Why did I choose these tiles?

The road to kitchen backsplash has been a long and tedious one. It actually began back in September when Home Depot had a sale on small glass tiles on sheets and we quickly snapped them up. The tiles sat in our garage for six months while we worked away on other projects. Then one day I said "I hate these tiles." Jeremy quickly replied with "I never liked them." Typical dude.

We decided to have some fun with our new selection and get our friends involved. I posted a poll on Facebook:

I could not BELIEVE the response. So many people voted and it was so much fun to get our friends involved in the renovation. We ended up picking the small tiles on the right which were also the winner!

Now I have a confession to make: I had never tiled before. It was always something that I wanted to learn and get good at since I think a good tile job can make a HUGE difference and a bad tile job can be a major eye sore. I took a few steps in preparing myself for the task.

First, I did what any Millennial would do and YouTubed it. I really liked this video from the DIY Network. 

Second, I made sure that I had access to a wet saw. For glass tiles this is a must. Make sure that you cover up though because you will get wet! 

Third, I made sure I had music and beer, because duh.

Guess what I learned once I got started? Working with tiny hexagon tiles are a huge pain in the ass! Eureka! I ended up cutting up a ton of those little tiles in order to work around all of the outlets and the window. Running a small tile through a rather large saw with your hands is kind of sucky and Jeremy was convinced that I was going to cut my hand off. 

Even though it was a ton of work, it started taking shape with some patience.

After many hours and several beers I was finally done!

Here are my takeaways from my first tiling job:

1. If you want to avoid making cuts, try using square mosaic tiles. You should be able to cut around the outlets much easier while limiting the cuts you need to make.
2. Thin-set should be the consistency of creamy peanut butter. Watery thin-set drips everywhere and does not allow your tiles to stick properly to the wall. 
3. Turn off the power when working around outlets! You would think this would be common sense, right? Well I am "special" and apparently need to learn the hard way. After several shocks, I swallowed my pride and finally flipped off the circuit breaker. Yes I know. I don't want to talk about it. 
4. Wipe off as much grout as possible before going over your tile with a sponge. Wiping off all the grout was by far the most annoying part of the job. It felt endlessly messy and after rinsing my grout sponge about a million times, I wished I would have been way more diligent about wiping off excess grout with the float before going over it with the sponge.
5. Buy grout caulk for tough spots and edges. Trying to make clean lines with a grout float is really hard and quite frankly unnecessary. When you pick up your caulk, find a matching caulk grout to use for the outside edges and tough to reach spaces like cracks between your cabinets.

Overall I am really glad that this project is done and I feel way more confident about tiling the front entry way after this process. In retrospect I wish I would have picked a slightly easier tiling project for my first go around but we live and we learn, right? 

Until next time!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Hello friends! I apologize for not posting for a while. We have not done a ton of work on the house lately. We are mostly just taking care of small things here and there.

We did finish up the deck and have had some really fun BBQs with friends and family. Let me know if you want to come and check it out, we take beer as payment!

I love the design of our deck. It is perfect for a small urban backyard. We built in the benches to provide plenty of seating space while maintaining as much of the deck surface space as possible. I also bought this handmade table off of Craigslist and it is HUGE! We can comfortably fit about 6-8 people around the table at a time.

I fancied up the table by cleaning scrubbing it with a brush and the following cleaner.

From there, I was able to stain and seal it at the same time by using this other awesome BEHR product.

The final look is a fun green color and it will allow the table to stay nice looking for a long time to come. 

Anther project that we tackled was putting up bead board in the kitchen. Here is the finished product.

We decided to use real wood bead board and not anything that was particle or composite board. The real wood is definitely more expensive and needs to be primed and painted, but it is also much better quality and durability. We are very happy with the way that it turned out, it adds a ton of personality to the room.

We have a lot of projects to tackle this spring and summer so stay tuned for more updates. Thanks all and happy spring!

Cheers,

Excuse me, where's your bathroom?

The bathroom floor is done and the new sink, faucet, and toilet are in place. A few finishing touches and it will be all done and I can move onto the next project.

First things first, I needed to finish painting the trim and door in the bathroom. Most people look at white trim, go the hardware store and buy a gallon of plain white base paint and call it a day. I am not most people. First, I would never put ANYTHING plain old white in my house, this includes, walls, ceilings or trim. It is too bright and not in a good way. Second, most people don't realize that you never have to just go with the plain old base paint, Home Depot and any other location will tint it for you. I go with an off-white color for ceilings and trim. It is close enough to white that it blends in well and it is different enough that it really warms up the space. I mean, who wants to be blinded by their bright white ceiling?

