operation knock-down drag-out: week 6.

so in case you havent noticed already, the general game plan around here is that pretty much nothing bathroom-related gets done in the middle of the week (Tues - Thurs) and most of the significant, amazing, and impressive feats of home improvement are performed over the extended weekend days (Fri - Mon). this week was no exception.

on Friday night, we took a trip to the Depot to pick up the floor tile and a few other related necessities. since the store was mostly empty, i took the opportunity to get a picture of the tile we're using for the floor and in the shower area, since i couldnt find any good pictures online. and also because its way less awkward to be kneeling on the floor of the Depot taking pictures if no one but your husband is around to witness your insanity.

since the rest of Friday evening was spent cheering the O's to victory in the wild card game, the real work started on Saturday. before Mark could start cutting any tiles, we had to mark out some guidelines on the floor, since i wanted the tile to be laid on the diagonal. so here's a real world application for all you math-haters out there: how many engineers with math minors does it take to calculate a whole-number length of the legs on an isosceles triangle that will provide a whole-number length hypotenuse?

we got the answer within 1/32 and called it good enough

mark made all the cuts on the wet saw that he borrowed from his uncle the tile-expert. he had access to another kind of tile cutter that would have made the process faster, but he wasnt happy with the quality of the cuts it was giving him, so he just stopped using it in favor of the wet saw.

Mark didnt end up making as much progress on Saturday as he had hoped to. instead of workworkworking all day, he stopped when he was about halfway done with the cuts to take me out to dinner and the theater for our anniversary! he is seriously the best ever.

on Sunday, Mark finished cutting and dry-fitting all of the tiles, and then started setting them in place.

since he is a genius, he numbered all of the pieces with painters tape before he took them back out of the room. this made putting it all back together super simple, and ensured that all of the time he spent laying them out wasnt a waste of time.

i was busy painting things and doing laundry for most of this time, but i caught up with the process right at the end to take some tile-tutorial pictures for you all.

Step One: spread some mud on the floor.

Step Two: use the trowel to make some lines in the mud.

Step Three: drop a tile into place, pound on it until it is level with the pieces around it. its just that easy!*
*but it might not be. dont take my word for it.

once all the pieces were mudded into place, i made my one and only contribution to the tile-ing process by assisting Mark with cutting the threshold to size. and by "assisting" i probably mean "flashlight holding." but you should never underestimate the effect that good lighting can have when cutting tile, especially at 9:30 on a chilly, rainy Sunday night.

after the threshold was cut, it apparently needed to be polished. so Mark did that last night after work.

and then, after drilling some holes into the tile underneath to give the mud and the threshold something grippier than smooth ceramic tile to hold onto, the threshold got mudded into place! pro tip: do not step on the freshly mudded threshold. it will shift and the hubs will not be happy. (ps i did not step on it, but i was warned ahead of time of the potential for disaster.)

because my hubs is awesome, he worked late into the night (on a work night even!) to get the floor grouted so that this step would be complete, and so he could return all of his uncles tile tools that he had borrowed for the weekend, which stretched into a weekend and a day.

so as of this morning, we now have a beautiful new tile floor in our bathroom! i am so impressed and excited and i cant help but stare lovingly at it every time i walk down the hall.

next up: shower tile? ceiling? i'm actually not sure. but i'll be sure to let you know all about it once i find out.

trips to Home Depot: this week - 1. total - 9.
trips to Ace: this week - 0. total - 2.
trips to Lowes: this week - 0. total - 2.

times Amanda has cried over this project: this week - 0. total - 1.
times Amanda has cried in Home Depot: this week - 0. total - 0.

days until Thanksgiving: 51.