The house is in need of some updating. We are set on tile, and like the natural looks of travertine, marble and granite. (not in combination though!) It is the "lowball" in a multi-million dollar neighborhood (valued $550,000) and we want to bring in some high class tastes and style designs to bring it into the million dollar range.
Our house currently has 16 year old ceramic tile (off white and tan with brown/tan grout) throughout the kitchen, entry and powder room. In the rest of the bathrooms we have vinyl and in the master we have carpet.
We have searched high and low for tile to match the existing, but just can’t find it anywhere.
If we wanted to go all out with travertine, would it look mismatched with the ceramic that we can’t afford to replace?
It’s hard to tell without photos. You don’t necessarily have to match the old tile, especially if they’re in different rooms. I wouldn’t want a seam between the 2 types of tiles going through the middle of a room…
If you want to increase your resale value, you should save up to replace ALL the tile. The old tile sounds like it needs to go.
Even vinyl in the bathrooms doesn’t exactly scream $550,000 house – no offense!
February 6th, 2010 at 11:13 am
It’s hard to tell without photos. You don’t necessarily have to match the old tile, especially if they’re in different rooms. I wouldn’t want a seam between the 2 types of tiles going through the middle of a room…
If you want to increase your resale value, you should save up to replace ALL the tile. The old tile sounds like it needs to go.
Even vinyl in the bathrooms doesn’t exactly scream $550,000 house – no offense!
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February 6th, 2010 at 11:40 am
To answer last questions. Yes. As a contractor, I always tell people if you think you can’t afford it, you’re wrong. Most people have the idea that you have to go out and buy and install everything all at once. Focus on the rooms you wish to retile and figure out what tile you want in each room. Set up an account at Daltile, or a similar tile wholesaler (you don’t have to be a contractor to get accouts for discounts) so you can get a discount on it and whenever you get some free money, go buy it and if you have some extra closet space/garage space, just store it. Then when you get some more extra money set aside, demo out the old tile and put in new. And keep going from room to room in this fashion, the money you spend you never ‘feel’. Also, alot of homes don’t have the interior to pull off marble. It has be sealed and polished alot to maintain, and be decorated properly on the interior to look high end. And if you are going with Travertine, make sure you have an installer who has worked with it before as it has different installation characteristics than say ceramic or porcelain and an amateur will most definitely screw it up.
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