Switching out an electrical outlet (without dying)

I'm in the process of tiling a white subway tile backsplash in our kitchen. (Finished pictures soon to come!)

As I was working on row 2, I came to this:

butt-ass ugly

So I decided we could switch it out.  Couldn't be too hard, right?

Reading the directions, which told us not to attempt this. 

You see, the previous owners added a garbage disposal switch and just stuffed all the wiring into one little electrical box.

And that box has more shit packed into it than a cooler at a Superbowl tailgating party.

What a hot mess.  

It took serious elbow grease and a few funny phone calls to my brother, who has, in his words, "electrocuted myself more times than I can count."

After he told us he once cut directly through drywall, with a metal knife, into live wires, he told us not to worry and that we could handle it.  (He also asked us to call later to let him know we were still alive.)

Shockingly easy.
Austin did the heavy lifting while I talked
about wiring with Mike on the phone.

And here's the big tah-dah!

before...

and after!