Installing a Kitchen Backsplash

Now this was a fairly simple project, I promise! It took a weekend to install the tile and we just grouted today. We first applied mastic with a notched trowel. Oh wait, let me go back a step...it took us about a month to decide on the pattern. Several dry runs later we applied the mastic. So back to installation - mastic with a trowel, then the tile. We chose tumbled travertine as the main tile and an accent tile with glass. The accent tile came in a strip that we cut down to the size of the travertine. Jason handled all the cuts with the wet saw so I can't speak to that part.

Once the tile had set we grouted using a sanded grout (haystack was the color). I can offer a piece of advice here...add the water TO the grout mix instead of the other way around. That way if you have too much water you won't have to run to Home Depot and purchase another box of grout mix :) My bad!

We'll wait 3 days then seal the grout and tile. This is a VERY important step. It will save you hours of scrubbing grout wondering why the color has turned into a nasty shade of brown. This holds true for the floor tile too. It's good to clean and re-seal the grout every year or so.

In case you forgot about that lovely fruit tile, this is what the kitchen looked like before.

Master Bathroom Tile

After months of looking a tile it took all of a day for our tile guys to install it. We went with Daltile porcelain products on the floor and shower (10x20 on bottom and 10x10 on top). You can see a little of the shower floor in this picture. The river rocks were my splurge :)

The cubbies in the shower were built and in place before the tile was installed. We chose to use the accent tile there. Since we're both engineers we drew out different pattern options on graph paper. Crazy I know! But it made our decision easier when we could see it to scale. We used the 10x20 horizontal below the accent strip and the 10x10 on the diagional above. I'll post a picture of the floor later but we used the 10x20 there as well.

One thing that delayed tile installation was the unlevel floor. We ended up having to use a polymer self leveling system under the tile (which was an unexpected hit to the budget). Usually it doesn't matter if the floor is off because you can shim the vanity and make up the difference. But we had our vanity custom made like a piece of furniture so we couldn't shim.

The granite arrived the other day and the hole for the sink was cut out wrong so that will be replaced :( Anyway, this is what the vanity looks like.

Deals We Found

I thought I would show a few of the deals we've found during the renovation process. Habitat Restore (http://www.habitat.org/) has become one of our favorite places for shop. We found an old set of french doors for $25 each (as opposed to $100 each). It took some work to sand and paint them but well worth it.

Another great find at the Restore is the kitchen sink. It's composite granite and was on our wish list but WAY out of price range. We couldn't believe it when we saw it for $150 (regularly $300-400). It was brand new so maybe a builder had it laying around and decided to donate it. Thank you!!And last but not least is the desk for $100. I wish I had taken a before picture so you could see how old it looked. All I did was roughly sand it then painted it black using the oil based paint I used in the kitchen. It's amazing how much paint can change a piece of furniture.

Master Bathroom Demolition

Who knew demolition could be so much fun? Here I am with a sledge hammer. I would recommend wearing better shoes though. That tile can hurt! We took everything out and started the rebuilding process. The first step was to build a new tub deck. Jason did most of the work himself.

I won't even pretend to understand all that went into building the tub deck. All is can say is "YAY Jason!" He did a great job! Once the deck was built we covered the floor and walls with hardiebacker. The next step was to paint on Redguard which is a waterproofing membrane. It's bright pink at first then dries red.

We chose granite as our tub surround. It's actually two pieces seamed together from the bone yard (much cheaper this way). Unless you know there's a seam you can't see it. Once the granite was installed the plumber came and installed the faucet and shower fixtures. Then the tub was dropped into place.

We have finally chosen tile and that will be installed next week. I'll post more pictures when that's completed.

Completed Kitchen

I've been posting updates as we make progress in the kitchen, but I don't think I ever posted the finished version. If you remember we painted the cabinets and island. The appliances are all new. We had granite installed on the countertops and decided to extend the island to make a bar area. We've been so pleased with the way it turned out. Instead of having a separate table we can all eat at the bar and the stools push right under the bar. The final thing we plan on changing are the lights. We'll replace the flourescent with recessed lights and pendant lights over the bar.

Just in case you forgot, here's what it looked like before the changes.

Painting a Chair

Oh how I wish I had taken a picture of this chair before I painted it!! I found it at the Habitat Restore for $6. It was dirty and ugly but I thought the lines were good so I decided to try my hand at painting it. Why not since I've painted everything else in the house?! All I had to do was lightly sand it. I used the same SW oil-based black paint that I used for the kitchen island.

