Tile finished

It seemed like it would never happen, but it did. I assumed -- as usual -- that it would take an hour or so, and it took all day. But that's okay. Stuff got done, and that's what's important. One of the things that made this take longer than I thought is that virtually every single tile had to be cut for the topmost row; some of them in ways that were so complex that I just couldn't do it. For example, the two tiles under the window in the photo below:

My intention was to leave the "lip" above the shelf as well as cutting around the bottom of the little window ledge. No can do. I got close, but it broke every time I tried it. There's just too many cuts going on simultaneously, so instead, it's flush with the top of the window ledge.

That's not the only defeat. I tried to use my metal trim idea, but (1) I don't have the proper tools for cutting it (I have a hacksaw, and it will cut, but the 45° mitered corners just wouldn't come out); (2) the amount of trim that I had actually wasn't enough, and (3) there was some timing pressure due to a batch of rapidly curing thin-set. So that top-most row will just have a bead of caulk once the walls are painted. 

In the land of semi-defeat, I have made many attempts to find the studs in the west wall so that the mirror (replacing the medicine cabinet) can be securely anchored. 

I know how high up it needs to be mounted (see above), but the screws must be 17 ⅝ inches apart. The question is whether there are studs that far apart. The good news: there should be! After seeing where the studs that are visible through the opening are, as well as using the stud finder, it looked good. Sadly, looks are deceiving, so tomorrow I will... 

The right hand screw has definitely found a stud, drilling into something that is definitely wood (you can see wood residue on the end of the drill). The left hand seems to punch through into space. I did find a spot where the left hand screw found something real -- but it's so far to the left that the mirror will no longer fit. 

In the land of relative success (besides the tiling being finished), I cut many, many (okay, a dozen) pieces of ¾" slices of tile. I had my first real example of the angle grinder doing "kickback," which is when it suddenly moves very hard in the opposite direction of the wheel's travel, because it's encountered an unexpected resistance -- in this case, I had a proper two-handed grip on the grinder, so instead it flung the piece of tile away, quite forcefully. Anyway, I eventually cut the twelve and the south wall is complete under the light switch.

And in the land of complete success, the space to the left of the doorjamb in that same wall also needed tile, but even thinner. I had been saving all the small (like the size of a piano key, approximately) slices of tile I'd had to remove along the way, and you know how many unbroken, reasonably sized pieces there were? A dozen. 

Tomorrow I will finish the mirror question, one way or another (there are no studs at all in the east wall, by the way, so that's not an option -- maybe above the toilet or the sink?), grout the tiles (sometime after two PM), and sand, spackle and primer the walls so they can be painted on Wednesday. Which raises the question of paint. 

I always save the part where I ask for advice (I gather that Blogger won't let you leave comments from your phone -- it seems to need a computer for that; apologies!) for the end, and here it is. Paint.  I think white it out, because the tiles will be blazing white already. Both Liliya and I independently thought of matching the color somehow to the floor tiles, however, and so here are three options that pick up on the "tone" of the floor tile colors pretty well (I think option 1 and 3 do the best job). That doesn't mean these are the right choices. Maybe the whole thing should be orange, or a flaming medium-dark red. I'm just saying.

(top to bottom) Silence; Brook Green; Riverdale

Moss Mist; Morning Zen; Urban Nature

Light Drizzle; Flowing Breeze; Shadow Blue

Unfortunately, these are pretty much approximations of what the actual colors are. The palest colors get a little washed out, and the tile's dark blue (as I've said many times before) just isn't that dark.

All things being equal, I'm fond of lighter colors for walls; they do tend to make rooms brighter.