IKWYDLS 2012

So, what to do with the window, now?  Close it.  It is now just part of the wall.

The wall itself is, of course, made of plaster and lathe.  That stuff has been cracking and falling apart all over the house all these years and I am sick of fixing it.  I certainly was not going to hang any glass tile backsplash to it.  The paint itself could flake off with the tile glued to it, or the plaster could, too.  Therefore, I removed it all and put up sheetrock.  Here’s the thing:  3/8” sheetrock is about half the width of the lathe and plaster.  The lathe is about 3/8" itself, and the plaster itself is about that, too.  All of that means that I really had to put up two layers of sheetrock.  I wasn’t going to do it, at first.  The glass tile is about ½ an inch thick by itself and it has a backing mud that is used to hang it up.  But, my lovely bride had second thoughts about the glass tile and thought maybe we should put up the pressed tin stuff like we have on the ceiling.  Well, that stuff is really thin—like 1/16” or something and would have left too much unsightly gap.  I put up a second layer of sheetrock.  That had another advantage which is that the seams are not in the same place as the first layer and it is some of the best drywall work I have ever done.  It is so good that my lovely bride is back to liking the glass tile again.  Why?  “Because now it is so much easier to picture without the gaps.”  Seriously?  Whatever.

Another thing you may notice from the picture is that the cupboard doors are missing.  That is because a 2x1 strip of wood mounts to the end faces of the cupboards which extends all the way to the surface of the counter top.  The only function they serve is to provide something to screw the door hinges into.  I suppose they provide a slightly cleaner line, too.  But, since they go all the way to the counter, I had to remove them to replace the counter and the wall behind them.