This was a big improvement from kindergarten Halloween....all I remember is being dressed as a princess and being late for school, not sure if I missed the bus or what. But my Dad dropped me off and I was just sobbing because I was late, pounding on the class room door for them to let me in. Funny how it's the trauma we remember so many years later.....
Anyways....time for DIY Kitchen Floor Update. ATTENTION other DIY's thinking about attempting this project. TURN BACK NOW! I will never tile anything again. Period. I just hope the next time I feel crafty I will be able to return to this moment in which my body is in agony from the physical labor. I've never worked so hard in my life.
Here is the before shot:
Doesn't look so bad you say? Well I hate it. And it's gone now so keep it to yourself.
DAY 1: DEMO=A Biotch
I started using an ax until the tiles on the ceiling in the basement below the kitchen began to shake. For fear of having to retile the basement shower I quickly switched over to hammer and crow bar. This took twice as long, was twice as painful and half as gratifying.
Total time to demo floor: 5 hours
Total time to remove fridge from Kitchen through tiny doorway so that demo could begin: 4 hours
After demo I couldn't feel my body. So I went to bed a 7:30pm. Crying myself to sleep from the pain.
Day 2: Wonderboard
What is wonderboard you ask? It's a cement board that you're supposed to lay under tile to keep the tile from moving and cracking from the changes in weather. In other words....it's a pain in the rear end. It is definitely NOT wonderful. False claim. It's heavy and bulky and it shreds your hands and safety gloves to pieces. But being the amazing DIY'er I am, I got it done.
Day 3: TILE
I got the day off work so I could lay tile. Of course after day 2 I was too exhausted to lay tile and again went to bed far too early. And apparently I was so excited to be making progress I forgot to take pictures of the tile laying process. Things got a little tricky around the edges. Nothing a power tile saw rental from the Home Depot couldn't fix though. So here is the tile all laid.
Day 4: Grout
Grouting was the most fun. Maybe it's because it was the last thing?? I mixed the grout in the dark in my driveway with all the neighbors watching me with my safety glasses and gas mask. Yes, grout powder causes cancer. Here we are post grout.
It's a little dirty still, final pictures to come in future post. I think I'll just go lay on my new, clean tile. And maybe lick it. JK, or am I?
And here is a little Halloween Treat from my black labbies "happily" sporting their Halloween Tees.
In honor of Halloween, do us all a favor and go out and adopt a BLACK dog or cat. They are the last to go at the shelter as I'm learning in my first week of volunteering. If you can look past the black dog hair they make an excellent family.
What will we be doing tonight? Hiding inside pretending we aren't home because post tile project I have $12.00 in my bank account. Sorry kids, candy just wasn't in the budget this year.
Happy Halloween!
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