and four months later...

four months ago was demo work (well, August 4th to be exact)... then it was a major mold problem... then Ollie became incredibly ill, we thought we were going to lose him, and I was caravanning from my parents' house to work (read: two hours round trip) every day. however, four months later, a diagnosis and recovery from Pemphigus for Ollie, flooring down, new ceilings, updated electric, and lots of quality time with my parents, i am ALMOST done. big things have happened and between commuting, crazy long hours at work, too-frequent vet specialist appointments, and travel for work and holidays -- i present: PROGRESS! 

--- let's take a step back and remember what we *used* to see in my kitchen ---

--- and after cabinets and counters installed ---

antique leather granite, oooooh. 

so, we have not quite finishing toe kicks or baseboards, but door trim, handles, pulls, appliances (read: the first time this house as ever had a dishwasher, EVER) installed, and running water to the kitchen faucet have happened. 

i finally moved back to my house and am loving a shorter drive every day. this weekend was project: backsplash. mom swung by for a girls weekend and we had big plans. 

i saw a product called Simple Mat on Pinterest and did some research. instead of using mortar/thinset, you use this super sticky adhesive sheet to apply the tiles. decided it was worth the adventure and bought some. 

cleaned and dried the walls and started to measure the area and cut the mat. 

imagine super sticky fly paper

we rolled out the first two sections and realized that it does not stick to plaster. oops. so we pulled that down and decided to prime the whole area. this required taping off everything to prevent disasters (read: paint splatters on my gorgeous counters/cabinets). 

then back to tile prep. rolling out and cutting was super easy. we did much better with a utility knife than scissors due to the stickiness. then it was just a matter of popping up the tile and pressing it into the adhesive mat. 

 

the most challenging aspect of this step was lining up each sheet with even spacing. luckily, you weren't stuck with the positioning until you *really* press the tile into the mat. we were moving tiles frequently to make sure our rows were level and not drifting. also, penny tile requires PATIENCE when making the cuts for the half pieces for edging. thanks to pinterest (again), a diy couple shared a trick of painter's tape to prevent splintering. after several attempts and ending up with chipped quarters instead of halves, i realized you must cut in the same direction as the striation on the back of the tiles. the other odd areas require cutting the mosaic mat to the appropriate dimensions.

you *must* grout within 24 hours, so we unfortunately only finished half the kitchen. but i'm loving how it looks so far.

now that we have the hang of it, i'm hoping the other wall goes more quickly. we did all of that tiling and grouting between 10am and 4pm. not bad for novices. i'm thrilled though!