finish it friday: tile floors

They are my nemisis. There is no way that I will have these floors forever. Whether we move into a different home or I take the kitchen floors back to the hardwoods (ooolala), this tile is not permanent. Why? Because it's gross. I am not a dirty housekeeper. I like clean floors. But the grout in these floors is WHITE. (Who does that? Total design fail.) White grout, over two years of being mopped, but not scrubbed AND bleached, as it turns out, is ugly (at best).

Two weeks ago, I started by sanding the grout. My Real Simple magazine said it's a fabulous solution. Fabulous as it may be, it's a serious workout. No really, my forearm ached for days afterward. And it wasn't a one day project, not with two boys (who are both walking and chatting non-stop). Then a friend mentioned that her husband cleaned their grout with bleach Soft Scrub. (If you try this, please wear gloves! I totally ripped my knuckles up. No fun!) I combined methods --sand a little, scrub a little. But I can't have the bleach on the floors while the boys are awake. I decided only to Soft Scrub it and see how it turned out. Took me more than a few days, but today, I buckled down, promised myself not to stream another episode of Storage Wars and "rest" while the boys napped.

This:

My adorable 3-year-old!

is the end result. I am really happy this is finished, over with, done. Unfortunately, I know it is a task I will have to accomplish again.

Thank you, Sarah White, for the Finish It Friday idea!