Subject: In the Trenches

Helloooooo friend!

I am coming to you from the trenches found between two tiles. Yes, the grout. As you'll remember from the pictures of my kitchen (which is painted, by the way!), my floor is black and white tile, which I have a love/hate relationship with. I've noticed for a long time how dirty and gross the grout is, but thought I just had to keep scrubbing to get it clean. Um, no. That would be impossible. Instead, I've leared of a technique that involves staining the grout. It's a three-step process that involves letting the grout sit with water on it for one hour to start things off. It is seriously the most time-consuming, labor-intensive, meticulous project I have ever done. Nice, right?

But, behold! The results:


Seriously. You cannot even believe how much better it looks! So I think I might fall in love (for the first time) with my tile once the grout is no longer dis-gust-ing. There is a lot of grout, though, so I'm hopeful that I'll be done by this time next year :) But the 'after' is a motivation of its own and I know that I cannot leave one small area with nasty grout when all the rest is sparkling white. Basically, this is a project where you go all or nothing! As I'm staining a section I go back after it has had 24 hours to dry and seal it. And then seal it again. I can't decide if I'm going to seal it two or three times - I don't want to have to do this again! Seriously, people: SEAL YOUR GROUT! It will save you so many headaches later on!

I was not a Gilmore Girls watcher, but I love the picture of those chairs! Is it bad that I was indifferent to the office chair before realizing it was a 'real' style? I don't love them in black - that green is awesome, and I really liked the blue of my MIL's too. I think with the black it's harder to see the bamboo-ish details on the chair. I did not spray paint but instead used a craft brush to apply the paint. Another plus of the craft brush: no brush strokes! It took three coats plus one touch-up coat. I didn't spray because my MIL wanted a specific color of blue, plus the cushion wouldn't come off, so that would have been tricky to spray (not impossible, just tricky). Plus it's super-cold here still so I wouldn't have been able to spray it for awhile.

I just realized I never responded back about your couch ordeal! So annoying, but I'm so glad that it worked out. Way to go hubby! And yes, a bomber jacket is the perfect way to describe the leather. It makes me think of this:

Ahh, the good old days. So glad you are enjoying it now!

Well, that is all for now. My correspondence may be patchy this week...the Internet connection isn't great in the trenches :) Can't wait to send you pictures of the kitchen once it's put back together again - hopefully next week!

Staining away,
Kara

Image courtesy of Obsessed with Film.