First the good stuff. I am half way to a shiny new kitchen, and bathroom. Well shiny new for us, after all this place is over 35 years old, and there is only so much polish that you can add to a sow’s ear to make it into a silk purse. We have taken to calling the kitchen the “football field” referring to the absolute brightness of the gorgeous new track lighting, that feels remarkably like a night game football field. I am not complaining about this, it’s nice to be able to see what you are cooking for once. It’s also pretty wonderful to see the other new kitchen counter tops, tiling, and the shiny new bathroom cupboard. Just think, we are the very first people to put our stuff in there. Wow.
There is a distinct smell of fresh ground coffee in each room, why you might ask, does she want her condo to smell like a Starbucks? Well, lets just say that it absorbs the smell of burning wood, and smoke from the router. As s oon as I clear the sawdust that has settled onto every surface, and can find the containers of coffee grounds I will remove them. Now the not so good stuff. Yesterday…well let’s just say that there have been better days. One thing leads to another. Somehow the drain pipe for the sink is cracked, and when we use the sink, there is water everywhere, I found this out just after I finished painting inside that cupboard. We need a plumber, they are expensive. Not good. And the plug in on the wall where the tiling is doesn’t work now, so we need a electrician. And tonight the dishwasher decided to pout, and now the floor is all wet because it leaks also. So the plumber will be very busy, and very expensive, I know that I picked the wrong career. One thing leads to another, and the next thing you know is that you blow your reno budget. No more beautiful glass mosaic tiles in shades of chocolate, biscuit, and cream, for a backsplash in the bathroom. No it’s going to be pretty basic. But the plumber will be happy on the beach in Hawaii, along with the electrician.
Now let’s talk about the huge mistake I made in choosing this particular tile before asking about how to apply the grout so it won’t fill up all the pretty little holes in the tumbled marble? Have you ever heard of someone having to use a giant icing bag to fill in every little line between the “oh these are so beautiful, let’s use them, and not a boring smooth ceramic tile?” They call it a grout bag, I call it having to ice my tumbled marble tiles. Why don’t they come with a warning? “Caution, grouting in a regular way will fill all the pretty little holes and lead to extremely boring blank squares.” Well, guess what I will be doing for the next week? One thing leads to another. Icing tumbled marble mosaic tiles, all 5 billion of them. And making sure not to fill in all the pretty little holes. Because I choose the ones that are extremely assorted sizes no continuous straight lines. One thing leads to another… .