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A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Well hello.

We have been working away and I wanted to show off the new bits of the kitchen.  I couldn't just decide on one cabinet style so I choose two and really like the contrast between both.  Those gorgeous wood doors were actually purchased even before we broke ground and had the kitchen finalized but they were being discontinued and you know how Ikea is.....things go quick.  So amongst many Ikea shoppers on a Saturday I sat myself down in a corner of the store blocked out the dreaded noise and made it work. A little risky yes, but those doors were my major "wow" factor and needed to incorporate that driftwood inspiration that I pulled from the exterior materials. 

There are still some details left to be completed, one being the island cabinet.  It's in a very rough form at the moment causing some head scratching for sure........

And then there's counter tops..........another huge head scratching element.  Can you say Chalk Board Slate...

When it feels like a home

Again, a new layer has been reached in the final chapters of this all consuming process.  A comforting realisation of what we as humans find as security. It's our space and our stuff. Living within our stuff kind of defines you.  It shouldn't control you, but it helps relax the mind into letting your guard down and being yourself. Don't you just always feel comforted when you get home from a long day at work, of after a vacation walking back in the front door for the first time after being gone.  You just breath a little sign of relief that "your home".

What spurred on such deep thought provoking philosophy while assembling kitchen cabinet boxes with the bald headed no clothes wearing ikea helper man above? Well, we have been living without our "stuff" like two gypsy's for over a year while building this project. Just our clothes and essentials shacked up in my mothers house, but I'm grateful for having a place to lay our head.  All of our "home" is in a storage unit waiting to be unpacked and loved again patiently until we finish this amazing chapter and return to our lives and next adventure.  I'm missing our "home" so much lately that I think I'm really in tune with registering my lack of that feeling. You think you don't need that feeling that it's freeing without that security, but when it's gone for a long period of time it starts becoming more present in the day to day little things. And for some reason, starting to hang the kitchen cabinets the space transitioned into the beginnings of the home feeling.  It has mostly felt up until now like a art gallery atmosphere.  Its very nice but not livable, or a place you want to spend a long period of time in.

It could be that I turned on the radiant floor heater and it feels wonderful on the toes, but I just don't want to leave. I just find myself sitting in there envisioning what it's going to look like, how good it would feel to live in.......a little like my home away from home.
 

Part TWO of a dozen

Grouting makes a world of difference, all the little imperfections just disappear. Good rule of thumb is to never judge a tile job until it's grouted and sealed.  A lot can change with a little 1/16th line.

It is however my least favorite part.  The process drags on and on and it takes FOREVER to clean.
Layer by layer of thinset mudd has to be buffed out, but in the end it's worth it.

Part ONE of a dozen

There are so many steps that have had to occur in order to get to this point.  And there are still a number of steps left to complete before we have finished tiling the floor.  We are in the middle of a little bit of limbo at the momment, not the best feeling, but we are pushing through.  Tiling is not an easy task, but we have tiled enough to feel comfortable with it and are up for the challenge of such a large space. This floor can look HUGE when your moving tile by tile across the room. Lot's can go wrong!

We both have our jobs, I lay and he cuts. Both are messy, exhausting and keep you on your toes. 

Its that time of year..

I am way behind on my blogging and have been working round the clock and have had no time to show you all what we have been up too!

The chill is in the air and winter is coming round the corner faster than I had wanted. And, naturally we are starting to install the heating system, so it's perfect timing!

I am a huge fan of radiant flooring and have used it on other projects and recommend using when at all possible. Even just in the bathroom if you can.  It does take a little getting used to.... when you turn it on at the thermostat nothing happens right away. No clicking on,  no hot air running through ducts, no immediate warmth....but sure enough the air starts to change and your toes are cozy, and all of a sudden your warm without you even realizing it. It's a much better heating system then forced air or baseboard heaters.  It only heats the lower to middle areas of a space (basically where people are) and doesn't fluctuate from hot to cold all day long. Its just super great, ok!

There are lots of different radiant flooring options, I chose the electrical option for cost purposes and ease of install..........

  Well, the ease of install in not technically true.  Its nice to not have to hire someone to install it, I can do it myself but you have to be able to read there confusing layout maps and have some good knee pads....ok and a little patience. But well worth it!

Lessons learned

Learned a HUGE lesson the other day that sure could have flip flopped into a "oh my god we are screwed, there is no way to fix this" moment.  Never, (I repeat) Never think that manufactures just put "guidelines" on there products just for fun.  Just follow the guidelines.  So, I will explain.

This isn't our first rodeo. 

We have tiled bathrooms, kitchens etc. and are very familiar with Hardi Backer.  For those of you who aren't... its the cement board that is mudded using thinset onto the wood sub floor to create a solid non-flexible surface the tile is mudded to with thin set.  The point being, it removes any movement the sub floor might have so that the non flexible tiles will not crack or move. 

Back to where we went wrong.

1. We are tired, working 7 days a week to complete this project. 2. This is the most square footage we have tackled in one area and it's a little intimidating. 3. And, I really wanted to get done early for the day so I could make it to my friends bachlorette party. (just being honest)

On each hardi backer board there are these wonderful little recessed dots that indicate where a nail should be placed when attaching to the floor.  Each 3 x 5 panel has roughly 1 every 6 inches. Alot.......right? Understanding, that our mind set were numbers 1 2 and 3 from above, so we decide that we don't need that many nails.  "We have been doing this enough times, we will be fine."

Big fat WRONG.

Why did we think that "we" two little peons could out think some engineering master who sits in a lab all day testing and specifying products for companies, so that they could give us guildelines to properly install there products?

Our entire floor squished and creeked and moved. Expecially in ALL the high traffic areas.

A rush of panic set in, this was not something that we could just pull up and start again. These cement boards are mudded down and ripping them up would ruin our subfloor completely.  Not Good...... and just saying oh well and installing our tile would eventually leave us to cracked tiles and a waste of our time.

So my husband being the researching maniac as he is ran down to the computer (where he usually finds most of our problem solving solutions) and quickly determined that most people run into problems like ours and that there is not a really great solution other than screwing the hell out of each panel. 

3 lbs. of screws and nails later, our hardi floors looked like a crazy person had used the floor for shot gun practice.   Insert image of a buck shot here......

To my amazement and extreme thankfullness, it worked.  Not a squish, or giggle not nothing! Solid as a rock!

So folks, lesson learned.