Tiling Done *

* Except for back hall

That's right, I finished the kitchen tile project this week. Man, what a crazy couple of weeks it's been. First let me show you the finished product:


This all started on Father's Day Eve, when I finalized the layout, snapped a bunch of chalk lines, and laid the 2-inch mosaic tile border which divides the diamond pattern from the 6-inch outside tile. I took Father's Day off. Then I spent Monday and Tuesday cutting 12-inch tile (the diamond pattern) after work, for a total of about 6-7 hours. But the cutting wasn't quite done (I had run out of tiles), so on Wednesday I took a half day vacation, picked up more tile, finished the cutting, and started laying the diamond pattern. That was about 8 hours of work. On Thursday I finished laying the diamond pattern after work in another 4 hours. So that week I had a total of 18 hours in, and had only finished the inside portion.

I took Friday and Saturday off, but on Sunday the 22nd I started right back in on cutting the 6-inch outside tiles. This took longer than expected, and 9 hours in I finally finished and started to lay them. Monday I took a half day from work to finish laying the 6-inch tile, making the total time I spent on those two days about 21 hours. Then on Wednesday I grouted everthing over about 7 hours. So, when all was said and done, I put in about 46 hours over seven days, six of which I spent at least 5 hours at my real job (which I start at 7AM). Not that I'm trying to brag (well maybe I am), just wanted to share what has consumed my life these past two weeks. Nicole and Caleb have been out of town, which has allowed me to focus.

I'm going to stop here because I'm having a tough time typing due to some nasty carpal tunnel in my left hand which I got from leaning on it for the 20 hours or so I spent on my knees. I added more pics on Facebook there which show the work in process. I think anyone can see them at this link (even if you're not a Facebook user).