This Lo Life

I was nervous getting started on the tile because I'd never embarked on such a project in my entire life! But it was time, I had to and I wanted to make an attempt at installing it myself. As usual, I called the helpline line at Custom Building and went through the preparation and the procedure with them and they gave me the thumbs up. I had to do it over two nights and the first night was quite difficult. I mixed up the mortar per the specifications and ended up with extremely thick mortar. It took a lot of effort to get it out of the bucket and then form it properly on the floor and apply it to the back of the tile (backbuttering). I think it took me about three hours to install about 12.5 sq. ft. No joke, it took that long. But it all went in and it all lined up. I even thought they were pretty level with each other. I had to stop by this point because it was about midnight. The next day, I called Custom Building again and explained my problem with the thickness of the mor...

I successfully made all of the straight cuts on the tiles but it was quite a process. After the first few cuts, I decided I would gradually cut my way towards the cut line. I kept cutting away portions of the tile until I got to where I wanted it to be. This worked quite well. All was going well until I had to start cutting the hole out of the tile to make way for the toilet. A Home Depot employee recommended I use a diamond tipped blade for a jig saw to make the cut. This way, it'll go faster and still be able to guide the cut along the curve. It didn't work very well. The blade barely got through the tile. I had to lean on the saw to get it to move, which it hardly did. It got so tiring I had to start taking breaks. Well, at one point as I lifted the saw away, the tile snapped in half! I stood there in shock! The tile had suddenly broken-debris flying onto the ground. That's when I thought I'm really glad I take safety precautions like wearing eye protecti...

We ordered our kitchen last night! It was exciting to finalize the design, put the money down on it and begin planning on its arrival. I've got a lot to do before it arrives: finish the bathroom, texture the ceilings, walls, paint, get the electrical going and more. It's a pretty serious list. But now that I have a deadline I'm really pumped to be working on the condo. This bathroom job has taught me a lot and I feel pretty confident I can transfer that knowledge onto a larger scale. However, because of the larger scale, there's obviously more to do so I'm looking for some help. If you're interested in helping me out, please let me know and let's talk about it. Just having a second pair of hands on the job is a major help. I'll take even an hour of your time. You don't need to commit to a whole day. But I definitely won't say 'no' if you want to help me out a lot! Send me an email or leave a comment.

I'm back after a hiatus and am ready to tile. I spent an evening laying them out. I started by mixing up the tiles in order to vary the differences that might occur in their production. At first, I laid the tile out in a simple pattern and I thought it looked pretty good. A few nights later, I returned with Allison and she suggested staggering the tiles. This turned out much better! With the pattern laid out, I had to start experimenting with cutting the tiles to fit into the odd sized spaces. This took a few days of research and consideration but after awhile, I thought I'd just started practicing. I practiced making one long cut from end-to-end. Then I practiced notching one side and then flipping it over and ripping it down towards the notch. I decided I like the notched method because it leaves the surface of the tile intact. Ripping from end-to-end broke off a small portion of the tile surface at the very end. It's hardly noticeable but it's still ...