Improving the view! (Tiled Garden Wall)

[shonastar]

Hi all,

The view from our kitchen window was pretty blah, just a dirty white wall, so after months of plotting and planning and stockpiling tiles................ta da! I had originally decided to do a tree, kind of Orla Kiely style (hence the traced outline in the before pic) but in the end I stuck to a more traditional style.
Thanks for looking!

[mondubics]

That took a lot of hard work! and what a result! well done.

[wickwocks]

what a great job, fair play to you

[TickTock]

Wow!

[Chris P]

Fantastic work, Shonastar.

Thanks for sharing!

Regards
Chris P
Admin

[MuddyWitch]

That is really impressive! Well done, you!

MW

[psj]

Well done you! Even my other half was impressed with this and he's very particular!
Well done again!
Psj

[tudlytops]

That is so cool, well done...:)

[shonastar]

Thank you all for the lovely comments! I've started another wall in the garden so I'll post pics when it's done, and I'm doing a before and after on a table and chairs as well, so there'll be lots more pics soon,
kind regards

[Scrabble]

Looks brilliant.

[Gormal]

WOW! That is fantastic.

[lushington]

wow, I am very impressed. A lot of effort

[melissabell]

That really looks great :)

[Anne27]

Love It Love It :-) Well Done

[blue eyes]

well done that was a great idea to brighten up your garden. it looks fantastic. it must have taken alot of time and patience. well done.

[Annabee]

seriously impressed! how long did that take and what did you use to hold the tiles on with? I have a very long concrete block wall and I've been too intimidated to start, been collecting tiles and broken crockery for a while now!

[shonastar]

I'm very grateful to everyone who took the time to comment, thank you so much. It really didn't take very long, but the work was spread out over ten days as I could only do it when the little one was having a nap and when it wasn't raining.
I'd guess it took about 10 hours from start to finish, at one stage I was using a piping bag to pipe on the adhesive (much to the amusement of my family) as I found the trowel too bulky when I only had small gaps left to do.
Apart from tiles you need adhesive and grout, any tile shop or diy store will have them, just ask for an adhesive which is also suitable for outdoors. Once the tiles are properly stuck on with adhesive, leave to dry for 24 hours. All that's left is to grout it. I'd also advise getting wide join grout, it's for when you have wider gaps between the tiles ie. larger than a few mm.
As for the design, I picked something fairly simple as I know I'll be looking at it for a long time to come, I did a flowerbed in my mum's over three years ago and it still looks perfect.
Now if the rain would only stop I could get cracking on the second wall lol!!
Kind regards,
Shonastar x

[magda_ola]

wow! it's amazing:)

[tinx]

OMG This is amazing what a good job!!!

[sept09baby]

I adore this and can't wait to start my own. Have a good few cream tiles so need to collect more coloured ones and decide on a design. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Narizota]

Wow,I love this,it looks amazing!!

You are very talented and I can't wait to see what you do next!

[Pepperpixie]

wow fairplay to ya shonastar, that is brilliant. ya should take on some commission work!!! Anyone be proud to have that in their garden.

[Khublei]

Wow! That is incredible. I have a house with 3 tiled fireplaces I don't want and a terrible white (meant to be white.....) wall view from the dining room table. I have been trying to think of someway to use the tiles to do up the wall - hope you don't mind if I try and do something similar!

[shonastar]

I'm absolutely thrilled to have inspired some of you to do your own wall, please, please post pics when they're done, I'd love to see them!

[Laineym]

This is fabulous - I'm going to try this myself on a couple of boring brick Walls - sometime ... Thanks for the inspiration ;-)

[amybaby]

wow! that is just amazing. a super job. well done you!

[irishrose]

That looks terrific! Very impressive!

[SLCB]

Hi, The walls look great. I'd love to do something similar but I'm not in the slightest bit arty. I'm thinking of taking a night course in Mosaics and am wondering if you did a course or just straight to it??

[shonastar]

Thank you once again to everyone who commented, in reply to the last post, I didn't do any courses in mosaics, but I did have an advantage in having a few tilers in the family, (they are usually very helpful in taking the mickey and pointing out mistakes lol!).
On a serious note, I opened a tile shop last year, to anyone who is thinking of doing something like this, my advice would be to pass by your local tile shop, explain what you would like to do, and ask about adhesives and grout, they will advise you on the best materials to use and answer any questions you might have. You can buy ready mixed buckets of adhesive if you don't want to mix it yourself.They will also have broken or discontinued tiles in bins or skips that they will be happy to get rid of.
As for design, if you're going to tile over a wall, any traced out designs will be hidden by the tiles, so get practising, try out a few different designs with different colour markers. It can be as hard or easy as you like.
As always, if anyone needs broken tiles and can make it to Dungarvan, send me a PM and I'll do my best to help, Shonastar x

[eemzie]

Wow wee, It's beautiful!

[raisincake]

i think its amazing well done how long did it take u ?

[shonastar]

Hi raisincake, it took about 10 hours from start to finish :-)

[shelly..]

I love your tree, it's amazing. You've inspired me to give it a go but haven't a clue what I'm doing. I've never tried anything like this before. My garden wall looks to be about the same size as yours but it's not quite flat, there are some bumps and lumps on it? Did you use all tiles suitable for outdoors? With the winter weather we've been having do I need to make sure the tiles are all frost proof?

[shonastar]

Hi shelley, almost all tiles are suitable for indoor/outdoor use, (if you think about it, they are usually put in hard wearing areas ie. kitchen/bathroom) Frost and weather conditions don't come into it, there are tiled flower beds and walls that I completed 4 years ago, that have shown absolutely no sign of wear and tear, and the last 4 winters have been particularly harsh. However, as I have said in previous posts, please ask for advice when you are buying adhesive and grout. I opened an independant tile shop last year with my husband (I just love living life on the edge!). I can honestly say that anyone with half an interest in this sector would only be too happy to give advice or answer questions. Independant shops aren't always more expensive than large chains/diy shops (sometimes we're cheaper :-)) As for bumps and lumps, if you're not a professional tiler you will be using a thicker layer of adhesive, which will eliminate most of the bumps and lumps. Besides, this is for an outside wall, it really doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, believe me you won't notice the imperfections once it's done!
My only advice would be, just do it, I still love looking out at my tree, months later, nothing beats the sense of achievement you'll feel.
The only tool I used to cut the tiles was a hammer (and a tea towel to stop flying shards).
To shelley (and anyone else looking for advice) feel free to PM me with questions, Shonastar

[helen11]

love it, fair play to you, i,m jealous :).