Yes, it's hard for us to believe, but we feel we are approaching the final stretch of our kitchen remodel. And boy, are we ever ready for it to be done? You bet!
Sunday afternoon we decided it was time to tackle the subway tile backsplash. The application was pretty straight forward....the only hassle was the 450 lb. stove that could only be slid part of the way away from the wall. Joel came up with the idea of screwing a small board to the wall to support the tiles so they wouldn't go sliding down the wall (behind the stove) while the adhesive dried. Worked like a charm.
It was a bit of a stretch for me to reach the middle sections of the wall behind the stove, but we got it done. Joel and I have done tile jobs before and we only get cranky with each a
little bit during some phase of the job or another. By the time we're done, though, we're high five-ing each other about how great it looks.
Putting up tile is actually a lot of fun. I get to use my quilting skills for measuring the cuts and I even use my quilt ruler since it's much more accurate than a tape measure. We only goofed on a couple of cuts, so, that wasn't too bad for a bunch of amateurs.
Pretty soon we had the job done....just in time to watch Sunday Night Football. Yippee! I really like how the tile turned out and after waiting overnight it should be ready for us to grout.
Grouting. Yuk! I despise grouting. It's hard on the arms, especially when you have to reach over cabinets and up at an angle behind the stove. After dinner Monday night Joel asked me if I had enough energy to tackle the grout. Sure, why not? After all.....the only thing we had happen was a lightning strike earlier that morning and lost our phones and tv and who knows what else? Yeah, I had recovered from the scare of a lifetime. Ok, let's have at it.
We grouted and scrubbed those tiles until 10:30 PM. I could hardly wait to clean the counters and have the guys push the stove back in place. Ahhhhhh.....now that's better. At least we went to bed with our mess cleaned up. There's nothing like waking up and walking out to view your work from the night before and being able to enjoy the fruit of your labor.
Now we just need to return the sanded caulk that Joel mistakenly picked up at Lowe's and get the smooth stuff. Once the caulking is done, the only job left is to install the under cabinet lights which will help eliminate the dark corners. Simply amazing. As I put more items away I'll post some final pics of the kitchen.....ALL DONE!!!
Meanwhile, the dry wall guys made good headway yesterday hanging the drywall in the studio. They ran 3 sheets short so they brought those with them when they returned today to start taping all the seams.
This is going to make such a great space for my sewing, scrapbooking supplies, and extra, much needed storage in the back room. I can hardly believe I'm going to have a studio once again to work in!
Meanwhile, the DISH repairman came this morning to straighten out our lightning strike mess. And would you believe, in the middle of his repairs our electricity went out for over half an hour? These storms are wreaking havoc with our area. As I type, the wind is blowing, we have intermittent rain or drizzle, and a fog keeps trying to blanket our whole farm. By the end of the morning, the power was restored and the phone guy came a day early and he was able to repair our phones, too.
Whew! What a crazy start to our week we've had. We're heading into town now to pick up some more supplies and hopefully settle into a quieter week.
Almost there,
Debbie
