Cheez Whiz and Raisins...and some new tile......what?

Mike lucked out metrically as the tile and electrical boxes were working together in harmony...he made the fewest amount of cuts he's ever had to make in all our years of tiling!

 Due to Home Depot still not having our tile in stock, we decided to put up what we had and then just wait until the rest came in to finish the job. We had enough tiles to do the east wall by the pantry, and then around to behind the sink. We still need about 13 tiles or so, but Home Depot wouldn't let us order any of the tile as they are a regular stock item, and is shipped automatically when they are out; we'll just have to wait it out. Hopefully not too long, as I like to do the work all at once, rather than clean up 2 or 3 times. It's always funny to me how tile or any kind of backsplash pulls together the look of a kitchen. Just having that something extra, like a certain texture or a pop of color to draw your eye really makes a difference. This is the third kitchen reno we have done, and by far the cheapest, and we're happy with it so far.

The paint is hardening up very nicely on the cabinets, something that made me happy and pleasantly surprised...I gotta say I was nervous about the whole painting-my-oak-cupboards thing. To me, a lady who gets excited by the smell of a lumber yard, painting beautiful oak is a sin. But they needed updating, and I love white cupboards. So I gotta say that overall I would recommend doing it, if you have the patience for it. Really give it an entire 24 hours between each coat, and I put on a total of 5 coats on each side to ensure a true white color.  I have spent a month reminding the kids to "back away from the cabinets" and "don't put that chair so close to that drawer!"  The key to the paint job looking good was using the foam roller to give it a professional look; they almost look sprayed and have a fine pebbled texture. Now that the paint has almost cured, I've started to relax around them, and don't worry about scratches like I used to.

I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the tile, and seeing the end result of our work. The countertop and sink fiasco were the hardest, longest hours we put in for the entire project. I bought a nice mahogany floating shelf that will be put up in that big empty space where all that tile is by the pantry (picture above). It's for a few knick knacks, my candle, and my radio; the outlet is hiding in the pantry thru that little hole. I chose the mahogany color as my table and china cabinet are the same color, and it looked nice with the tile...even though my first choice was an espresso color.

Mike and I agree that the tile has made us like the weird arborite...swirly pattern and all! :)

We just came back from a date tonight, and I wish we would do it more often. We left the kids with mom and Jenine, and had supper in the city together. The odd thing was there were 5 other tables in the restaurant all from Maidstone too! It felt like we didn't even get away from town, that's for sure. We stopped in at Walmart for something to do (in truth we didn't want to go home to our kids), and walked out with a bike for Jacelyn (her first one), a helmet for her and Charlie, rubber boots and a puzzle.

 All I needed was Cheez Whiz and raisins.