Music and Cats

So I’d been thinking that I should try to post more often here at Music and Cats. Then I read my friend Janeen’s announcement that she’s going to post to her blog every day in November. Why not join her, and several hundred other bloggers, in the first NaBloPoMo? That’s National Blog Posting Month, which is being spearheaded (no reference to hair intended) by Mrs. - oops, M. - Kennedy at Fussy.

In November, I’m not going to try; I’m going to do. A blog post every day. Yoda will be watching.

The time: a lazy autumn weekend afternoon. The place: the bedroom.

All three McKittens agree that it’s time for napping. Where better than on their bed? It is a lovely, cozy bed, with plenty of room for Lyra to have a place of her own far away from the snuggling brothers.

What’s this? One of the humans wants to nap, too. Oh, but he is a well-trained human, who fits himself into the space that the cats are not using. Good human! Later… when they feel like it… the cats will favor him with their attention. They will allow him to feed them, and pet them. They will lean their warm, furry presences against him. Such are the rewards for one so well-trained.

As the male human naps quietly beside them, the McKitten boys contemplate the woman.

Sergei: Why does she persist in following us around, pointing that box at us? And is that a ribbon hanging down behind it? She has not offered it to us. Shall we favor her with some playing anyway?

Sasha: She does appear to be untrainable. We should not reward this behavior. Shall we bathe instead?

And so they did.

The McKittens know well-trained humans when they see them: Steve helps all the animals board the Friday Ark each week, Linda will feed all the cats who show up for Weekend Cat Blogging, and Sharon is planning some special Halloween spookiness for the Carnival of the Cats on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, I told Paul that I almost titled my previous kitchen post We who are about to tile salute you. Because isn’t there something about tiling that calls to mind Roman gladiators? The Romans were known for their elegant mosaics, but the equation between tiling and fighting to the death in front of a cheering audience, well, that was the anxiety talking. Anyway, Paul was amused by my little play on words, so I thought that I’d let you in on the joke.

And while I’m sharing, here’s a photo of the tiling that we accomplished on Sunday afternoon. No, we did not finish even one side of the kitchen, but we made a fair amount of progress. And we know more now. Isn’t learning the most important part of any endeavor?

Lessons from the day:

1. Thinset that appears to be the consistency of all-natural peanut butter in the bucket may not be the consistency of peanut butter on the wall. As Erin commented, knowing the consistency you want and being able to mix to that consistency are two very different things. I’m sure mixing grout will be just as much fun.
2. Sometimes things don’t look better after you take a break. It was after a mid-afternoon break that I ripped out a section of rows 3 & 4 of the tile. I would have noticed those couple of crooked ribbed tiles behind the range for a long time, if not forever… and that’s something I knew about myself before Sunday. Mind you, the tilework I left up is not perfect, but we can live with it. And we really like the pattern, which is good.
3. Wishing will not make it so. Despite my fervent wishes (and a few muttered imprecations), the tile that barely scraped behind the trim on the pot filler without any thinset on it still refused to fit nicely with thinset on its back. Add one more item to the plumber’s list.

I’m sure that there were more things that I learned, but perhaps I don’t yet know that I know them. There will be ample opportunity for reinforcement when we finish up the tiling.

Bob the Builder was back from his vacation today, and made visible progress. If he works efficiently, cracks the whip on the subs, and gets the inspections over soon, we’ll be moving back into our kitchen by Halloween… All Soul’s Day at the latest.

Thanks to everyone who left supportive comments in response to my anxious post. You’re all invited to the party when the kitchen is finished.

As you can see from the latest photos, our kitchen remodel is almost finished. For the most part, I am thrilled with the result. Each time that some new part has been installed, I’ve been pleased, both with the individual item and with the way in which the overall look and feel of the kitchen has come together.

There are only a few tasks remaining for our contractor and their subs to complete when our carpenter returns from his vacation* next week:

1. Finish installing the cabinet doors, shelves and knobs
2. Install the new gas range (still in its box in our garage)
3. Install the refrigerator (which we’ve had in our makeshift kitchen - aka the dining room - during the remodel)
4. Install the microwave (which has already been test fit into its spot in the upper cabinet next to the refrigerator)
5. Install the powder room lavatory and faucet
6. Reframe the recess in the half wall into which the nook radiator fits, and reinstall the radiator (note to self: take before and after pictures of this)
7. Install the wood base and quarter-round molding in the kitchen, breakfast nook and powder room
8. Tile the backsplash
9. Paint the walls (final coat) and trim (two coats)

Oh, wait! We’re doing the tile on the backsplash, and painting the walls and trim! As part of the cost-trimming process for the project, we decided to take on those tasks (along with the demolition). The painting is partially done, and can be completed as we have the time. The tile backsplash is a different matter. Code requires that the vertical surface around our gas range be non-combustible to 12″ above the burners, so we can’t have our final building inspection until the backsplash is in.

Let me state for the record that neither Paul nor I have ever tiled anything. (Actually, Paul tells me that he made a mosaic ashtray when he was about six. I’m sure that experience will prove helpful, 40 years later.) Now, I know that tile installation is not rocket science; in fact, I’ve often watched tilesetters installing the stuff and thought that I could do that… and do it even better. Tomorrow, we’ll see whether that’s true.

We have done a lot of planning for our first tiling experience. In September, we took a tiling class at our local tile shop. Did you know that properly mixed thinset mortar should be the consistency of Adams peanut butter? Me neither. Now we know that, and a few other things besides.

A couple of weeks ago, after the cabinets and countertops were all in place, I carefully measured the backsplash area. I laid out the entire pattern, including the grout joints, on my computer. I figured out how best to arrange the tile pattern to simplify cuts around electrical outlets and at the ends of the runs. Walls being imperfect, I’m sure that the tiles won’t lay out on them exactly as they did in the pristine confines of my computer, but it’s good to have a plan from which to start.

Today, we did some prep work in the kitchen. We struck centerlines, plumb lines and level lines on the wall. Paul screwed a ledger board onto the section of wall where the range will be, level with the adjacent countertops, to support the tile in that area while the mortar sets. And I laid out this mock-up of the tile pattern on one of the counters, just to verify that we really like it before putting it up on the wall.

In keeping with the period and character of the house, we decided to use a simple pattern of subway tiles. (Subway tiles are rectangular tiles, laid in a running bond pattern like brick. They were used on the walls of subway stations from the beginning of the 20th century, and became popular soon after in bungalow kitchen and bath construction.) The 3″x6″ tiles we selected have a matte-finish glaze. As an accent, (and to help the layout around the electrical boxes), we selected 1″ x 6″ tiles with a ribbed pattern and a shiny glaze. They’ll add a little bit of sparkle and interest to the pattern.

If you paid any attention to the title of this post, you will have noticed the word ‘anxiety’ at the end of it. If haven’t come across as anxious about tiling, it’s only because I’m pretty good at hiding that sort of thing. But people, it’s my kitchen! My beautiful, shiny new kitchen! What if I mess it up? I would ask for tips and tricks from any experienced tile installers out there, but by the time you read this it will probably be too late. We’ll be tiling tomorrow morning. Photos to follow.

* Yes, our carpenter has been on vacation for the past week. After all, this project was supposed to be completed at the end of September. Who knew that it might run more than two weeks over schedule due to contractor errors? Don’t most construction projects finish on schedule? Oh, oh, oh! I know the answer to that one…