The seat cover gives you some indication of how bad the chair looked overall. And here's the finished product! The fabric is a reminant I found for $10 and still have some left over for another project. I plan to use the chair in the kitchen at the built in desk.

More on the Flood

Another benefit to the flood, if you can even say that, is our master bathroom renovation. The tile in the bathroom had to be replaced so we decided to redo the entire bathroom. It was one of our long-term projects anyway. So far we have removed everything but the tub. The plan is to install new tile on the floor, shower and tub surround, replace the white vanity and install a new tub. This is what we have done so far...

Completed 1/2 Bathroom

In the 1/2 bathroom we added crown molding, beadboard, a new vanity and mirror. The vanity and mirror we purchased on clearance at Home Depot for - are you ready for this? - $75!! We are always looking for deals and this one was a steal. The granite countertop came from the boneyard so we were able to use an exotic piece. This is a shot of the bathroom before.

The Flood

For those of you who actually read this-wondering why I haven't blogged in a while? Well we went out of town for the weekend and came home to a flood. Crazy huh?! There's this little plastic piece on the supply line to the toilet and it cracked, causing water to spew the entire weekend. Needless to say the master bathroom and closet were flooded, the laundry room and garage below, as well as the room in the basement below that. All I could do was cry. Jason started rushing around cleaning up the mess. Servpro was here for two weeks with 28 fans. This is the mess we came home to!

The laundry room ceiling that fell in. Who knew paint would peel when wet?

The silver lining is that we got new tile in the laundry room (we hated the old white tile) and the garage ceiling and walls are now painted. Since the master bathroom tile had to be replaced we decide to go ahead and renovate the entire bathroom. This was one of our long-term projects but what the heck!

Make Your Own Chandelier

Olivia somehow got the idea that she wanted a "princess chandelier" in her room. When I saw the price tag on a small chandelier I said OH NO! So I got the crazy idea to make my own. I purchased a brass chandelier from Habitat Restore for $15 (you know, the kind everyone wants to get rid of). I spray painted it off white to match the trim in the house. I think I did maybe 3 coats of paint. Oh and don't forget to put tape over the electrical wires.

After Christmas I looked for bead garland on sale. I found a few strands at Hobby Lobby for about $1 each. I also bought decorative rnament hooks. The "crystals" I found at Target. They sell them as vase fillers and the pack was $7. They came with holes already in them so it was perfect for hanging. I used fishing line to hang the crystals and have some left over for another use in her room. Here's the finished product!

I covered the candle stick things (not sure what they're called) with scrapbook paper. I just cut them to size and used tacky glue that dries clear. I can't tell you how excited she is!!! She wants to show everyone her princess room and her chandelier. It was a super easy project and much less expensive than the real thing.

So we didn't think about the implications of painting the trim an off white color. Although it looks great and we wouldn't change a thing, we have run into a few snags. It takes forever to paint first of all. You have to cover every square inch otherwise the white will show through. And the latest issue is with blinds. We went to buy white wood blinds like we always have but when we installed the first one it looked terrible. The stark white against our off white trim made the trim look dingy. So now we're having to special order blinds to match the trim. Ugh!! Expensive!!

Move Day

We finally moved into the house!! Yes, we're missing door knobs, have 1 working toilet, and much more to complete but we're super excited to be in that we don't care! Jason and I love working together on projects and we were tired of working at the house in shifts alone. We figured it was at a point where we could move in so we did it. I will say that tonight is the first night I have actually cooked in the kitchen. We've been eating out so much. But it's starting to feel like home.

We are so thankful that we took our time renovating and were able to move in without any debt. Every month we saved up for the projects we wanted to complete, even if it was only a few galons of paint that we purchased. So if you're wondering why it took us so long that's one of the reasons...throw in 2 small children and 8 months later we have a renovated home.

It seems like we will never run out of projects with this house. Jason is thrilled that we have a full unfinished basement to work on in the future! Below is a picture of the island we wrapped in beadboard, added baseboards and cabinet doors. I was really pleased with the finished product. Instead of having a separte kitchen table we had one large slab of granite installed on the island and will use the other end as a table. I'll post another picture once the legs are painted. Olivia has loved sitting on her bar stool!

Painting Kitchen Cabinets

Check out the "staging area" for the kitchen cabinets. It sure did help having the space to do this in. First we sanded and primed the cabinets (both sides). Then we sanded again because if there are streaks in the primer it will show through once you paint. Oh, and the primer we used is oil based. Then we painted the cabinets using oil based SW Wool Skein. It has a little more color to it than just plain old cream. At first we tried a brush on the doors but decided the small foam roller worked the best. Now I will tell you that this is a long process...2 coats of paint on each side and drying time of 24 hours between each coat. We also did the same thing to the cabinet boxes.

