Tile/Cabinet Peek

I sorry I'm slow at this blogging thing... I'm still trying to catch up from our construction phase! Yikes! I promise I will get some updated pictures of the inside soon... I've first got to get caught up! Until then, here's a peek.This is the make-up counter we had our cabinet guy build for me in the Master bath. This way I can keep all my beautifying junk out of the sink and out of Carson's way. I know it's a little spoiled to have such a nice feature, but it came as part of the deal. Plus I think Carson enjoys having his sink/counter space back.

This is a view of the other wall where we have a "his" and "hers" sink with the tall linen closet in between.
Here's the view to the right as you walk into the bathroom.
This is right at the door entrance. You can see the make-up counter to the left, sink area to the right.
The tile is done! We chose a dark metallic tile for the foyer and kitchen area. I think it's beautiful, but I don't know if I would do it again... it's really hard to keep clean-- it shows EVERY little speck of dust or dirt.
Here's the kitchen cabinets on the way to getting assembled. If you look at the back wall, you can see that the middle cabinet is black. We decided to go with a two-tone look and have them staggered.
Here's a better view of the foyer tile. You can see the metallic and brown streaks better.
Everywhere else we did a travertine-looking tile. This is much easier to clean and doesn't show ever spec of dust or dirt. Hallelujah!
This is the entry way from the garage. One area we STILL need to grout. (maybe this weekend?)

A HALLOWEEN MOVE!

Our goal was to move in to our new home by the end of October, and we made it by the hair of our chinny chin chins! I decided to take a "night" picture of the new home in honor of the Halloween move... it's the closest thing to scary I could think of since we didn't dress up in costumes for the event, unless you count cleaning/moving clothes as costumes... now that could be scary..
Oh the wonderful help of family on both sides! My mom, brother, mother-in-law, and father-in-law all came to help with the move. My dad was still recovering from his last chemo and the brutual beating he took the last time he was here helping us do a grueling tile job... it took many tries but we were finally able to convince him to stay home and recover.

The cleaning task was probably bigger than the move itself... After you've had dozens and dozens of subs come in and do work, you have layers and layers of dust/film/yuck all over everything. Here's my mom and bro in the middle of the mess trying to stay positive. They really worked hard and smiled through it all. Thank goodness both moms brought up a whole bunch of cleaning supplies and rags!My sweet friend Carrie volunteered to spend a whole day cleaning with me before the family crew arrived, and all we got done was the kitchen.... that's how bad it was. We then spent the next two days trying to tackle the project-- from vacuuming/disinfecting the inside of cupboards and wiping the dirt off every square inch of the walls to using steel blades to pry off tacky glue on plumbing fixtures and scrubbing the floors. We also had help from a few ward members who volunteered time to help get the cleaning done. It was a HUGE task and there is NO WAY I could have done it alone... especially with 1st trimester morning sickness still in play. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED!Carson's boss let us borrow his truck/trailor to load all the stuff in. It took two trips, the second one being mainly the piano. Our new bishop took the day off work to help us... how cool is that?! We also had both counselors, the Elder's Quorum president, and other ward members come by throughout the day and help us move in. What a great way to welcome us in! Now I just need to get on the ball and bake them a plate of thank you cookies!The piano was the hardest part of the whole move. As you can imagine, there aren't many piano moving companies in Wyoming, and the one that is here wanted to charge almost $500 to move our piano 15 minutes away... I don't think so. So we did it ourselves. Carson's parents rented the moving equipment and stayed to receive a full hour of instruction and how to properly move a piano. HIs parents are really what made the "Halloween move" possible. They spent several days helping us with the cleaning and moving process and didn't leave until it was done. I'm so lucky to have such awesome in-laws.... they worked their tails off day in and day out to help us get moved in.The tricky part was trying to get the piano up the steps... yikes! The dolly wasn't big enough to ease up onto the next step without the piano sliding, so after several tries and suggestions, we finally found something that worked.
With the help of everybody present, we were able to lift the piano onto the wood planks and push it up the planks on an angle into the house. All that was left from the homemade piano move was a little chip on the front panel that we were able to glue back on! Pretty impressive for a first-time job.

Thanks to all who made our move possible!

