Simply DIY 2

When I posted about getting new carpet and tiling the bathroom, I mentioned that there were going to be TWO changes to the basement.  The bathroom floor was the first.  The second was being worked on simultaneously as I was working on the bathroom. Our basement has a door that goes out to our back patio.  The old carpet went right up to the door.  We have an area rug in front of the door, but dirt and mud just can't seem to stay away.    To fix this, I wanted to put tile in front of the door.  My parents did this in their house (tile in front of garage door and back door to patio) and it works so well.  They don't have to worry about getting the carpet wet or mud soaking in.  If mud gets on the tile,they just wipe it up.  SO easy ! So before the carpet guys came to give us new carpet, I pulled up the carpet around the door and laid some tile down.  I just found a corner of the carpet and lifted.  It came right ...

Ever since we bought the house back in May, I knew that I wanted to touch up the fireplace in our basement.  It had a beautiful white mantel, but also a blank, black space above the hearth: During an innocent trip to Lowe's for some lightbulbs, out of the corner of my eye, I spied some GORGEOUS glass tile : At $4.98 for a 12x12 sheet of tile, I couldn't pass it up. I purchased two of them.  I knew it would be the perfect touch to the fireplace.  I've never tiled before, so I asked a nice Lowe's employee to point me in the direction of the smallest amount of mortar and grout that I could buy.  I knew I only needed a little bit because the area was so small.  He showed me two tubs of both that were perfect.  I picked up a trowel and a grout sponge and I was ready to go. The mortar was a ready-to-use, no mix adhesive and the grout was unsanded white.  I just had to add water to it.  First, I cut the sheet almost in half w...