New Backsplash

Spent some time in the last week installing a backsplash in my condo. I was surprised at how much of a pain in the butt it was. The main problem I had was cutting the tiles on the tile sheets. Thankfully I didn't have to do much of this type of cutting comparatively, but it still really slowed things down.

Lessons learned:

• Take an hour early on and plan out the whole layout.
• Use clean bucket when mixing grout.
• Sanded grouts are easier to work with than non-sanded.
• Get a nice tile saw to cut through tile sheets.

Looks pretty good, huh?

Rail of a tale

Made a minor improvment to my condo over the past couple of weeks.... although I say minor, it was quite a lot of work. I'm still not a huge fan of the oak. I was looking for something in a lighter color that would match more to the white molding and light colored wood of my kitchen, but I do have to say it looks pretty good.

The fun part was surprising mom of course. She loves it so I think I'll be building one at their house in the near future.

Home improvement

Well it has been over a month since I blogged last.... not that anybody reads this thing but me and those I specifically send it to. lol.
So I have these lists I keep of things to do in my life. There are 2 lists - "hard" to-do and "easy" to-do. Lately I've been feeling ambitious and trying to get a few things done off the list. 2 of the major items are my final big home improvement projects:

• Tile my kitchen counter backsplash
• Replace the wooden hand rail in my upper hallway.
  

Neither one of these tasks are a whole lot of fun. For my counter backsplash the big problem is choosing a tile design. I've been to a few tile stores but nothing has really striked me a "perfect" for my setup. The other thing I'm worried about is doing too-fancy of a backsplash for my linoleum countertop. Of course I could put a nice stone tile in as a countertop, but I think that would be overkill and not necessarily cost-effective.

For the upstairs railing, what I really need to do is pull the existing railing out and buy wood in the same proportions to match what the existing railing looks like... then hopefully put that railing together with only a few modifications. Seems relatively easy until you realize that I only have a chop-saw. DOH! My kingdom for a few good woodworking tools.

The other fun thing coming up is Jen's 30th birthday party. We spent last weekend trying 5 different martinis in anticipation of the big event. All were good, but we discovered it is difficult to try a bunch of different martinis and stay sober at the same time. :) (especially when they are really good!)