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...