We bought a nice pedestal sink at a deep discount a while ago, to replace one of the bathroom sinks in our house. We decided to use it in the guest bathroom which needed new flooring and some other work. Settling on 12x12 inch slate tiles, we began to remove the old vanity.

The plumbing to the sink had been installed after the back of the vanity was in place, and I didn't want to have to shut down the house water supply and redo any copper connections, so I ended up just cutting a chunk out of the back of the vanity with a jigsaw. Now we had the vanity loose and the toilet shifted.

Next we removed the vinyl flooring. It was only glued on the outer edge, by the vanity, and by the toilet, so this was a quick job. A few ounces of Goof-Off later, and the last bits of adhesive were gone from the slab. Then a quick wash with some trisodium phosphate to remove any last bits of grease or grime.

Now it was time to open the tile:

And begin placing the full-size tiles:

At this point, we called it a night. Cutting and placing the rest would have to wait until tomorrow.

We cut the tiles with a diamond-blade wet saw. It cut through the slate like butter. I didn't even need to tape anything to prevent chipping.

Done! All of the cuts went well, and I managed to get some tight fits by eye around the toilet flange and the doorways. The biggest problem we had was the difference in height between various chunks of slate. The walls weren't straight, of course, so there are slight gap differences between some of the tiles, even though I tried to use the "cheater" spacers where I could.

Next step is to seal the slate, grout, seal again, and put the quarter-bead back up. We need to paint the walls, replace the toilet, install the sink, and then the fixtures. Stay tuned!