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Thursday, November 18, 2021

French apartment renovations, Day 331: Grout, lime, and errands

11,381 steps

We grouted the shower today, or rather we applied half of the grout today. I find epoxy grout tricky to work with, so I wanted to let this first batch dry and then do the rest tomorrow. Most of the pebble mosaics are grouted; tomorrow will be mainly the thin lines between the tiles.

I have this *brilliant* idea to pipe the grout in with a pastry bag--you know, the DIY version of a caulk gun--to avoid the mess of spreading the grout everywhere with a float. Will it work? We'll see!

My dad helped me mix up a small batch of lime mortar to fill in the gap between the wood floors and the stone wall. We packed it in and then beveled the mortar 45° so it slopes downward and meets the edge of the floor. My dad was surprised at how simple it was: "You can make mortar with just sand and lime?!?"

We also got the door to the electrical panel installed and painted. Tomorrow I'll install the little latch plate for skeleton key and clean up the mirror (which got some paint on it). It looks great! I also did some other odd painting jobs.

This evening we rearranged the furniture so the bed is now in the kitchen. And finally...we put the rug in Le Catamaran and arranged the living room furniture in the proper places! This felt like a significant milestone. Pictures tomorrow, I hope, since my parents are already in bed.

My mom and I ran errands in the afternoon to the post office, fabric store (thread and zippers for the reupholstery), and ,ocal home improvement store.

What else? Dinner was brussels sprouts, salad, roast chicken, potatoes, and pomegranates for dessert. The kids loved how the juice looked just like blood, so Inga posed for this silly photo. (*No children were harmed in the taking of this photo.*)



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