It Occurred to Me...

... that I never did finish the story here. The tiled backsplash was one of those life experiences that one may wish to consider a one-off! My brother Bruce was going to help me, but other than teach me how to cut tile, he wasn't really in the picture. The wet-saw I borrowed had a hole in the reservoir so the water that cools the spinning blade would just run out all over the driveway. (It was a good thing I was doing the job in February, outside, so the blade would just cool off by convection!) The mess was really something. I used a handheld power tool to make the fit better and to do curved cuts; those had to be done indoors and holy smokes... there was tile dust everywhere. I was cutting a tile outside that splintered a bit and, not thinking, I brushed the debris off the saw's platform... slicing my thumb and getting blood all over everything!!! It froze to the metal surfaces instantly, but the cold didn't seem to slow the flow. There were other challenges, like what to do with the light switchplate in the "buffet" that was going to be half on the tile and half not. And what to do with the kneewall and the area under the window. I also didn't realize that the grout I bought was a bit different from the "normal" stuff and set almost as I was applying it. So my grout lines aren't the most perfect in the world. BUT... and this is what matters... it looks great (from a few feet aaway anyway!) and is doing the job it was supposed to. This is what it looks like:

Fast forward to November 2009. (Yes. TWO years later. Call me the Queen of the Procratinators. Mea culpa.) Anyway, after much thought and consideration I decided how to install the undercabinet lights that I bought before Byron started work. I discovered that one of them was too long for the location I had intended it for and oh, gee, where is that receipt?? I called Canadian Tire, where I bought them to see what I could do and was stunned to hear that all I had to do was bring in the one that didn't fit and exchange it for one that would. So I did. Then I got out the new cordless drill I bought, and the huge Forstner bit that I needed to make the holes in the cabinets to feed the cables through... and promptly cut myself on it! After a lot of contortions and a bit of ingenuity the lights were in and functioning and it was all good. WooHoo!! Colour me DONE with DIY!!!