Garage Door Painting

We really liked the look of stained-wood garage doors, but didn't like the price or maintenance. We decided to go with an option that could give us the look of a wood door, but without the extra cost. We ordered a basic-white insulated garage door with a paintable pattern on the front. We had our painters two-tone it to give it more dimension and a "wood-look." Here's the first color of paint.And here's the completed look! So much cheaper than a wood door and easy maintenance.

Family "Work & Play" Visit

Although there wasn't much "play" involved, we were sure grateful for the help of family on this project! Carson's sister Melissa, her husband Devin, and there little boy Parker all came up to see the new home and help us out. We even warned them we'd be doing a lot of work on the house, and they said that was great and they were happy to help! Wow! Work really can be play when you are with family. We found a black walnut hardwood floor online that was a really good deal and ordered that for the piano room. Carson and Devin went hard to work on getting it all done in one day!Carson would measure and cut the wood while Devin would lay down the glue and secure the pieces in place. Because we were using glue to lay it down, (which we wouldn't do next time... renting a nail gun would be a lot faster and easier) I wasn't supposed to be around the fumes because they could be harmful if your pregnant, so I enjoyed Melissa's company and ran food orders when needed. This picture represents a funny story dealing with my pregnancy and the glue. Melissa and Devin didn't know I was pregnant yet because we hadn't announced to families, so it was a real trick trying hard to not let the nausea show. At one point the glue fumes and food smells combined were really getting to me, and we didn't have plumbing installed yet, so the next best thing I could think of was lay down behind some closet doors in one of the rooms so nobody could see me and breathe slow. I laid down behind these closet doors, and Devin came and opened the door looking for Melissa who was feeding Parker. I was hoping he wouldn't see me through the crack, but he did, and asked Melissa in the next room if I was ok. SHOOT! My cover had been blown! Atleast I thought it had.. I told them I was just really tired and left it at that. Well the good news is it worked because they were surprised when we finally announced the pregnancy! Devin was the key in getting this project done. He worked like a slave horse all day and stopped for only a few minutes for a small bite to eat and then it was right back to work. Devin, we will always keep this floor dedicated to you and your services. Thank you!
Because we used glue, we put heavy buckets and anything else we could find on top of the floor to keep the pieces from bubbling up as they dried. This was a simple project I could do that didn't involve my face close to the glue fumes... It worked! After the hardwood floor was done, it was on to the next project outside... and NOT a fun one. We had a counter scrap leftover from the kitchen we sold that wasn't wanted and decided to tear off the granite tile squares and use them around our fireplace... little did we know how hard it would be! Trying to rip off the granite tile from the cement adhesive took a lot of time, but after using several different tools and lots of strength, they came off one by one. We then chizzled the leftover cement off each piece until it shined like new.... Once again, Carson and Devin used their "manliness" to get this job done-- and with Carson's perfectionist "clean freak" personality, they scrubbed these suckers until there was literally no speck of cement left. (I can say that because he never reads this blog... don't worry I am so grateful for that quality in a husband.) VOILA! The tile is perfectly cleaned and ready to be cut and installed around the fireplace! Melissa is laughing in this picture because Carson was doing his manly grunt for a job well done. Because there was so much work to be done, there was little time left to play before they had to head home. We managed to squeeze in a good gourmet-chinese take-out dinner and play with baby Parker. Here's Melissa with her new pride and joy.

We also spent some time with the dog, although it had to be behind closed doors so she wouldn't eat the baby.

Carson had a turn too enjoying the babe, and probably secretly pondering what it was going to be like for us to have one of our own. Thanks again so much Melissa and Devin for helping us out! You saved us several extra hours of work and helped us get moved in faster! We love you!

October Tile Job

So why do our own tile? Because any of you who have priced out tile labor know how ridiculously expensive it is. So to save a good chunk of change, we did it ourselves! The tile job all started on the first weekend of October, where we were pounded with snow. My parents came up to help us lay tile in our new house, and little did we all know we would have the first HUGE snow storm of the season. This picture shows the very start of it, but it got so bad that it took us two hours to drive a distance that normally takes 15 minutes.

Thanks to willing friends at Carson's work, we were able to borrow the tools necessary to get the job done. So.. if you have ever wondered how to lay tile, here's all the steps on how to do it yourself! Of course ours isn't perfect since my dad was the only one with experience, but here's how the job process went for us!

