Floors!

On Saturday morning, we stopped by a flooring store, picked up some floating floor samples, and headed off to a very relaxing weekend with a good friend. As of Sunday night, we were planning on doing the floating floor (basically wooden tiles that stick to each other but not the floor), and installing them ourselves. As we figured out how we were going to do that and stay on schedule to install cabinets to stay on schedule to get our counters installed, Ilana made a proclamation: we should get the floors professionally done. The next day, we pushed everything back a week (more microwave meals!) and I was able to find a great store that could sell us ceramic tiles and install them for just a little more than the floating floor was going to cost us (and without us having to learn to and/or do a poor job installing them).

Last night we moved the fridge into the living room and this morning we put the stove in the carport. (See? We still do some things on our own!) That left us with a bare naked kitchen:

After many weeks of tearing apart our kitchen, we now get to start building it back up again. Ten hours later, this is what our kitchen floor looks like:


Don't mind the shine, they were still wet at the time. We got a matte finish. How'd we get here? One word: Joaquin.

Here he is starting off in the only portion of the floor that will not be covered by a cabinet or appliance. One of the reasons we are glad we didn't pay much for a floor is because we realized less than half of it is viewable.



Here is Joaquin working himself right out of the room. The legs in the back are of his assistant, who did all the tile cutting. He was the silent partner. But he whistled sometimes.




Here's the final, grouted product, with a little less shine. We're very pleased. Now it just has to dry.