Tiling Fish into the Countertop

When choosing the tiles for the long part of the counter, AO discovered a fish in the tiles.  Can you see him?

The fish is mostly in place now! His tail still needs to be set in place but that will happen today.

A few more tiles installed next to the wall oven. 

There have been a lot of tiles that require cutting into the correct shape for their new homes.  HK has given every tile a name so that it doesn't get lost between the countertop and the tile saw. Here sit Dudley and Aloysius, but we also have Theodore, Ben, Bucko, Ezra, Pete, Horace and Floyd and there are many more to come :)

Its all coming together well, though there is quite a bit more cutting and setting to be done. The next steps will be grouting and sealing, electrical completion and plumbing hook-up....then we cook the big Thanksgiving turkey in the new kitchen!

Kitchen, Laundry and Garden Changes

The back of the kitchen island has granite tiles on it. They are black and a golden orangy red colour. They change colour quite a bit with the light and generally look black until you get close or the light hits them just right. 

Island tiles have been installed and grouted.

Close up view of the granite tiles prior to completion of grouting.

The sink is in the process of being installed. It's quite fiddly work to make sure that an undermount sink can come out again without damaging tiles. 

The green marble passed the water test and will start to be installed this weekend. 

AO installed the forgotten laundry room cove tiles. There is still a white tile quarter round to go in front of the pretty cobalt blue cove tiles.

AO's best thing....wrecking stuff. The flowers in the garden had become moldy in the August rains so they had to go.   Red clover and oats have been planted for green manure crops so I hope the beds will be full of plants again fairly quickly.
In the meantime there are more beans to eat than we can manage and fortunately the bean plants did not get blight..

Kitchen Tiling and Countertop Prep Starts

AO installed the Ditra membrane on the plywood countertops. The waterproof membrane has to be present to prevent water from seeping through the tiles and grout lines; if it did that the plywood would swell and crack the tiles. 

HK started installing the granite tiles on the back of the island.