We made it over to the house late last night to check on the tile installation.

Couldn’t get back far enough to get a shot of the entire kitchen without stepping on the newly laid tile.

A slightly different angle

Some preliminary ceramic tile photos:

I’m really liking this terracotta color. The texture on this tile is particularly nice.

A view into the bedrooms– the continuous installation makes the room seems larger.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Tags: ceramic tile, glazing kitchen cabinets, Rehab, rent house

Mr. Brz likes the idea of ceramic tile counters and doesn’t need any elaborate justification. Unfortunately a couple of issues are hindering the advancement of counter materials in Texas from laminate to tile.

• Measurement of the stove space shows exactly 30″… no more, no less meaning even the thinnest tile might interfere with stove installation.
• The bid for a simple 6×6″ tile counter and backsplash was higher than anticipated– $800. The bid for comparable custom laminate was under $400. If we had time to do the work ourselves, it might work, but looks like this time around it’s just not happening.

Bummer

When the nice tile-lady arrived today, she measured the floor and came up with a total of 777 sq. ft.  If anyone around here were even the teensiest bit superstitious, this would be a very nice number indeed. Since that’s not the case, I’m just glad it’s easy to remember.

We decided on the terracotta-colored tile for the bedrooms, living room, kitchen and utility room. We’re going with a lighter color for the bathroom just for grins. Frankly, choosing tile and grout color makes me wonky and until the job’s finished there’ll be no rest for the weary… or whoever. Mr. Brz is resting much better knowing the ceramic tile’s going in and doesn’t really give a flip about colors, silly man.

JoJo the Wonderdog,  for no particular reason except he’s cute with teddy in his chops

Popularity: 21% [?]

Tags: ceramic tile, ceramic tile floor, flooring, laminate counters, tile counters

At high noon, the mister heads out the door for an afternoon of fun and profit sanding kitchen cabinet doors. At 12:01, Mrs. Brz heads out the door to visit her mother. At 12:04, the phone rings, child-unit #3 fields an emergency call from a highly agitated Mr. Brz.  At 12:08, a face appears at the mother-in-law’s window. Much hand waving and wild pantomime ensues indicating a state of family emergency. 

The amplitude of gesturing and jumping  indicates some terrible tragedy has befallen us… perhaps a tiny Cat 5 hurricane swept through Chambers county overnight hitting the investment house dead-center, leaving destruction and mayhem in its wake? Or maybe a band of marauding wombats has taken up residence in the kitchen, keeping the mister from his appointed sanding duties? Or maybe city hall’s called another emergency meeting to demand even larger checks?

No… it appears the peel-n-stick tile is not sticking.

Having known this man 30 years (and having witnessed a wide variety of panic maneuvers), it did cross my mind that the emergency at hand might be slightly less earth shattering than indicated.  But the mister is usually right, even with evidence to the contrary. He’s the smartest guy ever. Sometimes he can’t articulate exactly what’s wrong, but all that fancy dancing usually has a basis firmly anchored far, far away in the mist-shrouded regions of solid fact. And being a very smart wife indeed, I trust those instincts even when he’s doing The-Sky-Is-Falling dance on mom’s front deck.

So an emergency conference is called, tiles are examined, corners are declared un-stuck when they’re stuck perfectly fine, the mister decides the house ‘needs’ ceramic tile and the budget’s taking another hit for the home team.

This looks like a perfect time to bring up my theory on ceramic tile counters

We’re thinking about the terracotta colored tile on the top row… the same color as the dirt in the yard. Prices have increased since our last installation from $3/sq. ft. to $3.60/sq. ft.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Tags: ceramic tile, flooring, peel-n-stick, Rehab