It's time

It should be noted that this was WAY too much mortar for our task

It's time. Time to start putting up the tile.  The hole has been fixed; wall board up and prepped. The first tile has been cut. Now my hubby is busy mixing the stuff to put the tile up with. Yes I said "stuff". Due to being very busy with work (I'm a Realtor) and watching my grandson, my participation role has been diminished, for now, to cheerleader. Go team!

No more hole

Not letting a silly thing like working all day stop him, my industrious husband has wasted no time cutting and installing drywall to cover our hole.  Everything fit perfectly. Next he will tape.  At this pace we will be done by Thanksgiving - a realistic goal I think.  And he can put those dry wall skills he learned on a mission trip to Mexico helping build houses to use.

And my cucumbers still sit mocking me on the counter.  Maybe tomorrow

There's a hole in the wall

Repeated attempts to remove the existing tile efficiently and cleanly without damaging the drywall became futile. We should have expected nothing less than the tiles to be adhered directly to the drywall itself.

 

 

With gouges already in place I piped in "why don't we try a hammer - that's what they do on TV?" So a note about using a hammer on tiles

1.      It does make you feel better smacking something
2.      It creates quite a mess
3.      It creates holes in your wall

Hole in wall AND a clean refrigerator!

So our goal of removing the tile quicker did work - however we needed to go back to Lowe's (trip #2)this time to purchase drywall and all the gadgets and stuff that go along with that.

So while my husband is now putting up a brace of wood to adhere a section of the drywall, I sit here and blog and realize I need to do something with our  recently harvested cucumbers (random yes but they were sitting there mocking me on the counter) I may make refrigerator pickles while he tends to drywall.

Day One

It's been a week since we've had our tiles taking up room in our dining room. Today is the day we start. We (and by we - again it's my husband) purchased a better shop vac, read articles, watched YouTube videos and feel confident to tackle the project......... at least tackle the one small area between our stove and refrigerator that no one will notice if things go badly.

· Up and ready to go! 

· Clear counters and pull out refrigerator

· Clean floor and wall behind refrigerator that is disgusting

· Assemble shop vac

· Place paper down to protect counters

· Cut out caulk

· Suck up said caulk with new shop vac (my job!)

· Prepare to use dremmel tool to remove mortar from between tiles

· Discover bit is too large

· Check the extra bit we bought in case this happened and realize it is even bigger

· Head to closest hardware store - Ace (our conversation: husband: "they won't have it".  Me:  "sure they will")

· Discover, once again, he's right and head to Lowe's - trip #1

· Begin blog while husband is out driving around town

What is Wrong with us?

"What is wrong with us?"  That is the phrase my husband of 35 years and I have said outloud while watching HGTV.  We watch the young couple who don't know how to plug in power tools remodel a kitchen; a working single mom with 4 children and dog renovate a home; a retired couple gut and complete their home and the 10 year old perfectly tile and grout a bathroom.  We sit there in awe turning to each other, rather ashamed, and say "what is wrong with us?"

BEFORE (and okay maybe I do have too much on the refrigerator)

What is wrong is that since we moved into our home we had a list of items we didn't like and wanted to change:

• kitchen backsplash with blue tile insets that used match the "lovely" blue flowered and paisley curtains
• kitchen floor  that is WHITE!  Who puts on a white kitchen floor?
• remove the carpeting from the bathrooms - again who does this?
• replace fixtures, etc. etc. etc.

Why not hire a professional? Well with four kids, three in college, various medical bills and cars that seem to suck money away from such projects, it was time to stop waiting to win the Publishers Clearing House and just do it ourselves.

Mind you we (and by we I mean my husband) have replaced about half our faucets. And we did remove the wall paper that matched the paisley curtains and blue tile. Even removing the wall paper from the light fixture box. (maybe the question should be "what was wrong with them?")

And so, seven years later, inspired by a sale on glass tile at Costco, we decided to take the plunge.  This will chronicle our adventures into an area of DIY we have never traveled