I’ve seen this brand of flooring online, but it is very pricey. The various descriptions state the tile sheets come with a stylus for detailing the grout lines and end up looking very realistic. I’ve not seen any photos of it installed in a dollhouse or room box, though. I think perhaps the retail price of $25 per sheet (plus shipping) is a bit steep to buy it without knowing how it will work out.
Well, I ended up finding an unfinished sheet on eBay for a fraction of the cost, though it didn’t come with the stylus indicated. I figured it was worth a try.
It’s a very high quality printed paper that you adhere to an included white board with spray adhesive. The grout lines are raised on the print.
The instructions are very precise, including exactly which products to use for the assembly and finishing of the flooring. I cut my board to my room size and used scraps to try out the sealing process.
The manufacturer suggests up to five coats of Delta Ceramcoat Gloss sealer applied with a brush. Here is the sample I did following those instructions.
I also covered a sample by brushing on one coat of Triple Thick Gloss Glaze by Americana. Here is the sample with that product.
I think I’d need more coats of the first sealer to equal the results I got with the one coat of Triple Thick Gloss Glaze, and there are no brush lines with the Triple Thick. It evens out as it settles and dries. I rather like that it looks like sheet linoleum, too!
You are then supposed to use the stylus to lightly score along the lines, indenting the finish but not the paper to create the look of recessed grout lines. I tried the scoring process with my own stylus but found it didn’t really work for me. It marred the finish even though I wasn’t pressing hard at all.
I thought perhaps I hadn’t let the finish dry long enough so I tried it again the following night. It worked without lifting the sealer but I honestly didn’t think it added anything so fabulous to merit the amount of work it would take to trace all of those tiny lines. And, any mistakes would be irreversible. So, I am opting for the Triple Thick finish without the scored lines.
With this particular sheet, I was able to do one room of flooring with enough left to do a tiny room for another project, or perhaps a backsplash, counter or serving tray.
It really is a beautifully made and realistic flooring, but I still think $25 per sheet is too much regardless of including a stylus that could just as well be sold separately. You really wouldn’t need a new stylus included each time you bought a piece of flooring from this product line.
