Tiling the kitchen back splash

Cleaning the second row of tiles
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

Our first project of 2007 is to tile the back splash in the kitchen. We used glass mosaic tiles and toiled for 4 nights to get it done. We are both excited about the result!

Opinions have varied.. many say the kitchen and tiles are stunning and the kitchen now has a certain funk. Other says the tiles made the kitchen darker.

You decide: The photos of the job are on Flickr

Installed my new dishwasher

The fancy dishwasher LIVES
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

We bought a new fancy dishwasher and I needed to save money. What better way to save money than to install this machine myself?

This project was complicated by a few things:
1) my dishwasher slot is not beside or near the sink / drains at all. I need to be able to route the supply and drain hoses and the electrical cable under the cabinets.

2) the builder did not provide adequate electrical rough-in for my plug-in dishwasher

So, I spent 1.5 days planning and deciding on the course of action, and 1 day actually doing the installation.

I partially documented the job on Flickr.

"Stone" style glass tile

Stone style glass tile
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

Applied another sample called "Stone". This time with white grout. Looks good.. I think we want to use this one for the kitchen.

Glass mosaic tile install practise session

All the mosaic are installed!
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

We finally decided on using glass tile mosaic to tile our kitchen back splash. I've never tiled before, let alone these specialized glass tiles. So I decided to do a simulated install on a spare piece of dry wall.

I took left over dry wall pieces from the washroom vanity light project and attached it onto the garage wall. I then proceeded to install three sample sheets of glass mosaic on it.

I think it turned out reasonably well. The tiles are resonably lined up and nothing fell out. :-) Now I wait for 24 hours before i can practise grouting.

As usual, I was my own photo-journalist and the pictures are up on Flickr.

Update: I've done the grouting practise and the photos are now part of the same set on Flickr. Use link above to see the complete set of pictures for the entire practise!

Hanging curtain

Bracket with rod.
Originally uploaded by Vincent Ma.

We are SICK of RediShade. We also need to access the backyard through the patio doors now that we have a lawn. So we went and bought the necessary curtain things and went at it. The challenge in this project was provided by our boneheaded builder who decided to put in a bulkhead so close to the trim of the patio door.

As usual, I was my own photo-journalist and the pictures are up on Flickr.

DIY adding handles to my new cabinets doors

When we talked to the builder and picked the inside choices like cabinet style and colour, we also told them to not put in the handle knobs for the doors for the kitchen cabinets. We like what we saw at Lee Valley better (look under Handles and Pulls > Specialty Handles > Stainless-Steel Handles > Bow Handles). We also told them to not drill any holes either. Anyways Frendel Kitchen the contractor did a very nice job and now it's time for me to do my stuff!

Illustrated steps can be found at Flickr.

Interesting kitchen movable island

http://www.comforthouse.com/comfort/whitcutboar.html

Tyatt says:

i'm still thinking of how to remodel our kitchen....because I just realize I'm cutting the breakfast area spaces...but then again...many modern kitchen don't care about the breakfast area (as in...remodel the kitchen in such a way that it has breakfast bar extending to breakfast area and don't need extra tables). If it's done well...that's no prob at all....i don't know how much u like to have an empty breakfast area to put table in or just an integrated area. I'm looking more into that now. There's this hawaii remodel kitchen
Hawaii Home + Remodeling magazine on web...and has lots of cool kitchen pictures for ideas. :)

Lots of backissue too. :)

The picture of the breakfast table Tyatt refers to is this one...