The light at the end of the tunnel shines bright!

A few weeks ago we finally started the back splash.  It took me this long to post because the 1970's warped walls had me wanting to rip down the tiles. No matter what we did, the warped wall made the tiles look uneven.  A few times I'd be standing in the kitchen looking at something and Steve knew exactly what I was thinking... and he would assure me it was "fine".  Hmmph.  It took me two years to finally decide on kitchen pulls for the cabinets in AZ... "fine" my ass.

But in the end... I LOVE the way the back splash looks.  We can say we did it ourselves with what we had to work with and we are proud of how it came out.  Below are pictures of our progress and finished product.

    
Our "before" picture.  The walls weren't straight and a bit bowed.  Running your hand over the wall, you could feel all the imperfections.

 

← First row completed
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The picture above shows that entire wall finished on a Saturday.

We waited until the next day to start grouting.


While we waited for the back splash to set (so I could grout), Steve started the process of figuring out how and where to start the floor tile.

I decided to try a piping bag to grout and it actually made less of a mess on the tile and on me, but took a bit longer.  It was the perfect way to not use A LOT of grout while doing this process.

After finding the "X" to mark the spot and Steve taking a few deep breaths (it's stressful) he spread thin set and laid the first tile.  "Whew!"  The rest of the day we spent measuring the overlay for the rows and Steve started doing his cuts.  You don't realize how much measuring, cutting, tiling, cutting, thin setting can take out of you.  I think it was just being bent over (like Steve is to the right) for a few hours that tires you.

"Measure twice, cut once".  That saying kept running through my head.

 Stephen Gooby, you're my hero!

This was the kitchen after Monday night.

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 Around 9:00pm on Monday I heard the wet saw start up and it's very loud.  I went running outside, my eyes bulging asking "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?"  I could just see our neighbors calling the cops on us.  I'm sure my cousin Jeanene and Martin could hear the saw from their house.  Needless to say, I asked Steve to call it a night because I didn't want to anger our neighbors.  So the process continued through to Wednesday.

Tuesday saw Steve using the wet saw the most due to so many small cuts needed.  It was a process which ended the night early.  But this big smile on his face??? → → → →

That's the look of a very happy man.  Wednesday night he finished tiling and the next day I started grouting.  I think I had more grout on myself than anywhere else.

Luckily I had read an article stating acetone could take off grout and that's exactly what I used.  two bottles.  just kidding.  Half a bottle worked on my legs, arms, neck (I have no idea) hair and face.

 After all was said and done on the almost week long process, we finished our kitchen.

We love the gray glass back splash.  I'm so glad my cousin talked me into it.  I literally looked at the sample tiles in the morning, early afternoon, late afternoon and evening to make sure I liked it.  Steve was pressuring me to select the tile since my original back splash material wasn't going to work.

When I thought I had made up my mind, Steve excitedly asked "did we make a decision?"... and my expressions said it all "yes.. i don't know... maybe?  Can we just use both?"  Steve thought I lost it.

 other side of our kitchen.

I did do a little cleaning prior to taking this picture.  Yes, that is Steve in the picture bent over.  As with cooking, I'm a messy diy'er.  I had grout and thin set all over the place.  Sunday, our friend Dan came over with his miter saw (I think that's it) and both installed the base boards and other stuff. Steve was very excited he got to use his compressor and nail guns to do the job.  I steered clear just in case he lost control of the nail gun.

Finally... our before and after pictures