Setting tile

This week, the big news is that we set the tile.

Master Tile Cutter AJ ran the Mars wet saw operation:

All told, she cut and trimmed about 40 tiles over the course of three days. They came out beautifully!

Yesterday was the big day. We mixed up the thinset (the mortar that sticks the tiles down) and laid everything out:

Here is the north side (china cabinet side), all set and getting itself ready for a light gray grout:

That side was easy. Weird looking because of the tile mismatch, but easy. The furniture will hide some of the weirdness.

The south side (sink side) was a lot trickier because of the cramped space and because we were using a mix of tiles (with different thicknesses) left over from The Big Project of 2013-2014. I always like to reuse materials instead of buying new, but the main reason we wanted to reuse these tiles is the manufacturer has discontinued them, and we wanted to try to avoid a mismatch in the area next to the sink that won't have any furniture over it.

We ended up having to use two of the new tiles, as well, but the section next to the sink did get all old tile, so hopefully it won't look too weird in the end. The hardest part was getting the consistency of the thinset right. I think I made it too wet -- it caused us some headaches, but we were still able to successfully get it built up enough in the right places to get the thin tiles level with the thick tiles. Big thanks to The Keeper of The Standards, AJ, who wouldn't let me get away with "come on, it's good enough" as I got more and more annoyed with the thinset (& more and more covered in it -- what a mess).

Here is the fully set back corner:

Since this floor is completely oddball anyway, rather than try to get the weird space around the gas line perfect, we added these details:

The A & O are our initials (AJ calls me Oscar sometimes because I'm grouchy).

The spot on the other side of the stove:

What was really challenging was dealing with areas like this, where the existing tile had been cut to fit in around the old cabinets. We just tried to go with it as best as we could.

We also tiled next to the sink:

We're not totally sure what we're going to put/build right there, so we thought it was best to tile it to give ourselves more options.

So, as expected, the floor looks crazy. But I think we actually did a good job with the installation. Despite setting ourselves a completely ridiculous challenge for our first time out -- fitting three different types of tiles, with three different thicknesses, into holes in a floor that had been set around built-in cabinets -- in most places the grout lines are even and the tile is level, so we're actually pretty happy with it. Have you ever met someone with an ugly baby? Everyone knows that baby is ugly, but her parents love her, so it all works out. This is maybe a little like that.

We were hoping to grout today, but the thinset needs until the afternoon to cure, and we're leaving at noon for a vacation a couple hours north of here. So the grout will have to wait until we're back next weekend. So close to being finished with this big milestone!

Another milestone that's just around the corner: while we're gone, Mr. Bunkport is going to come cut a hole in our roof and install the vent hood. Once that's done, we can have the stove installed, finish the walls, & get back to normal.