Grouting

The deeper we delve into this project, the more things crop up that, in hindsight, could have been planned for earlier, especially when it comes to availabilities and costs.

The bathrooms will make use of feature walls, going beyond the neutral colours of brown, white, etc. While the contractor would handle the buying of standard coloured grouting, anything outside the norm was to be left up to us.

After visiting a handful of hardware stores in Gozo, I noticed a few things. First of all, the colour spectrum isn't as vast as, for example, when choosing paint. You'll find one (maybe two) shades of a colour, and just because it's on the palette doesn't mean it's in stock. There are chances the colour you choose needs to be ordered from the main supplier (not a big deal) or, even worse, has since been discontinued. Don't expect hardware stores to keep themselves abreast of everything. Also, there are only a few brand suppliers and they tend to be utilised by more than one hardware store, so if one doesn't have it, then chances are others won't either.

I recommend keeping your options open. Let's say you have pink tiles. You don't have to necessarily get pink grouting. Something contrasting works as well, like gold or the always-available white. Google is your friend, but plan ahead. And remember, the smaller your tiles, the more grouting you'd need, as you'd have more borders to cover. Best to ask your contractor to give you a rough estimate.

We didn't, and I've no idea if this is too much or not enough.