Tile part 3

We've made it to the end of our tile saga! Monday of this week Scott and I finished the last step, grouting the tile.

We were overly-anxious for this part knowing it can be tough to gauge when the grout is not too wet that we pull it our of the cracks, dry enough to wipe off the tile, and not too dry that it's uber difficult to get off. We got super lucky, we were able to grout and clean the tile in about 2.5 hours (or less?). I'm SO happy with the way it turned out and incredibly proud of us for taking this project on. Our confidence is boosted and I have very few concerns about tiling the bathrooms and kitchen backsplash now. I don't know that Scott shares my enthusiasm 😉

Prior to grouting, Scott got to kick all of the tile levelers off. There was something really satisfying about watching them pop off with a swift kick and Clover loved chasing them around.

This week we also bought trim for the entryway to start finished that up. I know what you're thinking, "wait, but you don't finish projects!", well, we haven't fully finished anything YET, but I do hope one day that changes 🤣

I wanted thick trim, without too many intricate details and for some reason thought I needed ginormous (8-10") trim. Turns out, if you have normal height ceilings (8 ft) 5 1/4 inch looks awesome!

We bought some trim (16 foot boards) which are SO awkward to get home, even in the truck. We ended up putting them against the tailgate and up over the cab, strapping them in and I stuck my arm out the back window to hold them, just in case (yes, I completely recognize that this is ridiculous, I don't think I could've stopped those boards from flying away if I had wanted to) . Yikes! I dont know how people transport this stuff!

We arrived with it in one piece (the trim, the truck, and us!), thankfully!

The boards we bought were primed but needed a coat of trim paint so I got to work.

Once those boards were painted and moved to the side we ripped down some 1x6" boards to the width of the doorways in the entry and I sanded them with 120 and 220 grit then put two coats of primer on them.

Many people I've spoken to about the house and the blog have asked if I knew it was going to be this much work and it's projects like prepping these boards that have really taken me by surprise for two reasons: 1) the fact that I could even care this much about proper prep (but seriously, it makes a difference) and 2) how labor-intensive all this stuff is. It's never just one trip to the hardware store and one evening of work. Every project is ongoing, takes forever, and has approximately 1.7 million steps. I have so much respect for people who do this for a living!

We only managed to get up one small piece of trim, but look how amazing this is going to look!

While I was working on painting/prepping the trim Scott got to work finished up mudding the seams In the nook in the entry where we have new drywall. We have our internet stuff (modem?? Router?? I have no idea...) attached to the wall up high in the nook so I hadn't been able to tape/mud those seams when I did the rest, so Scott finished that for me. It wasn't easy, the space is cramped and right by a lightbulb and your arms are over your head, but he was a trooper! Pretty soon it'll be ready for paint and trim. Eventually I'd like a small shoe cabinet in here and maybe a floating shelf and a mirror. All in due time!

One of my wonderful neighbors stopped by to chat today and see the tile and she saw our garage, (which, much like the rest of the house, is somewhere between "oh my God, a tornado has blown through here!" And a game of "wouldn't it be fun to put everything we own in the middle of the floor?" ) and she said "I don't know what you're working on, but it looks like a lot!" So I pointed around the room saying "well, that's the trim we just painted, those are the interior doors we need to put up, that's the bed frame Scott built us at our old house, we want to sand and refinish it, and those two dressers are project pieces I bought online for $20. Yeah, it's a lot" whew!

We are knee-deep in what feels like 100 projects, and a sweet friend said to me today "wait, you don't finish one thing before moving on to the next?". Nope. I wish it was that easy, but everything is connected so in trying to not have to re-do or touch up a million things it's been a lot of half-finished projects. Eventually they'll all be done though!

To add on top of the interior work we are doing we spent some time in the yard this weekend pulling out bushes. We've never done that before, but had several near the garage that were beyond pruning to make them nice, so up they came (after a small false start)

We pulled 5 bushes from this side, probably another 5 from the other and 2 from near the pool cage before the rope broke. We'll probably have to use a chainsaw to get the last three, but even just having these out made a huge difference.

I have grand plans for the yard, we have a ton of rock beds awaiting flowers and bushes and color, but one thing at a time!

During our yard work we spotted two burrowing owls. They're a protected species down here and they often nest in vacant lots. When we originally looked at our house there was a nest nextdoor, once construction started (or before), they were no where to be seen, but today they came back!

I'm hoping to get some more of the trim up this week and maybe put up a light in the entry. I've been holding off on that because I really want my "dust mop" light I made a couple months ago, but I'm positive it will collect all the drywall dust In the air. I may just have to settle for something else until things calm down, which won't be anytime soon.

For now, we just keep trucking along and working through the dust!