Grout makes such a difference

Today we finally got around to grouting the tile that Sarah and I installed last weekend.  

The amazing thing about grout is how it evens it all out.  The tile looked good, but without the grout you can see every imperfection, every place where the tiles didn't quite line up.  There are plenty of those: The walls are not exactly straight, and neither Sarah nor I are professional tile setters -  so the tiles didn't exactly line up as we had hoped.  

But the grout made most of that disappear.  Once the grout goes in, the tile looks finished, and really pretty good.  We're quite happy with the way it looks - and the bathroom is one step closer to being finished.

We also hooked up all the electrical outlets that we have been installing in the front room and the front bedroom today, so we eliminated a number of extension cords.  And we installed the mantle, so the front room is moving closer to our ultimate goal: painting.

Today we had three visitors on 62nd Street: Claudio and Alessandra, and their son Massimo.  They are our neighbors on Parker Street, and we really love living next to them - they are sweet and kind and really nice neighbors.  

Claudio and Alesandra are from Italy, where, as Ale says, "we don't have old houses".  Ale told us that the house she grew up in was about the same age as she is (36-37), and it is considered an old house.  When her parents heard that they had bought a 100 year old house in Berkeley, her mother said "Is it still standing? How long will it last?"  

I think they enjoyed seeing the house, but visitors to the Delaney House have what I've started to think of as "The Delaney House Smile"   They tend to be more than a little horrified at what we have taken on, and though most of our friends trust that we will be able to put the house back to rights, they really can't see it.  

Our real estate agent, Malcolm, was the first to have this look.  When we saw the house with him, the windows were boarded up, the wallpaper was hanging off the walls, and everything was completely filthy.   Malcolm told us later that "I thought OUR house was a fixer-upper until I saw 62nd Street".

It's all about vision.  Or maybe it's because I don't see that well - the house looks beautiful to me.  Maybe that's why Tom looks so nervous so much of the time.