What a weekend!
I just arrived home from an overnight trip to Minneapolis with Amy B., Megan, and Marie, and I am thrilled to see the progress made in my absence! I'll share all the excitement of Saturday and Sunday but first, let's backtrack to Friday evening.
Friday night, Scott started laying out the wall tile, a 6" square version of the tile used on the floor. Because the wall tile will be placed from the bottom up, each piece of the bottom row had to be meticulously measured and intentionally placed. He numbered each tile with a small piece of tape.
Here goes the first piece!
Scott placed mortar just on the wall; no need to back-butter these small tiles.
Just a few minutes later, the bottom row was in place.
By 10:30 Friday evening, a good chunk of the south wall tile was in place, and Scott was chomping at the bit to get more done.
The next morning, I was out the door by 5:45. While I enjoyed shopping at IKEA and the Mall of America on Saturday, Scott emailed two progress reports to me:
By lunchtime, two walls were nearly done.
This photo was forwarded at 8:47PM when Scott took a break for dinner. Just a few tiles left to place!
As his last task for the evening, Scott mortared the transition tile at the top of the stairs leading to the basement. He "borrowed" 12 small tiles from what will be used in the master bathroom shower. The darker brown color accents the steel trim nicely. Steel will play an important part of the stair rail system - but that's a story for the near future.
Interesting tidbit about this particular piece of steel: Scott salvaged it when the front porch was rebuilt at our Grant Street home about 15 years ago. Wouldn't you just know that, if you save a rusty piece of flat steel, and keep it in your garage for a decade or so, you'd eventually find a use to pull it out, scrape off the rust, and use it to cap off the tile of your new house.
Good Job, Mr. Pack Rat!
As he predicted, it took most of Sunday to hang the powder room door. Scott had to round up all of the frame parts and hardware, then put it all together. The good news is that the door is fully operable! All that remains is finding trim pieces and nailing them into place.
Sunday afternoon, Scott invited Kevin of The New People to noTTafarm for some demolition fun. The old kitchen will soon be the new home office, and all of the cabinets and remaining appliances need to be removed. Sadly, Scott neglected to take photos of the action. (I took these photos after arriving home Sunday evening.)
The room looks much larger without the peninsula that held the stove top, and the section of wall that held the double oven.
Thank you, Kevin, for all of your hard work!
Kevin also had the unenviable task of unloading all remaining items in the old kitchen. My pantry is now full of all sorts of odd-and-ends for which I need to find new homes. Of course, if the pantry had actual shelves as planned, I would have a place to store all of this!
Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!
Maybe I should begin planning another weekend getaway...
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