There was an additional truck in front of the house this morning and we could see a man in the garage as we turned into the cul-de-sac.

He was mixing mortar with a drill mixer.

This was my first view of tile as we walked into the house. The Russian was working along the big wall.  He looked up and smiled, and then continued his work. I was very disappointed to see the color of the tiles against the color of the walls. Even though they are called “Light Gray”, they looked very brown to me.  I did not like the effect at all.  The samples in the design center looked good together.  I chose the light gray because the tile I liked better was too brown in the design center.  But, it was very gray in the house we looked at yesterday.  I was upset, but it is too late now.  I’m just going to have to get over it and used to it.

This man was busy in the dining room.  I noticed that small stacks of tile were leaning against the walls all about the house. We stood and watched for a while; progress was fast with those large tiles.

The Russian was also making good progress.

The dining room man came into the little hall leading to the garage and cut a piece of tile.  It was just like a glass cutter:  he scored the tile and then broke it along the score. I was impressed with the work table.

We encountered the mortar mixer as we were heading back out.  He set his bucket of mortar on a small dolly and rolled it the rest of the way in.

The Russian was struggling with that funny little wall that defines one corner of the dining room.  He was on the foyer/family room side so we decided to walk around to the front door to watch him.

He was holding the tile over the space planning his cuts.

I noted the lines on the tile.

It did not work out so well and he had to start over with a fresh tile.  Andy decided we should not look over his shoulder while he was struggling, so we moved on. The man in the dining room had his tiles on a dolly that he could wheel along with him as he moved along the floor.

Then he was getting fancy with the mud.

Then he was making squiggly mud.

We walked around the house outside and came in the bedroom door to find a third tile setter in the master bath. I noticed that he did not use nearly as much mortar as the man in the dining room.

We watched for a while and then moved on to the sliding door into the family room.  The Russian was still struggling with that notched wall.

We stopped in Publix for a few things and went back home.  Andy kept trying to cheer me up, saying he thought the tile looked great, but I wasn’t having any of it. I know that once we move in and have furniture and rugs in place, it won’t be very noticeable.  But, I also know that it isn’t just right.

We returned to the house around five o’clock.  The Russian said it was alright to walk on the tiles, but the other man said not to.  So, I watched through the parlor window. He had a marvelous wave of mud along his work border. That is the white window sill at the bottom of the picture.

I took a picture of the dining room.  It doesn’t look so bad.

The man in the master bedroom was almost to the back wall.

I zoomed to the bathroom. Even though most of the tiles look rectangular in these pictures, they are all square.