Ta da! Backspash finished

While for most installing a kitchen backsplash can be a weekend project, for us it took a few months. However we can say it was well worth and we are quite proud of ourselves.  Our goal was to have the kitchen not inspire comments like "Oh, did you do it yourself?" and instead give a professional look.  With some diligence we wiped the grout to ensure it wasn't in all the nooks and crannies and that the glass shined - mission accomplished!

To truly appreciate the "after" you have to see the complete "before". This would be when we bought our home 7 years ago with the ugliest wall paper imaginable, white appliances and the dreaded backsplash.  While we still hope to stain the cabinets (ourselves or hire? hmmm) and replace the equally dreaded white floor, we are quite pleased with the transformation thus far.

The kitchen in all its white and floral glory at purchase in 2005

The after shot - okay we update appliances a while ago too

The tile is done! 2012

Grout Day - 99% done!

Our new surge of energy and determination to finish has continued.  We finished the tile - cutting many meticulous cuts to get everything fit around windows and an outlet. Today we began (and finished) grouting.

While doing this process we determined a few things

• You get faster and better at it as you go
• Getting into a rhythm helps
• With two people you can grout and wipe more efficiently
• Wiping off grout from the tiles is TEDIOUS
• Even though you wait 20 minutes before wiping grout you never rest!
• Giant yellow sponges work better if you cut them in half - less rinsing because you have more available that are clean
• It is a lot more tedious to wipe off grout when you have a lot of little tiles
• Just when you think you're done you spot a new tile that needs to be wiped or an area the grout missed
• You realize you might have some perfectionist tendancies

Tomorrow is caulking and then our kitchen can be put back together for the first time since July.  I'd send a picture now, but the kitchen is a wreck and we don't want to do anything about it....at least right now.

And we push on

While Sunday is traditionally a day of rest, for us it was also "we're EXHAUSTED what were we thinking". Who knew standing on your feet and pressing in tiles could take so much out of you.

We are now determined to get it done with.  We used our last bits of mortar to place tiles that didn't need cutting Monday night.  Another trip to Lowes (who knows what number it is by now).  The gaps needing special cutting seem to be mocking us.  In one moment of clarity we knew what peice would go where and how it needed to be cut and/or replaced with a different tile.  Unfortunately that clarity faded to a mental fog as now all pieces look alike and my helpful notes now seem like jibberish. Next time I think I will video our epiphanies!

We can almost see the end.....almost

After a change in weekend plans, we found ourselves with an unheard of open weekend.  That coupled with the fact that we will be hosting a party in October inspired new motivation to move towards the finish line. So Friday we started with thin wood strips to keep everything straight. 

After realizing that it is far easier to seal tile while it is flat rather than precariously placed on a wall, we began by laying out the tile and then sealing. Almost as exciting as watching paint dry is waiting for sealant to absorb.

Just as we were rounding the corner we came to the sink area where inspiration struck "maybe we should do something different under the sink".  After taping different tiles in place to see what it might look like, and googling "images of tiles behind sinks" we decided it probably wasn't worth the effort and went back to the task at hand.

So this is how we spent our Saturday - tiling and intermittently watching the A&M vs Arkansas game.  We even did a pretty good job piecing tile around the one outlet.

Happily the day for us and the Aggies the day was a success. My feet are killing me; but we can see the end. The best part....I really like how it is looking.

And we're back!

Well the kids are back to college, we had a nice vacation and now we're ready to finish the back splash!  The added motivation that family may visit during the holidays (which are closer than you think) helped us get back to it.

Following the lead we have seen on many home improvement shows, we had a good breakfast and got started.  (Why do they always cook a full breakfast before starting?)

We found that once again a hammer and whacking the tile works better the meticulously trying to save the drywall.  Wrapping the faucet and soap dispenser in trash bags and tape, worked much better than shutting off the water and removing the them. We will see if we can tile with them still in place.

We even enlisted a daughter in vaccuum duty while we hammered off tile.  Drywall, taping and priming followed.

Tiling to come soon (we hope)

Oh and while the we literally waited for the pain to dry, we installed a ceiling fan.  It boasted "5 minute install". Three hours later it was up and working ..... and we were too exhausted for any more projects.

The Olympics - great for the country - bad for DIYers

Add the Olympics to the list of things that distract us from finishing our tiling project.  Whether it's the fatigue from waiting up to watch that one last medal or just wanting to veg out during the evening to watch it instead of grouting, right now it is Olympics 1 Backsplash 0

I mean after all it is only once every 4 years and how does watching a gold medal performance compete with grout....it just doesn't

The work is slow - but our counters are clean

They say slow and steady wins the race - I guess that would depend if you are in a marathon or a sprint.  Fortunately, when it comes to our back splash it is a marathon. The pace has been slow but steady. A little each day - taking down tile, patching the wall - me saying "great job honey" as I look on passign through the kitchen.

