warm kitchenette

I asked around for a recommendation for a tile person and a few people told me about Isaac. I peeped his social media and while his work looked pretty good, he is a bloody Bruins fan and that is unacceptable. I set aside my pure, ice cold hate and rang him up. He was such an asshole. First, he told me congrats, you got ripped off by those people who made your tile! (Our tile was hella expensive, yes, but after getting exactly what we dreamed of and having taken a tour of the facilities where it was made, and meeting the folks who put it all together, here, in Arkansas, we figured it was worth it) THEN, he kept talking over me to a cashier, rather rudely, I might add, because he was literally being checked out at H0me Dep0t while on the phone with me. Then he quotes me some bogus number without even having checked out the kitchen, so my initial feelings of disgust rose and I was sure we would not be hiring this POS Boston hockey lover.  

We called another fella, who came over, took measurements, really poked around, and gave us an estimate weeks later. The number was so large, I just cackled on the phone, probably making him somewhat regretful he called me back. He was a nice guy, but there was no way we could pay that sum.  With that, we decided that we'd just do it ourselves.

We did our internet research, watched the Y0utube, and set our sights and timeline on the upcoming NYE holiday. I sincerely believed that we could do it in four days. Demo the existing tile, make any necessary repairs, and then tile to completion. *cackle*

First of all, let's acknowledge the fact that ATM + I lived with this horror for well over a year:

Uh huh, fully functional, but it made me depressed:

Peace out forever, ugly kitchen!

We were expecting the worst, but the sub-floor was in excellent shape:

The super:

Laying backer board is the easy part, IMO:

"Helping":

Kneepads are a game-changer:

KMHD offered to help as this would be a learning experience for her:

Cute:

So dang cute:

ATM laying the last tiles. David Bowie died this day. 10 January 2016.  There are tears mixed in that grout. At this point, all we did was go to work, come home, work on the tile floor.  It was January and it was depressing.

About a week later, ATM + I went to Memphis (we are practically citizens!) to meet up with Trish + Anthony to go to a Grizz game, a truly welcome break from TILING. Too, it was my first NBA game. Magical! #grindcity #GoGrizz We totally beat them Knickerbockers!

The next day, we did try Schweinehaus, which has excellent food, and I liked the interior:

AHAHAHAHAHA, back to tiling. This is the beginning of grouting, which is one of the easier steps:

My pride + joy on top of my pride + joy:

Another break! Our pal Ben came to visit, fresh off a plane from Japan with really good sake. You have probably not had good sake. You might think you have, but I assure you, you have not. One day, I might be able to introduce you to really good sake. It will change the way you drink. Anyway, we had a private tasting and it was fantastiche!

January 20. We've finally finished grouting. The following photos will show you the state of the tile that almost made us lose our minds and turn against each other. Grout haze. Don't let it get to you, mmkay?  No amount of scrubbing will remove it. You might find yourself at H0me Dep0t looking crazed and desperate. You might walk up to some redneck lookin' fella loading up a cart with backer board and with a hoarse voice beg him to help you figure out how to remove this stuff.  He might be annoyed and roll his eyes, but he'll lead you to the ACID. You have to use acid to remove grout haze. 

It took us almost a dang month, but TADA! (I mean, we still have to seal it, but look at it!)

It snowed a couple of days later, which afforded us a whole day off work to seal the deal.  It takes roughly 23 days to tile 100 sq. ft. of floor. FYI.

Took Arrow out into the snow for the first time, ha ha:

And then a day or so later, ATM, KMHD + I went to DTX to check out IKEA for kitchen cabinets. We figured if we were gonna go this route, we'd have to see it in person.  Naturally, we checked out American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas Stars!

We are in a hockey town, even if Dallas doesn't admit it:

We know how to tile, you guys:

We can smile again:

This mongrel:

Hiking and collecting moss specimens with my favorite people on this planet at Woolly Hollow State Park:

The world is not ready for this:

And that is January 2016. We did a major thing in the kitchen! Finally! The eternal renovation continues.