Author: Rick

  • Creating a tile backsplash in 2 easy steps

    Step 1, buy tile

    Step 2, install tile.

    Guess I glossed over the hard parts. 🙂

    Ok, so our kitchen needed some pizzaz and grease loves our walls. So we can fix both problems at once by putting up a tile backsplash in our kitchen.

    After weeks of pondering and searching various tile shops, with kids that did not want to look anymore, we picked out some travertine tile in a dark, light checkerboard pattern. I measured the kitchen and determined we needed about 40 sq feet of tile and that leaves plenty for cutting and screw ups.

    The tile arrived last Monday and there it sat until Sunday when we finally had no plans. I moved the tile-saw onto the island for easy access and got to work. The main tiles went up nice and easy in the diaganol pattern. We got nice and lucky that our cabinets and our countertop lined up on a half tile exactly so that made the top and bottom cuts nice and easy. The hardest parts were the outlet and switches.

    By late Sunday afternoon the tile was set in place, and we left for dinner to allow the mortar to set-up. That evening I adjusted the outlets and switches and placed spacers were needed. Monday we put on a color enhancer. The last step is to grout which will probably occur this weekend. Below are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

    Corner EndInProgress End
  • Reconnected with a lost friend

    In my last post I had news, so here is it. Over the last few weeks I have reconnected with a friend I basically grew up with. About a year ago I posted a link on a service called Long Lost Friends where if the person I was trying to find did a google search on their own name they would see that I was looking for them. About a week ago my long lost friend, Skye, emailed me and we have been chatting back trying to catch up.

    Erin,Heather,SkyeAndRick Here is a picture from back in 1981. I am on the left, Skye is on the right. My sister, Heather, in the back right and Skye’s sister, Erin, in the back left.

    Skye’s mother was my sitter before I was in school and so I basically grew up with Skye. We played all the time and it was only until middle school that we drifted apart. It was a pleasant surprise to be emailed from Skye since we last spoke to each other almost 20 years ago!

    I do not want to spell out her life since this is my blog but the basics are she got married about the same time I did and she also has two children. Hope we can stay in touch this time around Skye!

    Rick