Spring is here for sure and the yard is recovering from its winter bleakness.
The apples that we planted two years ago are blossoming for the first time and the pumpkins are popping up as hoped. It’s interesting to note that the pumpkins are even more aggressive than the tumble weeds and will shade them out. They also stay green all summer thus providing a bit of fire protection when compared to the flammable tumble weeds.
But, enjoying the yard is no excuse for sitting back and relaxing while there is a kitchen that needs completing. I refinished the doors to the pantry and rocket room as a warm up and then jumped directly to the hardest part, the tile backsplash.
One of the challenges presented by our butcher block counters is that they are not quite as deep as other counter materials with the result being a 1/2″ wide gap between the back of the countertop and the wall. The answer to this was to install 1/2″ backer board on the wall so that the tile would be able to cover the back edge of the counter.
The tiles we selected are hand painted in Mexico and have slight variations in pattern and color which support our look of rustic without being too rustic. We did a lot of modeling of more intricate patterns, boarders, and colors but found that “simple” worked out a lot better. Besides, much of the tile would be hidden behind kitchen tools and appliances.
I think it turned out looking pretty good. I’m getting better at this but we’re running out of tile jobs. The only thing left is building a tile surround for the laundry tub and that should be a walk in the park compared to the other tile jobs I’ve done.
Of course, no job is complete without our fuzzy building inspector.
very nice!