advice please on tiling

The only advice I would give is to use a dark coloured grouting, as white might be difficult to keep clean in a bootroom.
The effect you are going for sounds very artistic, I love mosaic, and would be interested to see the result on a picture thread.

DH asks if the wood is currently varnished. If so you will need to strip that off. Then seal with a 50/50 mix of pva and water.

I think I need to go to Specsavers, I thought the thread title was advice on TILTING! Every time hubby does any tiling, he breaks most of `em!

Best left to experts in my opinion

pinkannie I would go down the darker grout route also,I would suggest that if you decide to cover the old existing tiles score them first with a criss cross motion using a sharpe knife to give some grip to the new tiles.How clever am I remembering that ? sounds as though it will look very retro when finished.

I would deffo. seal the wood as grout will become porous eventually and water will get through. you do not want your handiwork spoiled by rotting wood!

Many thanks to everyone. The wood is waxed so I wonder if I can be cheekiy and ask ninathenana to ask DH if I should wipe over with something like turps?
I am still in the planning stages at the moment - got to make sure I have everything to hand.
Once its done I will try and post a picture but that will be another learning curve - probably a steep one.
Numberplease - I expect some of the tiles will be tilting! The joy of doing a mosaic effect is that broken tiles can be used! That the theory anyway!
regards Annie

pinkannie Can I suggest that you certainly seal the base wood with pva mixed with a little water and let it dry clear (24 -36 hrs will do it) then, and this is where I would suggest differently to most is, don't use tile grout at all. Use tile adhesive to lay and set the tiles but use an epoxy resin (a two part mix) to grout between the tiles and ensure you finish it with no sharp edges or angles. The reasoning behind that is that the epoxy will be waterproof and mould proof and no sharp edges or angles will facilitate easy cleaning when sugar, crumbs, flour etc. get spilt and might otherwise get trapped between the tiles. Having no sharp edges will make it easy to wipe or sweep clean. You can use a wetted little finger to smooth the epoxy either with water or my preference is with methylated spirit.
Epoxy Resin comes in a variety of setting times from 1 minute to 24 hours. A 3, 6, 12 or 24 hour setting time will give you enough time to get it right.
Hope that helps.

I assume you'll use those little plastic spacer things? You're very brave; I'm not very practical and tiling is something I wouldn't dare try. It sounds a lovely idea though, using broken tiles...I love old tiles. Looking forward to seeing the finished result.

My husband has just finished tiling our kitchen. V.nice! He says follow ps 's instructions and you shouldn't go far wrong.
We tried tiling over a kitchen worktop years ago. It looked really good but the grout couldn't stand up to the continual scrubbing in a kitchen and eventually started to break up. I've always heard that you can tile over existing tiles, but I've never actually tried it.

Well - my DH always says the sectret is in the planning and this has been in the planning for a long time! Finally got to working it all out and decided I had enough tiles to actually tile the wall behind the sink and the widow sill - which I finished yesterday! Got to grout it still but it doesn't look too bad. Still got the work surface to do though! More planning.

I had a lesson in tiling from my plumber when he did my bathroom so I felt able to do the kitchen myself and saved £400 !! I chose smallish tiles with a bit of a wobbly edge (cunning plan) and always thought twice and cut once. The plumber said it was not a bad job at all. I borrowed a decent cutting gadget which helped. Best of luck but I'm sure you won't need it !