Fun With Before and After

It's not clear if Dick and Jane would have fun with this, but I think this is fascinating.  No, not the fact that I figured out how to use the MACRO setting on my camera, but that the grout makes such a dramatic difference in the project.

In the before state, the tiles are aligned, affixed and admired:

In the after, they are surfaced, smoothed and sensational!

Next is a more completed look at the furnace vent.  In Turning the Corner with Tile, I stressed the importance of tile placement planning to ensure all the right edges were in all the right places.  In that post, it was a picture of a roughed-in opening for the vent template without even a tile set in place.  Here, you can see the tile carefully cut to accommodate the template.

But wait, there's more!  Notice the individual pieces cut to fit across the vent.  Again, plenty of art on Tom's part to go with the science.

And here is the final piece, grouted and looking as if it was easy.  The mark of a craftsman.

With the grout down, the remaining work is to pull all the remaining puzzle pieces together.  We are beginning to accelerate to the finish.  Even Dick and Jane would have fun.