Finishing up the kitchen

We knocked one more project off our list this last weekend; the backsplash. We were a bit worried because we bought the marble tiles two months ago and they had been sitting in the back yard since then. Luckily marble is resilient and they cleaned up with no problem, and installation was pretty easy too. The hardest part, like most of the projects we've done, was the beginning. The best idea we had during the project was to screw paint stir sticks to the wall behind the oven to support the tiles while the thin set dried. It worked out great.

The TV. Second time's the charm...

So we had our contractor, Brandon, mount the TV on the wall near the staircase, running all the cables and wires out of sight within the wall. It took him a few hours, and looked like a real pain, but when he was done we loved it. Until we realized that it really didn't work to organize the room that way. And then we decided we needed to put it over the fireplace. Now this is a major undertaking if we wanted to put our cables in the wall. We did want them in the wall. So forward we went. Unluckily (especially for him!) Brandon took a softball in the face not once, but two weeks in a row and was unable to lend his services due to his broken nose, and painfully swollen face, but he was nice enough to come by and give us guidance and a framework for the job. Cordless drill and Sawzall in hand, we turned to routing the cables through the wall and mounting the TV. It's now finished and it was definitely the right decision. It opens up the space, is much more comfortable, and looks pretty good too. Now we need to patch the holes in the drywall, repaint those spots, and we'll be done.

The floor

After much planning and research, we decided on engineered flooring, and after even more research we decided on dark, hand scraped maple. The first step to laying the flooring was tearing out the tile in the entry way. That was not fun. Next we spread a rubbery moisture barrier over the concrete subfloor and allowed it to cure. Finally, we were ready to lay the wood, but we really didn't know where to start. That's where the pros come in. We had a pro installer come in and show us the ropes. Two hours later we were on our own. A week later the floor was in and I had justified my purchase of my new tools.

Creation of a place to eat, Part cinco...

With cabinets, tile, and appliances in it was time for the countertop. We decided on granite and it was a painless process; the template guy came by one day for about 2 hours, and two weeks later, voila, we had countertops!

Creation of a place to eat, Part 4...

Our next project was the Travertine floor. Brandon hooked us up with some chalk lines to get us started, and it was fairly smooth sailing. We logged a lot of time on the Home Depot rented tile saw, though. After the tile was down, in came the appliances.