We've been in our house for about six months, and all the while we've been working to make it our own. Up until now, we've done the simple things like painting or putting up crown molding, but over the past month, we've taken on our most ambitious project yet: tiling the kitchen backsplash!
Here is the before picture. It looks pretty good, right? Well, that's what I thought, too. But Jennifer is much more intelligent about trends, colors, and overall decor so I've learned to listen to her when it comes to home decorating. She searched for months for just the right tile that would lighten the kitchen up and make it feel "cozy, like a club". Once she found it, we started the whole project.
The first step was to tear out the existing tile. We suited up in our safety glasses and dust masks, grabbed a hammer and crowbar and tore each tile from the wall. I thought this was going to be the longest part of the project, but it only took 3 hours to tear out all 60 square feet of granite tiles!
After moving the electrical outlets from the middle of the wall to just above the countertop (all nine of them - it took all day), we put up new concrete backer. This gave us a nice, flat surface to put the new tile on.
Now comes the fun part, putting the tile up! Jennifer chose what tiles went up and I cut them on the saw that I got for my birthday!
It was slow at first, but gradually we got better (and we didn't have to cut as many tiles around the medallion).
I only tile in my Utah State Aggies t-shirt. After a few days of putting up the tile, we sealed and grouted them.
And here's the finished product! These are actually onyx tiles. The kitchen feels ten times bigger and it's so much lighter!
Here is the before picture. It looks pretty good, right? Well, that's what I thought, too. But Jennifer is much more intelligent about trends, colors, and overall decor so I've learned to listen to her when it comes to home decorating. She searched for months for just the right tile that would lighten the kitchen up and make it feel "cozy, like a club". Once she found it, we started the whole project.
The first step was to tear out the existing tile. We suited up in our safety glasses and dust masks, grabbed a hammer and crowbar and tore each tile from the wall. I thought this was going to be the longest part of the project, but it only took 3 hours to tear out all 60 square feet of granite tiles!
After moving the electrical outlets from the middle of the wall to just above the countertop (all nine of them - it took all day), we put up new concrete backer. This gave us a nice, flat surface to put the new tile on.
Now comes the fun part, putting the tile up! Jennifer chose what tiles went up and I cut them on the saw that I got for my birthday!
It was slow at first, but gradually we got better (and we didn't have to cut as many tiles around the medallion).
I only tile in my Utah State Aggies t-shirt. After a few days of putting up the tile, we sealed and grouted them.
And here's the finished product! These are actually onyx tiles. The kitchen feels ten times bigger and it's so much lighter!
