Measure once, cut….
Twice? That’s right, I did a little play on the old saying but pretty much seem to be committing to the wrong version fairly consistently of late. Why, you ask? Well, I am currently quite busy installing the new kitchen backsplash tile at the moment and I am settling for no less than “near perfect”! Of course there are many levels of “perfect” and deciding what fits the “near perfect” definition can often be determined by how long you have spent on the same area and/or what time of day it is (the later in the day, the more accepting you become). And with tile, you always have it in the back of your mind that grout goes a long way when it comes to hiding minor flaws/miscalculations/bad cuts/etc. Adding to all the fun, and you may recall, I had actually suffered a bit of a mini-stroke in my left eye back when I had the big surgery, leaving said eye about half obscured which totally threw off all of my close vision and this, in itself, has made the tiling process nothing less than challenging (one might even say interesting). Case in point, I spent about an hour the other day trying to cut one tile so that it had a notch in it and fit around a cabinet edge. First off, I continued to make the notch in the wrong place (believe that to be the effect of not using the cutting blade correctly as I made the blade pass (you see, the blade itself has width to it and if you hit the wrong side of the line, your tile cut comes up short or long depending on how you missed it). Hell, even the line you draw to make the cut has width to it so it all comes in to play, especially when you are only using a 1/16 inch gap between your tiles. So, I finally get that tile cut properly and go to install it, when I take a quick step back to have a look (as something seems a bit off here) and guess what now? The first two tiles I had put in prior to the one with the notch, were totally in the wrong place and way off pattern (doing a 1/3 offset with these). The only thing I was in line with was the edge of the counter, which, mind you, has no tiles lining up with it! And I literally was looking at it the whole time and didn’t even notice it!
Anyway, a few hours later and a few more mis-cuts and I had my top row of tile in (it’s the one that is under the cabinets and the microwave), which for this side of kitchen, will be the hardest part (of course there are more cuts coming so you never know what I might find to do different). Again, going for “near perfect” as this is the kitchen and something that will end up having a lot more eyes on it. Posted some progress pics on the New Pulp and Pulp Improvements pages so have a look when you get a chance!
Had the pleasure of going on a duck hunting trip the other day, duck’s won that round but it did make for some beautiful early morning sunrise pic’s so introducing a series I’ll be calling “The Farm” and have posted the first few on the New Pulp page, definitely worth a look. Other than that, end of next week will be 4 months since the big surgery and I’ll have one more week of cardio rehab to go so it should be a very good Christmas this year.
See you next week!
