For those who know us best, know that the kitchen backsplash has been quite the ordeal.
Frequently over the last year, we would measure the walls, spend a Saturday visiting every tile store we could think of, grab samples, test samples, crunch the numbers and then loose all motivation to actually complete the project. Either we couldn't find what we both liked or what we both liked was waaaay out of the budget.
This time, we found a perfect blend of the trendy glass tiles we love and the conservative stone our Realtor recommended. I gave you a sneak peak in the last post but just because I love it so much, here you go again. My less-than-stellar photography skills makes the tile look a little green but all the tiles are a safe, neutral brown, beige or clear color.
In all honesty, this project really took us three weekends to complete. :) Weekend 1: We spent the weekend prepping, laying out tiles, figuring cuts, running to Home Depot to have them make the cuts, applying the tiles to the walls and generally, looking rough.
Not sure how the professionals do it, but we found unusual positions were necessary to tile the corner of the kitchen. Weekend 2: Scrapping excess mastic out of the grout lines (this job was seriously the pits), filling the lines with grout, cleaning the tiles as quickly as we could manage and again, looking rough.
With so many lines to fill and our enthusiasm for wiping excess grout with giant sponges, we later found a few areas that needed more grout. The tiny bits of tape are to give Cole a big heads up that he needs to re grout underneath the tape. Weekend 3: Scrubbing tiles to remove excess grout from textured tiles, a little hiccup with grout remover (that started eating the edges of our tile), sealing grout lines and again, cleaning away sealer haze as quickly as we possibly could.
Once that was done, we also had to learn the finer points of reinstalling light switch and outlet covers. Surprisingly, more to it than we thought. Long and short of it, after three weeks of my kitchen looking like this:
I nearly giggle every time I walk in and see this.
And I smile as I wash my hands in front of this.
What can I say? I am in love.