HOW TO LAY TILE:

Step 1: Get some help! It's a huge job when you are doing all of it yourself, especially if one of you is preggo! My mom and dad offered with no hesitation to be our slaves for a weekend, despite my dad's health problems with his cancer. They even stayed an extra two days to help us get the job done! I've got the best parents ever! STEP 2: Don't get ready for the day so your mom can snap a bunch of embarrasing pictures of you... Ok so here's the actual step... Nail down backerboard every 6 inches. STEP 3: Check and make sure that all screws are flush with backerboard. If they aren't keep drilling them down until they are. (Otherwise you could break your tile from the pressure of an uneven screw.) STEP 4: Sweep all backerboard and take note to never use those painters again....(We asked them to lay down tarps and not drip any paint on the backerboard because it can mess up the adhesive process... grrr they said they would do it and didn't... thus all the paint spots.) STEP 5: Mop backerboard lightly. Soaking it is never an option because it can ruin the composition of the board.STEP 6: Mix cement bag with correct portions of different fluids. Keep Mrs. Preggo away from the fumes.STEP 7: Make sure Mrs. Preggo wears a mask to protect the little fetus from the harmful fumes so she can still work like everyone else. Let mom get her good laugh at the dorky-looking Mrs. Preggo and snap a picture for the history books. After that, start spreadin' the goo!

STEP 8: Have husband come after you to even out your rough draft "goo" job. It's important to angle the spatula tool at 45 degrees and apply the same force as you spread it across the given area.--otherwise, you will end up with some tile squares higher than others. (That's why we decided to let Carson go behind me and do a "final draft" since he could keep his technique pretty even.)
STEP 9: Measure any tricky areas that won't require a full tile. STEP 10: Collaborate with father-in-law and do the arithmetic and artwork required to figure out the exact inches for each tile cut going up, down, sideways, backwards, and so forth. STEP 11: Take the drawing/math to the cutter and wish for the best luck on cutting it right! Thank goodness my dad is smart and understands numbers... he did practically every tile perfect first try, and since our kitchen tile was 24' x 24', that was a trick trying to cut it on a tile saw built for only 18' tiles!STEP 12: Run the cut tile piece up the stairs to the room it belongs. Plan on sore quads the next day.
STEP 12: String plugs/cords across anything possible to keep them off the floor so you can actually LAY the tile! STEP 13: Start laying the tile! STEP 14: And continue to lay the tile! Try to have the same person lay it if possible, because the spacing in between the tile will stay more even. (Poor Carson)STEP 15: Make sure to add the little white spacers in between the tile. 1We used 1/16 inch spacers are really small, but will give your tile a very fine and hidden grout line when finished.

STEP 16: Make sure to even out "goo" around pipes and floor drains. STEP 17: Make sure tile is cut to fit perfectly around pipes and floor drains. If not, use a special chipping tool to pinch off the extra inches needed so it fits tight.
STEP 18: After applying each tile, stand/bounce on it to squish it firmly in place. If tile is higher than surrounding ones, keep jumping until it lays flush. If it won't lay flush, consider it a "character piece" in your floor.
STEP 19: Check to make sure gridlines of tiles already laid are even and square.

STEP 20: Clean up the tile scraps and mess as you go!
STEP 21: Squeeze an icing-sized amount of grout in between two tiles. (Nope that's not a cake-piping bag, although it looks like one! It's a special grouting bag, although you could use it to do a cake too I'm sure...)

STEP 22: Work the grout back and forth with grouting tool until it is packed down firmly between the two tiles.
STEP 23: Wipe off excess grout.
STEP 24: Don't forget to do under the closets!
STEP 25: Sweep all excess grout off the tile floor.
STEP 26: Start scrubbing the floor and try with all your might to get rid of the grout residue. STEP 27: Accept the fact that no matter how well you clean it, the grout haze won't be completely gone until several washings.
STEp 28: Try and smile after your 20th time of cleaning the same tile floor and there's still grout residue. Run sealer over the grout lines after 12 hours of dry-time.

STEP 29: Thank the people who helped you for their hours of slavery. Mom and Dad, thanks again for all of your help! There is NO way we could have done it without you!

STEP 30: Let someone else do your showers. You're sick of laying tile by this point. (post to come later)

So there you have it! Way too many steps on how to do a tile job.... hope you never have to do one. :)