Where Were We?

Oh yes, I remember now, when last you saw me, the folks were tearing out the old subfloor leaving bare planks where I was perilously at risk of getting my toenails stuck.

At the unfortunate expense of long, leisurely hikes at the dog park (I don't mind about the mosquitoes, really I don't), the people of the house opted to get down to business and finish the kitchen floor.

They've put in new 3/4" plywood over the 3/4" shiplap. A lot of screwing went on in there.




















Then a layer of thinset and a layer of Ditra. This is me.
Sometimes I wonder if my momma doesn't realize what I good help I am.



















I find leaning on your people really helps to them feel loved. ("How about now? Can we go for a walk now? I'm bored. Is it supper time?")



















Last night, momma put tape on the floor. It's a little CSI-ish, huh? I didn't get it. She said the blue tape was where the cabinets would go (that's a lot of cabinets...they'll hold a lot of dog food, I say).




















Then the green tape helps make her virtual rectangle, so she can figure out where to put the tile border - somewhere on the inside of that rectangle - you wouldn't want the pretty parts to end up UNDER the cabinets! She made some chalk lines and made sure the rectangle was square (I guess I really don't understand geometry. A square rectangle??). And then she marked the centre point. That'll come in handy later.




















Then a dry layout of a couple of courses of tile to make sure things line up the way she thought they would.



















Scratch everything out to scale on some paper. She decided that having the border echo the virtual rectangle would make the kitchen look like a long hallway. The second option is to make the border a shorter rectangle. Yup, that's the ticket!



















Oh boy oh boy oh boy. I'm excited to spend the long weekend watching them lay tile, rather than being out camping in the woods. For sure.

Everything Must Go

I love long weekends, don't you? Two Fridays per month off work is excellent. Especially when you spend that Friday with your significant other. In a swampy mud pit. Getting bitten by mosquitoes, intermittently burned by the sun, and falling into four-foot deep holes. All for a good cause of course. We were helping build a playground at our community centre this Friday. If there wasn't enough backbreaking labour involved there, we spent Saturday tearing out what was left of the kitchen (the sink and surrounding counter top), and the old tile and plywood off the floor. Tonight, you get pics of how serious the people were that built this house. Nothing comes off, or out, easily. Nothing.

Here's what we started with on Saturday.

Here's our foreman, uh, Rory. Pretty much his eyes are saying "Please hurry up. I want to go for a walk. And I'm tired of getting my toenails caught in these boards. It's ridiculous how long you've been taking to do this. And I want to go for a walk. What did you get yourself into? Can I have supper? Did I tell you that I want a walk?"

Much banging, crashing, twisting and tugging results in....this. Now I want to go for a walk. I don't care that it's raining.

After we pried up the base of the cabinet this is what we saw. Peanuts. Of an unknown vintage. Petrified. Don't ask me. There was no way in or out of that space...not even for a peanut.

All done arguing with the cabinet, drain, sink and garburator. Now we tackle the floor. And a million nails. I do have to say that I'm glad the dumpster guy is coming on Tuesday to take the bin out of the driveway. Otherwise, I would have given up right here. Nothing like a bit of incentive to get you in deconstruct mode.

Finally! Here's what we ended with on Saturday. I was originally going to call this entry "Everything. Including The Kitchen Sink". But I'm not going to make it that far in bloggerdom tonight. We didn't finish screwing down the new plywood today, but we did get a good bit of it in. I'm hoping we finish it tomorrow so that I can lay the tile while Norm is away.




Here's to peanut butter sandwiches for supper. For the foreseeable future.

Guess I'll have to stop for the night...

Argh! As I suspected. Halfway through the job it is now clear that I need a teeny bit (it's relative: 100") more wallpaper for the powder room. It means I have to order an entire double roll because that's they only way they sell it. And the wait time is 3 weeks. Those of you on the Christmas gift list can expect your gifts wrapped in some pretty pricey paper. It's not prepasted, of course. I was hoping for Karma with the pattern repeat length (which is why I didn't order two double rolls in the first place) but alas, it's not to be. I have 100" left over, but it's all in 21" lengths.

Photos are below just in case you can't handle the suspense, since the only photos of the powder room so far have included orange Schluter Ditra on the floor and the pipes under the sink. Also so you don't think I didn't do anything on my vacation other than take a vacation:

The colours are hard to pick out, but the design on the wallpaper echoes the colour of the small copper/bronze tiles in the floor. The faucet too.

I loved the idea of contrasting the 'bleached linen' paint on the wainscoting and the burgundy/purplish of the wallpaper.  Also a contrast in styles, which I'm all over when you can make it work. Perhaps we'll call this modern-classical-boudoir?

The photos were all taken with the bathroom lights off. Just natural light as filtered through the window (over the toilet) which looks out into the sunroom. Odd arrangement. But only if you pee standing up.

One of two pendants - one on each side of the mirror over the sink. See a previous post for the joys of retro-wiring.

The pendants are onyx and cast quite the golden glow - changes the mood of the wallpaper entirely.