Backsplash

Everyone loves a tile backsplash. I don’t know why. I guess it beats reynold’s wrap across the back wall of something that might get wet in its ordinary use. Maybe.

For spacers between the tiles, I used popsicle sticks. I once saw a deal on Amazon for a box of like 10,000 popsicle sticks for 15 dollars. I snatched that up. Its chief complaint in the reviews were that the sticks were not guaranteed to be food safe. I sincerely don’t give a shit. For 0.15 cents per stick, I’ll use them for whatever I need them for: glue spreaders, paint mixers, tile spacers, miniature catapults, whatever. I’ll eat food with chopsticks. A lifetime’s supply of dirt cheap popsicle sticks is da bomb!

A Tale of Two Toe Kick Heaters

Top: The brand new one I installed under the bathroom vanity to keep your toes warm on cold mornings.

Bottom: The one found under the laundry room cabinet, which serves no purpose. I capped off the wiring and removed the nonfunctional fan and cleaned up the dead bugs or mouse remains or whatever they were, but the hot water pipes would be too much trouble to disconnect.

Finished Flooring

Flooring is really hard work. You’re constantly getting up and down to set boards, pick up tools, put down tools, nail boards, and some boards have to be nailed by hand. Lots of bending over with heavy things in your hands. It reminded me of Judo, where you’d get thrown to the mat like thirty times a day and have to get back up. But in Judo, the mat was nice and soft and comfy and you could just take a nap on that thing. Hardwood floors are not soft. They’re not comfy. You can fall unconscious from exhaustion on them, but that’s not the same as a nap.

At least that 2,000 pound vanity is now in its final resting place. May it stay there until the End of Days.

Hardwood floors

Some assembly required.

I did the math. If I don’t screw up any cuts and I’m very frugal with the planks I should have just enough to finish the house.

There’s the bathroom vanity in the background. And it’s not in the bathroom. And that’s kind of an issue. Will get to that later.

Just add a little paint

Looks like it’s always been that way. No one will ever know I made a tiny room even tinier.

But it seems bigger now that the big cabinet it out of there.

And we’re digging those wire racks in the pantry. Going to fill them up with kitchen gadgets in no time!

This is the easy part

Moving that wall in a few inches meant that the big cabinet in the laundry room would trap the washer and dryer in the room. You’d never be able to get them out if they needed out for any reason. We had to move the cabinet out of there and put something smaller in its place, a little antique buffet. So, the room shrank, but it grew.

Cutting all that sheetrock gets a little drywall dust on everything, but if you think that’s messy just wait until the hard part.