Category: News

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!

Day two was fairly disappointing as when I woke up my fever still had not broken. So I spent the day in bed sleeping and resting. I do think I needed this as I could barely move out of the couch/bed I was in.

For supper the three of us followed a recommendation from Rachel Ray ($40 a day) and went to Snake River Brewing Company. The beer there was good but the service and the food was no good. The Brat I had I could barely get down my throat even when washing it down with the home brewed beer. So either Rachel Ray never really ate there, or they served her special food. Two Thumbs Down!!

Monday morning I was feeling much better, in fact anxious to hit the slopes. After a quick breakfast at the hotel we drove to Jackson Hole for a day full of skiing fun. Now I should give some background.. Before we arrived they had no fresh snow in two weeks. Sunday they got over 14 inches and Monday it snowed all day. Normally fresh powder is great, as if you fall it really does not hurt, which is true. But when there is snow up to your knees and ice underneath it really works your legs and ankles when you plow into 2 feet or more of pushed around powder. After a number of hours of this I was really getting beaten down. The highlight of the morning was from the gondola we saw a moose wandering around the ski trail. We avoided that trail for the rest of the day.

We took a quick break around noon at Bridgehead Restaurant and quickly hit the slopes again. My energy levels quickly faded and by 2:30 I had to call it quits and went to the Mangy Moose to drown my poor respitory system with some liquid pain killer. Matt threw in the towel 30-40 minutes later followed by Nate in another 30.

After returning to the hotel it was hottub time followed by dinner at Bubba’s BBQ. Excellent pulled pork, great fries but their chili and coleslaw were not good. Quite the exhausting day.