We can almost see the end.....almost

After a change in weekend plans, we found ourselves with an unheard of open weekend.  That coupled with the fact that we will be hosting a party in October inspired new motivation to move towards the finish line. So Friday we started with thin wood strips to keep everything straight. 

After realizing that it is far easier to seal tile while it is flat rather than precariously placed on a wall, we began by laying out the tile and then sealing. Almost as exciting as watching paint dry is waiting for sealant to absorb.

Just as we were rounding the corner we came to the sink area where inspiration struck "maybe we should do something different under the sink".  After taping different tiles in place to see what it might look like, and googling "images of tiles behind sinks" we decided it probably wasn't worth the effort and went back to the task at hand.

So this is how we spent our Saturday - tiling and intermittently watching the A&M vs Arkansas game.  We even did a pretty good job piecing tile around the one outlet.

Happily the day for us and the Aggies the day was a success. My feet are killing me; but we can see the end. The best part....I really like how it is looking.

And we're back!

Well the kids are back to college, we had a nice vacation and now we're ready to finish the back splash!  The added motivation that family may visit during the holidays (which are closer than you think) helped us get back to it.

Following the lead we have seen on many home improvement shows, we had a good breakfast and got started.  (Why do they always cook a full breakfast before starting?)

We found that once again a hammer and whacking the tile works better the meticulously trying to save the drywall.  Wrapping the faucet and soap dispenser in trash bags and tape, worked much better than shutting off the water and removing the them. We will see if we can tile with them still in place.

We even enlisted a daughter in vaccuum duty while we hammered off tile.  Drywall, taping and priming followed.

Tiling to come soon (we hope)

Oh and while the we literally waited for the pain to dry, we installed a ceiling fan.  It boasted "5 minute install". Three hours later it was up and working ..... and we were too exhausted for any more projects.