Having done thousands of feet of tile work over the last few years, the first thing that comes to mind is that you are jumping off the deep end with little regard to swimming ability here. I would find a way to do a smaller project , or two, before you go and tackle a very large job, with large tile. The next thing is that renting a saw to tackle all the cutting, after you laid all the field tile is a bad idea. Large tile takes a significant amount of thinset and a large notch pattern trowel. Trying to cut and set little scraps of tile in tight places, after the field sets, will be a big headache. You need to grab an inexpensive, table saw style wet saw, and get used to cutting as you go. Finally, as a total newbee to the art of tile, unless you have extraordinarily low standards, there is simply no way in hell that you are going to get this all knocked out in five days. Assuming that it is not all one giant area, and that the job can be broken into smaller sections, I would strongly suggest that you divide the job up, do a dining area, alcove or hallway, and get a feel for what you are getting yourself into, before trying 1700 ft in a few days.