a sort of wood effect tile. There are a few to pick from but its.

Some of the print quality is terrible. I mean really terrible but the one we have picked is sort of the lighter colour. It is less sort of honey coloured, less warm, but then you start putting it next to colder coloured tiles and it really. You realise how difficult it is to judge the effect of these tiles in a large area.

I think I am OK.

Yes, me too.

Now onto the bathroom.

We are not actually going to make the selection today because, believe it or not, we are coming back tomorrow. I know, it’s crazy.

Just done some math. So we have worked out how much it costs for the tiler to actually lay the tiles and how much the builder has budgeted for the tiles they are doing. So that gives us a bit of budget to work with for the tiles that we are paying for because not all the tiles are included in the house build.

This is all feeling very very familiar.

We have spent this afternoon looking at tiles for the two bathrooms and for the two bedrooms and the office. We have tiles for the rest of the house but we decided to have these three others rooms in a separate format.

We are rather taken by the faux wood style tiles. We looked at the parquet sort of floating wood flooring but it is not great with underfloor heating. It does not have the greatest thermal properties. Where as a faux actual tile is ideal for underfloor heating.

The difficultly we are having at the moment is that the tile choice we have for the floors is good. The supplier the builder uses for tiles is great for floors but we are finding the selection for the bathroom is a little bit either avant-garde or just not our style.

So tomorrow we are going to look again at the builder’s first pick but we are also going to go to a few other stores. I think we will do a little bit better job once we are rested.

Good morning. We have had a good night in the hotel. Feeling a bit more rested today.

So today’s plan, we go back to the bathroom and tile place and we tell them what we need for all the floor tiles. That will deal with the builder. The builder will then have all the information they need to continue.

That still leaves us with the bathroom wall tiles and we are not really happy with the choice that we can see from this supplier.

So the plan there, we want to see a few other suppliers. There is no great rush to make a choice for that today. It does drag out the tile choice that bit longer.

And we are done.

That was quick. We have made our choice for the floors. We have had a look again at the bathroom walls. The choice is not easy. We came away learning that unless it is on display they probably do not have anything else. I mean they do have white versions of some tiles, kind of the stock tiles, but it terms of colours. That kind of thing. If they do not have sample palettes there and then, they do not have them.

So, we have learnt that. Now onto some other stores.

No idea about this place. Keep seeing it advertised. We know it is a building supplier type place. So let’s go take a look.

Prices are better. So that is good news. So there are few things here that have made us go ooh, that is a possibility.

It is good. It is a better choice.

This was worth coming to.

Much better choice. Much more suited to what we want. Now for another store.

Stopped for a coffee. Much needed. Now onto, which one is this?

Brico Marché.

Brico Marché. Another store we have never been into before. Again looking for bathroom wall tiles.

Not a great selection of bathroom wall tiles here but nice shop. Very much like Leroy Merlin in Lyon.

Because it is lunch time they are closing. I am not quite sure why DIY stores do not stay open longer on the weekends here but they do not and onto another store.

OK, well maybe not onto another store. They are all closed or at least they are closing.

I can not say they are all closed. Just the ones we want to visit are closed.

Heading down towards the river. There is a nice park area that lines the river banks here in Vichy. Makes for a nice place to eat your lunch.

There is only really one more thing to do and that is to fill up a water bottle with the local Vichy sparkling water.

Bubbly.

And we are done. It has been a good two days in Vichy. The house has progressed beyond all belief and we have made a lot of decisions in the last sort of 48 hours. Particularly today knowing the tiles are going to be OK.

See you next time.

My Snickers melted.