The second trick is that, once you have forced grout into all the spaces (45 degrees to the tile edges), *leave it alone* for at least a half hour. This gives it time to set up somewhat before you start wiping off the excess. Not to worry; you will be able to wipe grout off the tiles even a day later, though it will be harder. But if you start too soon, you will wipe more out of the joints than you wished to take off, and then will have to do it all over again.

The third trick is, after it is all finished and has dried for a couple of days, spray on sealer. This not only will prevent moisture absorbtion, but will keep parts of the grout from turning different colors later on. And it will not only keep water from being absorbed, but also will help keep grease and oil from being absorbed into the grout.

Finally, did you say *party*?

Many years ago, my husband and I re-did a tiny kitchen ourselves, reading to each other from how-to books as we went along. Everything was the cheapest we could get, because we were totally fundless. The only thing we had made was the countertop. We bought unfinished, un-assembled cabinets (birch). It took absolutely forever, as we had no idea what we were doing. I’d never do it again, (I was 24, and full of energy) but it really, in the end, looked very good.

The very most difficult thing we did, which pretty much drove Bill round the bend, was to buy tongue and groove wood for the ceiling. It had to be put up one board at a time- our necks hurt like crazy-especially his, as he did most of it- it did look great though. The galley kitchen looked sort of boat-like, cosy, but clean.

My favorite activity was putting up the tile backsplash. It was the only non-plain thing; we got a patterned tile on sale, and it was on a net backing- nine tiles formed one complete pattern, but the design was interlocking. It was just one shortish wall, but I felt absolutely brilliant when it was done. It was sort of magical.

Halloween? All Soul’s Day? No mention of the Reformation? We party like it’s 1517 over here.

The subway tiles are a splendid touch!

1) Applying enough pressure on tiles to mush down the thinset ridges is MUCH harder with larger tiles. The nice tile references we had showed folks installing 3×3 inch tiles. Ours were 13×13 inches, so needed perhaps 16 times as much pressure? If the thinset happens to get thick, the require pressure can become more than we were capable of exerting.

2) Thinset sitting in the bucket gets thicker over time. Although the instructions said that you should be able to work with it for about two hours, anything over about 30 minutes made it hard to use. Stirring vigorously helps somewhat, but is hard work, and doesn’t get the thinset back to quite as workable texture as it had earlier. Combine this fact with lesson #1 above, and you’ll properly guess that the first bit of tiling was Rather Difficult.

3) Colored grout seems like a good idea, but a consistent color is difficult. While it may look like all the same color when applied, it doesn’t necessarily end up the same color. I don’t know if this issue resulted fromthe way we wiped off the excess, if we failed to mix the grout sufficiently, or if something else went awry. The results leap out at us, but other folks seem to only notice the effect if we point it out to them. Having now joined the ranks of Those Who Have Installed Tile, I expect you’d notice. Then again, you probably had an eye for that sort of detail before your recent tile experiences.