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One Room Challenge {Week Five}: Fireplace Tile and an ATR Tile Leveling System Review

A One Room Challenge Update showing off our newly tiled fireplace and furniture arrivals! Plus an ATR Tile Leveling System Review.

We are officially on week five of the One Room Challenge, hosted by Linda atCalling It Home. Usually, I’d be panicking at this point, like staying up every night until midnight so that I can get the whole room done in time to photograph it for next week’s deadline, but I have big news! The One Room Challenge was extended to a 7th week! This was done to help some of the US participants who have been experiencing some not so great natural disasters, and need a bit more time to work on their spaces. But I’m not complaining – you’ll see how much more work we have to do, including finishing our fireplace tiling job!

A review of the ATR Tile Leveling Alignment System. Which tile leveling system should you use for vertical tile placement, like showers, fireplaces, and walls.

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If you want to catch up and see our progress, follow the weeks below:

Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4
Week 5 / Week 6 / Week 7 (reveal)

We finally started tiling our fireplace this week.. and that’s basically all we got done! lol. Our best chance to work is in the evenings, and we didn’t have every evening free this week, so we sort of failed on the progress front. But good news… we tried a new tiling system that made our lives a HECK of a lot easier!

An ATR Tile Leveling System Review

This week on week 5 of the One Room Challenge: Fireplace Tile and an ATR Tile Leveling System

When we tackled our Modern Bathroom Renovation, we did a LOT of tiling. When it came to leveling our vertical tiles, we mostly used a small hand level, our eyes, and our fingers to feel whether it was level or not. This time our fireplace is the main focal point of our new living room and we were looking for something a bit more accurate.

Components of the ATR Tile Leveling System

Enter the ATR Tile Leveling System. The way these guys work is that you attach the screw (with the spindle on it) into the flat base, then you put the flat piece down under the tile. You just start setting your tiles, then place one of these bases at each tile intersection. There are bases for two tile, three tile, and four tile intersections.

These spindles help keep tile level while they dry

Once you have the tiles layed, you tighten up the spindles. This tightening keeps the tiles perfectly level. It works kind of like a clamp and pulls the adjoining tiles into the same plane.

Easily remove the leveling spindles after the tiles dry, before grouting

When the tiles are set and the thin set is dry, you can unscrew the screw/spindle and easily pull it off before you grout the tiles.

This tile leveling system was such a great tool during our one room challenge

Honestly we were VERY impressed with this system! I couldn’t believe how easy it was to use them, and our tiles are set perfectly. They were easy to use and definitely worth the money. I would definitely recommend the ATR System.

The ATR TIle Alignment System made tiling our fireplace so easy

The rest of our renovation progress:

the ATR Tile Leveling Alignment System helped move along our one room challenge by making the fireplace tiles look amazing

So we got the entire front of the fireplace tiled. Just have to do both sides, and grout it all.... shouldn't be too hard, right?! lol.

Installing our Nest Thermostat was another accomplishment in our one room challenge

Aside from the fireplace, we got a couple of installs done too. Like our new Nest thermostat to control the fireplace temp!

A One Room Challenge Update showing off our newly tiled fireplace and furniture arrivals!

Or our beautiful new sconces beside the fireplace.

We installed some new light sconces during our one room challenge

Or our new modern outlets from radiant by Legrand!

In our one room challenge we installed new electric outlet covers

How beautiful are these screwless wall plates? Have you seen anything like this before? I hadn't! And I'm in love with how sleek they look!

These outlet covers are modern and look great in our redesigned room

Not to mention the beautiful outlets themselves! Like the one above with a nightlight, or the one below with usb hubs. So perfect for our modern space!

Love these new outlet covers with USB ports - a perfect modern update for our living room

Since I’m an obsessive list-maker, here’s how I'm doing on my living room to-do list:

  1. Figure out a colour scheme for the room
  2. Paint walls
  3. Paint Ceiling
  4. Buy a couch
  5. Buy new accent furniture
  6. Build side tables
  7. Build fireplace frame
  8. Tile fireplace
  9. Build bench beside fireplace
  10. Make a bench seat
  11. DIY some artwork
  12. Wire and install new sconces
  13. Replace all switches and outlets
  14. Pick out new decor pieces

Please share your thoughts! I'd love to hear what you think of our progress!

Shane

Thursday 19th of July 2018

Youve done an amazing job with this fireplace. It's definitely given me ideas about finally sorting out my fireplace. Thanks

Lindivs

Thursday 19th of July 2018

Amazing! Good luck with your project!

Sandy

Saturday 3rd of February 2018

Classic and new at the same time. Most people would go for the retro look when they decorate the fireplace. I see that there are multiple ways to combine new and old and create something unique...

Lindivs

Sunday 4th of February 2018

Thank you :)

Alex Turner @ cozyhousetoday

Saturday 18th of November 2017

Hi, Linda You have done a lots of work to make your house cozy. It's look amazing. I can't wait to see the end result. :)

Thanks for recommend the ATR system. I checked it out. Its looks solid to me. You are right, when it's about living room we need to double check all the set up.

Your to do list is impressive, it's look like you are just few step behind to perfectly end the project.

the cape on the corner

Thursday 9th of November 2017

wow, that looks amazing so far! b

Jessica | Petal + Ply

Wednesday 8th of November 2017

Oh my gorgeous!!! That tile looks amazing! And such a huge impact floor to ceiling!