Sisters doing it for themselves

To celebrate International Women’s Day, we thought we’d highlight two remarkable women! Suzy Broome is an NHS speech therapist, a mother of four, and does all of her own tiling! Below, she shares some of her advice for those of you (ladies or gents!) tempted to try it for yourselves.

And if that still seems like a bit of a scary prospect, we’ve also spoken to Rosie of Rose & Black in Bristol, painter-decorator, tiler and wet room installer extraordinaire! Rosie will work closely with clients across the Portishead, Clevedon and Bristol area to create bespoke spaces. She can create beautiful wet rooms to the specifications of individual access needs and loves working with clients to create spaces with optimal mental health in mind. Rosie is also extremely well-connected with other local contractors, including carpenters and plumbers, so can assist you in organising a complex job and take some of the logistical stress off your hands! Oh, and she also does furniture restoration. So if you want to renovate your home, why not support a women-owned small business in the process?

Find Rosie on Instagram at @rose.and.black.bristol or her website https://www.roseandblack.co.uk

and Suzy Broome on instagram @suzybroome

Suzy Broome: Tips from a self-taught tiler 

What got you on to doing your own tiling? 

My background is in art and design, so my home has always felt like an extension of my interest in making and self-expression. Even when I was as young as ten, I remember painting a wall in cow print (much to my parents’ horror). When my now husband and I moved into our first rented house together I laid a new lino in the kitchen and wallpapered a feature wall to create a more personal space for us (much to our landlord’s delight). We are very lucky to now own our own home with our four children. Creating a bright, visually interesting and blooming gorgeous space for us all to share together is incredibly important to me because I believe it helps to encourage creativity. And tiles are just such a good way of injecting some real character, pattern and colour into your home.

Did someone teach you? 

Ultimately, the reason I started tiling myself and completing other DIY tasks was down to budget (or lack of it). Because I’m a visual learner, tiling just felt like a process that made sense to me! I’ve always said, if you can do a puzzle, then you can tile.

A lot of DIY comes down to confidence: the confidence to have a go yourself and also the confidence to get it wrong! I’ve just learnt as I’ve gone and not been precious about making mistakes. I started by tiling a simple bath backsplash in our previous home. Then I tiled a large open fireplace, a kitchen, a herringbone parquet floor and a couple of bathrooms! I actually really enjoy tiling. It’s like anything creative, you can just lose yourself in the process and it can feel quite therapeutic.

Do you have any tips for doing your own tiling?

I always start tiling by laying the tiles out in the space and deciding where they look best. You generally always have to cut a tile, so deciding where the cut goes is your first step and how you want the pattern to look. For cuts, I tend to make a paper tile template (the same size as the tile of course) and then I use this to measure any smaller or awkward spaces that need tiling into. Then I use a marker pen to draw the template onto the tile ready to be cut. Another tip that I do when tiling, is using left over cardboard packaging to cut out little square spacers! These go in between the tiles to keep them equally spaced and to stop them from slipping or moving. In fact, getting the kids to cut them out is an activity that keeps them occupied for a good while too and is environmentally sound as it means you don’t need to buy the little plastic spacers. Of course the cardboard needs to be roughly the same thickness otherwise you’ll have different gaps between your tiles! I always have a mini level to hand too and sometimes draw pencil lines onto the wall to keep me from going too wonky.

Any tips for working with handmade tiles in particular?

One of the things I love about using handmade tiles is that they’re all unique. Each one can be a slightly different shape or size to the last. They’re also very tactile to work with. As such you can feel the creative process and skill that has gone into making them. When I tile with handmade tiles I worry a little less about being completely precise with a level or spacers. Instead I lay them, then step back and look at the wall as a whole, then tweak slightly if needed. Handmade tiles really do provide character because there is so much variation. You’re not just looking at square upon square of exact copies, you’re looking at unique, individual squares.

As a woman I feel really passionate about urging other women to pick up a tile or a tool and just have a blooming go. If you don’t have access to tools then put a call out locally to borrow what you need, or hire what you need. If budget allows then go out and invest in a few simple tools that will help you to get started. Put that shelf up, lay the floor, tile the wall. None of it is as hard as you would expect it to be and you’ll surprise yourself at what you can achieve if you just have a go! There’s a wealth of YouTube videos and books out there to take you through every DIY task imaginable! So just give it a go, you’ll save yourself a lot of money and you’ll feel immense pride at what you’ve achieved.

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Rosie of Rose and Black

I started my business 11 years ago when I moved to Bristol, because I needed a job and I’d already previously been to college in Yorkshire where I studied art and design and did some painting and decorating. The two together made for a dream team!

After decorating for a few years, I decided to learn how to tile by taking a course at UK Pro Tiling. On the course I found out that I could attend a Schlüter Wet Room course after, so I signed up! [as a consequence, Rosie has both Schlüter and UK Pro Tiling accreditation]

My favourite aspect of tiling is polishing the tiles when I’ve finished and seeing the results. My top tip for working with handmade tiles is to check their width and size against one another. They can vary, so use levelling spaces to help even things out! Planning your layout is key.

Ceramic or porcelain tiles are best for splashbacks. Gloss finish is an easy wipe option and water resistant, so perfect for the kitchen! At the moment I’m seeing mostly large metro tiles in a herringbone layout for walls, which looks amazing. I love the tiles with decorative motifs and I love the story behind them: knowing where and how they are made, and who made them. Artisan is always my favourite. Having handmade accents in your home is so important – it’s a human touch and makes me smile when I see them.

This year, I have a lot to feel excited and positive about, because I will soon be moving house! I’m really looking forward to creating my own wet room, but my theme for our new home more broadly is to design it for our mental health and happiness. I’m sure I will find the space to add some decorative tiles to a small space like a tabletop or a little cosy reading corner somewhere!