We have discovered one thing in the midst of all this - we have a lot of stuff on our couters!  Since as I mentioned in a previous post we have remodeling ADHD, we began eyeing our pantry and wondering with a little rearranging if we could find a home for our appliances (right now they were either on the counter or in a back-breaking spot in our cabinets).  Well after some cleaning and purging we have found homes for most items.

Maybe home remodeling isn't just about the project at hand - maybe it is releasing your mind to approach things in a different way. Or maybe it is filling it with short term projects so you feel accomplished. Either way the pantry looks great.

A "little" progress

Trip #11 and 12 to Lowes gained us some new cool tips for the dremmel - none of which did what we had hoped, but cool none the less. 

Our initial push has turned into meandering as little bits have been done - a bit more tile taken from the sink area and the wall repatched.  Yes, this was the first time the tile did not come off along with the drywall. A sign of things to come?  Probably not, but it was encouraging.

The benefit of hanging out with other DIYers also helps.  I was wondering if we should put some other type of drywall behind the sink area (education experience I gained watching far too many home improvement projects on TV).  In talking with friends who are redoing their bathroom they offered some spare pieces of cement board.  Problem solved.  Now we just need another surge of energy to go after it again.

While we have no timeline, we did realize that we have all our supplies stacked on shelving our son will need to take back to college in  a few weeks. Uh oh

and........nothing to report

I believe the phases of a DIYer are as follows
*the idea phase
*the initial push filled with excitement
*a slowing of progress
*standstill - life interruptions

We are at the standstill portion of our project, I believe largely in part to our son about to head to London.  More important to spend any free time we have preparing for his trip than testing our skills at grouting.  We are expecting to have some nervous energy while he is gone so we remain hopeful!

"I think we have everything"

It was trip #10 to Lowe's today .  It was there in the check out line my husband says words that are sure to haunt him. "I think we have everything we need now."  Let's just say I am doubtful that is true.

This trip we picked up grout. Which I am happy to say they have samples of tile and gout on the display walls. We actually found tile that was close to ours - looked at the grout # and voila! we had our grout chosen. We also found a thin glass tile we can use to cap off the tile area just below our cabinets. The one in the store is just a bit thinner than ours and fits perfectly!  Do you belive in miracles? 

It was there, after looking at the display,  I was also inspired to maybe go with a glass subway tile for behind the sink area. I couldn't imagine getting household cleaners on the textured stone tile or food that missed the sink.  In theory this should look good as we (and by we I mean my husband) taped up the tiles for a visual effect.  "I think" it will look good.

The relentless days of rain in Houston seem to have sucked some of our energy away, so after the trip to Lowe's we decided to make our dining room look less of a home improvement explosion site and have it look a bit more organized.  I avoided a before picture, but here is the after

Trip # 9 to Lowes

Yes it was trip #9 to Lowes for some Kilz primer to prime our drywall before putting up the next segment of tile.

Last night we were watching a home improvement show and they were simply tapping tiles with a hammer and they fell off. What a sham!  Our tiles hang on for dear life to the wall, wallboard, anything - I don't think we have one tile that simply "came off". Sigh

Another day another hole

This Saturday started with hubby going off  to Lowe's (trip #8) and me showing a couple of homes (the life of a Realtor).  He needed to buy drill  grout remover bit  (#2) so we could begin demo on another wall.  I am sad to report that drill bit #2 was not long for this world thanks to insufficient grout between tiles and more tile drilling that it was prepared to take.  Fortunately it died just 6 tiles short of our goal.  My estimate is that we will go through at least 2 more before the project is done.

I was also shown today the proper hit the scraper with the hammer technique in order to loosen and remove the tiles.  Sadly I am completely inept at the skill, but I have mastered vaccuuming dust during drilling and sweeping counters of drywall.

Another day another trip to Lowes

Another trip to Lowes (trip #8) for small sponge brushes (Michael's only had wide and wider) and a surprise purchase for me of a rubber tile float (nothing says love like that!)  We continue finish off our test wall and prepare to demo the rest of the kitchen (with some fear and trepidation I might add). 

Our efforts to seal the tile has brought an epiphany too late.  Seal first and THEN place tiles.  With a mixture of porous and glass tiles, and the fact that you have to straddle a counter and duck to miss the cabinet, I feel like we should do stretching exercises before attempting.

Slowing our efforts has been either allergies or a cold virus we are sharing that has sucked some of our energy - but we push forward!

Before and After - the beginning

Somehow trips #3 to #7 to Lowe's were unmentioneded in this blog, but evidenced by the growing stack of receipts we have faithfully stacked on our dining room table. (At this time it should be noted that the word "dining room" is used loosely as it is actually a nursery for our grandson when we watch him and a growing construction warehouse for all the items we buy and use for the kitchen.

All that is left to do on our test section is to seal the porous stones (we have mixed stones and glass tile), grout and figure out what to do with the 1/4 inch gap at the top that cannot be seen unless you crouch down and look - but still we strive for perfection.....or at least make it look like we didn't do it ourselves.  Nothing is worse then someone walking into your home, noting an improvement and say "ooooohhh, did you do it yourself?"