My favorite trim color is called "Powdered Snow" by BEHR Ultra. One more tip: you do not need to paint trim with an oil based paint. Latex paint technology is just as good. Focus on getting the right kind for your project and you are good to go. Benefits on latex paint? It is water based meaning brushes can be cleaned with water and soap versus paint thinner or Mineral Spirits. It also doesn't smell as potent and if you accidentally drip, a damp cloth will wipe it right up.

Be sure to ask the paint experts at the hardware store what they would recommend for your particular project. For trim, I use BEHR Premium Plus Ultra Interior Semi-Gloss Enamel. You can find this at Home Depot, Lowe's and Menard's.

I had this rusted hook hanging on the back of my door that needed some serious love.

If I was going through all of the work to paint trim and finish the details on the bathroom, I might as well do something about this hook. Believe it or not, I had Rust-oluem spray paint laying around the house already so I gave it a fresh coat and it looked great!

Finished Product:

Last, I bought this adorable sign from Etsy and added it to the door with Command adhesive from 3M. I love the little touch of character that is brings to the door.

That is all folks. Officially done with the bathroom and couldn't be happier. Until next time.

xoxo

Our Bathroom Needed Some Rehab

We took a hiatus on home projects over the holidays and our big trip to Thailand. When we were back, settled, and ready to tackle the next project, I didn't give Jeremy any choice in the matter, I was soooo ready to take on the bathroom. I mean, not only have we been living with that bathroom for six months now but quite frankly I was sick of having people over and trying to save face for that embarrassing bathroom. :)

We started with the floor. I selected chocolate brown cork flooring from Home Depot. My parents have cork flooring in their bathroom and I am kind of obsessed with it. Many people don't know all of the great benefits of cork. Allow me to count the ways:

1. Durability. Cork flooring can last for up to 40 years as it resists scratches and abrasions. It is also impermeable to gas and liquid. Great for a bathroom or kitchen!
2. Anti-microbial. Cork is naturally resistant to mold and mildew which makes it a wonderful material for damp rooms. 
3. Tree-hugger approved. Cork has little negative impact on the environment and the harvesting of cork is sustainable and doesn't require the killing of trees. 
4. Warm and Quiet. Cork acts as a wonderful thermal and sound insulator which makes the room warm and comfy. 
5. Easy to clean. Cork can be cleaned with simply a vacuum and water. 
6. Beautiful! I LOVE the look of cork flooring so on top of all of the benefits it is truly a no-brainer for me.

You may be thinking that cork HAS to be expensive with all of those benefits but if you do your research you can pick some up for between $2-4 per square foot which is very affordable. We bought the flooring in planks that were grooved for easy assembly. The huge advantage to putting together a floating floor is that you don't need to worry about stripping existing flooring down to the sub floor and cement board is not needed (used under tile). 

We began by removing the trim.

Now, we could have covered the existing floor with the cork but it had already been built up so adding another layer on top of it would have created a noticeable step up into the bathroom which we didn't want. We took some crow bars and got to work with tearing off the top layer. Under the first layer was a thin slab of wood board and another layer of vinyl. 

At that point the flooring was ready to be covered with the cork. 

Tools that are needed for installing the flooring:

1. Shims or spacers for the outer edges
2. Rubber mallet 
3. Chop Saw
4. Measuring Tape & Pencil

When starting at the outer edges place spacers between the flooring and the cork. It is important that you leave some room for expansion so that your flooring doesn't end up buckling. Once you get the first row done, angle the next plank upward onto the first row so that the grooves match up, then take your rubber mallet and pound the plank into place. Like this:

After a while, you will be a floor laying machine! You may even look this cool:

Once we got all of the flooring down we added some base and quarter round trim. The quarter round is completely worth the extra effort. It hides any gaps and look much cleaner and more sophisticated. Here is how it looked after a fresh coat of trim paint:

Next we replaced the vanity cabinet with a modern looking pedestal sink and waterfall faucet. 

Those simple fixes made all the difference and we ended up with a completely new and updated bathroom that felt very spa like and luxurious. I could not be happier with the end result. Ok, I still hate the shower doors, but this was a huge improvement for me. 

Thanks for following all of our progress. Up next, I am adding wainscoting to the kitchen. See you later! 

xoxo