The finished product (excuse the mess...we just moved in!!) And yes, those are spray painted knobs!

Floor Installation

I'm a few weeks behind on blogging, but the hardwood was installed and looks beautiful. We bought it at the Home Depot outlet in Atlanta. If you haven't checked it out you should! This hardwood was an incredible deal and is the only reason we were able to do it throughout the entire downstairs. It's Manchurian Walnut hand scraped by Jason (what a coincidence huh?)

If you'll notice we changed the direction of the kitchen (foyer and dining room too). We think it adds a little character and breaks up the rooms. This is one of the few projects we DIDN'T do ourselves. It took me forever to convince Jason but I'm so thankful he agreed. It only took the guys 2 days to complete the installation.

Other Tips

I've also learned to wet the brush with water before painting. I used to have a problem with paint getting stuck way up in the bristles and drying that way. Wetting the brush seems to help with the clean up. Jason used bungee cords to hang the brushes to dry. So far this has kept the brushes from spreading out and getting stray bristles.

This may be way too much information for you and hopefully you'll never have to paint as much as we have.

Some of my Favorites

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite painting tools. The brush I've used to paint all of the trim is the Purdy angled 2". It's wonderful for cutting in too. I'm not sure what this other handy tool is called but it's great for cleaning the brush with the tooth edge. The curved edge can be used to wash out rollers (which is my least favorite thing about cleaning up!)

Speaking of cleaning rollers, why do it if you don't have to? I saw this trick on a DIY show. If you're going to use the roller again just store it in the fridge. I keep mine in plastic bags. This is just for latex paint though. And the roller of choice for us is the Wooster Pro Classic 3/8".

I've mentioned the paint colors we're using from Sherwin Williams, but the actual brand is called Cashmere Low-lustre. It's been wonderful to work with, some of the best I've ever used! It goes on smooth (like cashmere, haha) and doesn't leave roller lines.

Painting Cabinets

Finally we're able to paint the cabinets. I put the first coat on today! We're using oil based paint which is not fun to work with, but is the most durable. Sherwin Williams Pro Classic was recommended and the color is Wool Skein. I smell like mineral spirits after working with this all day :) I'm attempting to paint the drawers without removing them. It will go a lot faster this way. I keep a cloth with mineral spirits handy and use it to wipe off any paint that gets where I don't want it. So far so good...

Here's a look at the trim Jason installed. It's all coming together nicely. The final step will be to glaze the cabinets. The color we're considering tinting the glaze is a brown, maybe SW Van Dyke Brown.

I believe I mentioned this in a previous post, but we installed beadboard on the sides of the cabinets. Jason trimmed it out so the cut side of the beadboard wouldn't show. Basically the trim framed the beadboard. On some cabinets you can use a corner piece to take care of this problem but our cabinet doors come all the way to the edge so we couldn't use the corner piece. Just thought I'd mention this solution in case you're faced with the same type of cabinets.

Carpet Installation

Today the carpet was installed!! I can't wait to see the finished product. Here's a sneak peek at one of the rooms. We ran the hardwood up to the carpet at the entrance of each bedroom and turned a piece of harwood in the opposite direction for the transition. Love the way it looks!

They also installed hardwood in the hallway upstairs. Eventually the entire downstairs will have hardwood but we have to finish painting the trim first.

Upstairs Paint Colors

Wow! It's been forever since I've posted anything. So sorry! I promise we have been very busy painting though. Our goal was to have all the bedrooms upstairs painted, as well as the baseboard trim, so that carpet could be installed. Yesterday hardwood was installed in the hallway upstairs and today the carpet goes in. Very exciting!

Olivia's room and bathroom are painted in Sherwin Williams Pinks. She insisted on a pink room with a chandelier. I refuse to pay for a chandelier so I'm making one. Crafty me! I'll post pictures of that project later. It's looking good so far. Garrett's room in Sherwin Williams Languid Blue.

The guest bedroom in Sherwin Williams Ethereal Mood. We loved this color so much we also used it in the 1/2 bathroom, playroom and full bathroom upstairs.

The master bathroom in Sherwin Williams Plantation Brown. One day we plan to gut the whole thing but for now I'm trying to make all the white and gold work. I bought this great circular rug that really pulls it all together.