Regardless here are our before and after photos.

Distractions

Yes, I should be posting photos of our small wall we have mostly finished, and yes we should be sealing it and grouting it. But what are doing today (and by we I mean my husband)? Steaming the grout on our floor!

Yes the curse of any home improvement project - improve one area and it makes the rest look....well old and dirty.  So I wonder outloud "do we have a steamer we could use to clean the kitchen floor?"  Moments later he is back from the garage with a Bissel steamer we got free with the purchase of our carpet cleaner YEARS ago, and the steaming of grout begins.  As I had the idea, I "started" the task but soon pooped out.  In steps hubby and he is now about 3/4 of the way through.

As he is cleaning the floor, I look around and notice how dirty the kitchen looks and so that's what I'm doing.  In the midst of it I say "shouldn't we be sealing the tile?"  Perhaps I have a home-improvement version of ADD.

It's time

It should be noted that this was WAY too much mortar for our task

It's time. Time to start putting up the tile.  The hole has been fixed; wall board up and prepped. The first tile has been cut. Now my hubby is busy mixing the stuff to put the tile up with. Yes I said "stuff". Due to being very busy with work (I'm a Realtor) and watching my grandson, my participation role has been diminished, for now, to cheerleader. Go team!

No more hole

Not letting a silly thing like working all day stop him, my industrious husband has wasted no time cutting and installing drywall to cover our hole.  Everything fit perfectly. Next he will tape.  At this pace we will be done by Thanksgiving - a realistic goal I think.  And he can put those dry wall skills he learned on a mission trip to Mexico helping build houses to use.

And my cucumbers still sit mocking me on the counter.  Maybe tomorrow

There's a hole in the wall

Repeated attempts to remove the existing tile efficiently and cleanly without damaging the drywall became futile. We should have expected nothing less than the tiles to be adhered directly to the drywall itself.

 

 

With gouges already in place I piped in "why don't we try a hammer - that's what they do on TV?" So a note about using a hammer on tiles

1.      It does make you feel better smacking something
2.      It creates quite a mess
3.      It creates holes in your wall

Hole in wall AND a clean refrigerator!

So our goal of removing the tile quicker did work - however we needed to go back to Lowe's (trip #2)this time to purchase drywall and all the gadgets and stuff that go along with that.

So while my husband is now putting up a brace of wood to adhere a section of the drywall, I sit here and blog and realize I need to do something with our  recently harvested cucumbers (random yes but they were sitting there mocking me on the counter) I may make refrigerator pickles while he tends to drywall.

Day One

It's been a week since we've had our tiles taking up room in our dining room. Today is the day we start. We (and by we - again it's my husband) purchased a better shop vac, read articles, watched YouTube videos and feel confident to tackle the project......... at least tackle the one small area between our stove and refrigerator that no one will notice if things go badly.

· Up and ready to go! 

· Clear counters and pull out refrigerator

· Clean floor and wall behind refrigerator that is disgusting

· Assemble shop vac

· Place paper down to protect counters

· Cut out caulk

· Suck up said caulk with new shop vac (my job!)

· Prepare to use dremmel tool to remove mortar from between tiles

· Discover bit is too large

· Check the extra bit we bought in case this happened and realize it is even bigger

· Head to closest hardware store - Ace (our conversation: husband: "they won't have it".  Me:  "sure they will")

· Discover, once again, he's right and head to Lowe's - trip #1

· Begin blog while husband is out driving around town

What is Wrong with us?

"What is wrong with us?"  That is the phrase my husband of 35 years and I have said outloud while watching HGTV.  We watch the young couple who don't know how to plug in power tools remodel a kitchen; a working single mom with 4 children and dog renovate a home; a retired couple gut and complete their home and the 10 year old perfectly tile and grout a bathroom.  We sit there in awe turning to each other, rather ashamed, and say "what is wrong with us?"

BEFORE (and okay maybe I do have too much on the refrigerator)

What is wrong is that since we moved into our home we had a list of items we didn't like and wanted to change:

• kitchen backsplash with blue tile insets that used match the "lovely" blue flowered and paisley curtains
• kitchen floor  that is WHITE!  Who puts on a white kitchen floor?
• remove the carpeting from the bathrooms - again who does this?
• replace fixtures, etc. etc. etc.

Why not hire a professional? Well with four kids, three in college, various medical bills and cars that seem to suck money away from such projects, it was time to stop waiting to win the Publishers Clearing House and just do it ourselves.

Mind you we (and by we I mean my husband) have replaced about half our faucets. And we did remove the wall paper that matched the paisley curtains and blue tile. Even removing the wall paper from the light fixture box. (maybe the question should be "what was wrong with them?")

And so, seven years later, inspired by a sale on glass tile at Costco, we decided to take the plunge.  This will chronicle our adventures into an area of DIY we have never traveled