Grouting

I feel like I've been grouting for 4 months..

In reality, I probably grouted for a total of 8 days, but since I mixed in the grouting with other things (like mudding and taping and sanding and playing in my garden) it feels so much longer than the reality. I started with the slate floor in the shared bath, using the Laticrete grout in platinum, recommended by the local tile shop (Barre Tile). The grout color was a perfect match for the tile.

smear on the grout and then sponge it off in stages

I started out using a rubber grout float that I've seen everybody using, but I found it really awkward and soon switched to using a plastic putty knife and a 6" mud knife:

I'd put a glob of grout on the mud knife and with the putty knife, take small amounts of grout and apply it to the floor/wall. Don't really know why the grout floater is preferred. You just have to make sure to really press the grout into the tile cracks, moving the grout over the cracks in many directions. The other difficulty I had was in getting the right consistency of grout. The package directions for both thinset and grout advise a peanut butter-like consistency, but I found I preferred a wetter texture for the grout (kind of like fresh peanut butter you'd get at Whole Foods out of the machine that grinds it for you fresh) and a much stiffer texture for thinset (like your typical peanut butter out of a jar found at the grocery store). If the grout was too stiff, after a few passes over some cracks, it would start to crumble, which is annoying when you're grouting a wall (crumbles would fall to the floor). 

After I finished the slate floor, I moved onto the shared bath shower (I usually try to "practice" on the shared bath before moving onto the master bath). I bought some light gray grout (Laticrete in silver shadow) to match the pebble floor in the shared bath and was told that it could be used for the rest of the showers (subway tile and marble). When I tried it on the subway tile it looked BLUE. I was all for light gray grout in both showers, mainly because it'll show less dirt than white grout, but I kind of freaked out when I saw the blue. I went ahead and grouted the pebble floor but exchanged the remainder for white grout

You know, everybody says grout makes a huge difference, and logically, I believed them, but un-logically, I couldn't imagine my showers would look that much better. Now, I'm a believer; grout truly is the difference between a pretty cool shower and a really polished, finished, glorious marble marvel:

whoaa

grouted on the left, un-grouted on the right

For reference, here's what it looks like after the grout is applied and before it's sponged off:

I was talking to my neighbor Alyssa who told me she still hadn't grouted her kitchen backsplash which she installed before her daughter was born. Her daughter is 2 years old. You see, grouting's just one of those things that's super easily put on the back burner, because it already looks pretty good once the tile is up. I forced myself to step it up though by ordering my shower glass, which will be here in a week or so! Still have to seal it all up and caulk the edges.

CanNOT wait for my shower glass.