The main bathroom counter upstairs in my house is old; original from about 1963.  It was built like a tank with 1" plywood and 2x2 all the way.  Functional, but the little snowflake design in the formica got annoying after a while.

  I probably have a hundred little projects to tinker with, and in the fall of 2001,  the countertop's number finally came up.  I didn't take pictures at every single phase, but I got a few along the way....

BEFORE	AFTER

I made the whole thing out in the barn to minimize "down time".  Making the main bathroom unavailable to one's wife for any period of time can be dangerous.  The middle picture below shows the template for the future sink... using spraypaint is quicker and easier than tracing an edge.

It's a good idea to dry-fit all your tiles before you try to lay them.  Surprises are not good when your mastic is drying and you're only half done.  I only sacrificed one piece to the tile gods in this job.

In the past, I have used thinset mortar to lay tiles, but with the versatile and strong new mastics that are out there, you can buy a gallon and save yourself time and sweat.  I used the eyeball method to lay these tiles out, and everything turned out ok.

I didn't take any pictures while I was grouting.  Once you get started grouting, you want to be done ASAP.  Having learned from experience, I know that I'd rather get done cleaning up drying grout than taking a minute to get the camera out.

I added 1x2 oak molding along the outside edge that I routed a quarter round onto, and then put more quarter round oak along the back.

I could tell you stories about the plumbing I had to mess with under the sink, but when I think about what I had to remove, it makes the little vein in my temple pop up, so I won't go into it.  Suffice it to say that any future folks will find it very easy to put in a new faucet if they want one.