Kitchen Reno Part 3 - Subway Tile

YOOO. I left  you with just having laid our butcher block counter tops on top of the cabinets. I knew I wanted a backsplash and I just wanted something timeless and simple. A few years ago I would have probably went with something flashier and busy because that's who I was as a younger version of me. I am glad I've matured because this subway tile is perfect. I bought the tile at Menards and we got the sheets of tile rather than individual. It was easier and faster to work with which is saying a lot because this project took FOREVER. It was by far the most labor intensive project we've ever done to date.

Before starting the tile we did cut the hole for our kitchen sink.



I don't have a lot of pictures of this mostly because I had to go back to the store to buy a new sink. The one we had purchased was missing a part or had a dent...I can't remember! But I had to go back to check that our sink would work. It was the same sink as before just 3" deeper. Again if I did this over again I think I would have went with 1 bowl vs. 2. That's a hard choice. I also had already ordered the sink clips online so this sink would work with the butcher block.

My father in law and husband drilled 4 holes with the thickest drill bit they had then used the jigsaw to cut out the hole for the sink (they traced the hole using the sink or a template that was provided). It came out great! Except for a bit of an indent into the wood from the jigsaw bouncing. PRO TIP: Use some cardboard around your edge to prevent that from happening.

After the hole was cut, we laid out some plastic and got to work. I had purchased pre-mixed mortar. We followed some different blogs and youtube videos and this part was pretty easy. Work in small areas so it doesn't dry out, and keep it level. Simple enough.






Every time I see these pictures part of me regrets not using a darker grout. I went with the whitest of white mostly to hide imperfections. The grouting was the worst part for us and I think it was mostly because we had to mix the grout ourselves and did not have the proper tools so the consistency was wrong and while we followed the package directions to let it sit before wiping the tile with a wet rag that was the wrong choice and it did not come off easily.

I don't have pictures of this because like I said, it went fast and it was not pretty. We realized pretty quickly that the grout was setting fast so we were able to get it off of the area behind the sink but for the rest it was too late. We spent the rest of the night scraping each tile.

Here is the finished product:





The grout haze was a real pain. I went to the Tile Shop to buy grout haze remover and I swear Windex did a better job. The picture above it before I caulked the edge below the subway tile.

Using a tile saw was terrible, the grout job could have been way cleaner but in the end I really like it. It looks 'finished' and so much better than had we just left the drywall with no back splash. We also learned a ton for if and when there is a next time.

Fast forward to today. I took these pictures after getting a new phone with a much better camera a few days ago. One year our from the reno, two years out from the first time the cabinets were painted.













And Just for a reminder:

Untouched Kitchen

Phase 1

Three years in the making, but I am beyond glad we did it and we did it all ourselves. Saved a TON of time and money. Happy DIY'ing.

We also love our chalkboard paint inside the cabinets. I had two bare cabinets I had never drawn on and I told my husband I wanted some dumb puns! Well he surprised me with these winners and I'm never taking them down.

Kitchen Reno Part 1

Part 1 in our kitchen reno! I'm going to try to do less talky more pictures. Our kitchen reno spanned 3 years because that's how we roll over here in paycheck to paycheck town. We started with a pretty blank generic builder grade slate.

Move in state

It was just UGLY. And BORING. The dishwasher was broken and the knobs looked like marshmallows and what the hell is with the yellow outlets the 90's? Okay- moving on. My first idea was to paint the cabinets. Pinterest was a thing and super popular so the DIYer in me was living all day every day just pinning post after post on how to do it and what to use. Before I actually jumped in and painted anything I switched out our hardware because every blogger tells you to do this.



So here we are with some new knobs and a new dishwasher. We added some mini white shelves and some blinds and a bunch of mess. I am not a photographer so bear with me one thing is consistent with me and this blog, I take pics but I don't clean up or stage them hah.

There will be many changes after this point, we removed the upper cabinet beside the floaters and put legs on it and re-used it as a bottom cabinet and a holder for our new countertop. We eventually put in an above the range microwave and raised those cabinets and we built floating shelves not once, but twice where the little ones are pictures here.

TRIMMING up those flat fronts

Chalkboard Paint for the inside because I am RAD

Door front

Painting the cabinets wasn't really a big deal, it was just time consuming. I didn't sand these cabinet doors or cabinet frames down since they are not really wood. More like a laminate. I cleaned them up though. I also wanted to add a frame, to be more of a shaker style. Shaker style just added a bit more dimension instead of just the flat doors.

Another award winning photo from my old ipod

I did buy good expensive paint because sometimes you just can't go cheap. I bought ProClassic at Sherwin Williams and used a small foam roller. Protip! Sherwin Williams will often have 30% off a gallon or even 40% off just watch and wait.

PRIMED

Oh I guess I did prime the cabinets. I definitely didn't take anything out because who has time for that prep! Not necessary. After the prime I added the paint. I literally googled "Best white paint for cabinets" to get the uppers and picked a neutral-ish gray for the lowers or bottoms? I would love to tell you the colors but when I recently went back to Sherwin Williams they told me I was wrong when trying to match that upper color to my walls. Again- very successful blogging DIY here 3 years later my memory is quite impressive and super helpful.

After painting the frames & added some drawer pulls

Frames all painted

out of order but out thin floating shelves where we removed the upper cabinet

No I did not paint the inside because basically I don't care. Nobody is going to be staring at the inside of my cabinets but me and I do not mind even a little bit.

Picture of where we removed the upper cabinet

Here's the after picture of the microwave install and the floating shelves painted!

Door fronts on and new DIY window shade

BEFORE:

AFTER! Well phase 1 after

Come back for the amazing part 2.... Butcher block counter tops

House Updates!

Before I break it down room by room I wanted to give you some reference! What's a blog without pictures? A book? All of my rooms are a work in progress for sure. We bought our house in January of 2012 which means we are quickly coming up on 4 years of homeownership! Forget the depressing fact that January is coming up quickly, disgusting. Winter. In Ohio. NO. Just no.

We closed on our humble abode and lived in it for a few months, again WINTER... before getting to work. I specifically remember having a mini breakdown regarding owning a house finally and living with white walls and cracked countertop and freaking wallpaper border with pink ribbon and blue flowers. Shivers. For reals. It's a small house, only 936 square feet. That is not including the 300 square foot in the three season room or the 500 square feet in the basement. One of the first things we had to do was install some flooring in both the three season room and basement. We had an escrow that enabled us to be reimbursed from the bank. From there the remodel dragon was released!

Here are some before pictures just to give you an idea of where we have come from. I hope to put up some detailed room by room posts soon!

Chris day one in our house, changing the locks

Chris reading some directions on how to change said locks. Sad to say, these floors remain today. Note it was freezing and our heat wasn't turned on at this point.

Front Door- green. Oak trim, yellow outlets. Totally a 1990 house.

Our first furniture. haha

Ipod photo of our guest room. 

Chris after replacing two pieces for the subfloor and adding the luan with some self-leveling gray stuff?

Rolling on some BIN primer or Killz. This room smelled like the previous owners had some kitties that did not use their litter box. It was pretty terrible

Before the luan, This is just the subfloor.

More subfloor

Subfloor!

Originally this was apparently a door from the 'master' bedroom into the sunroom. They removed the door and patched and this is how it looked when we moved in.

Living Room

Living room shortly after we moved in

Our unfinished basement. I wanted a teal color to provide a nice deep color to go with all that natural wood. Notice, no carpet! Just glue. 

More shots of the wood. That was an unfinished bathroom that I have NO photos of! On the other side of that room there was an old toilet, small vanity and shower. No drywall, no floor, just cement. 

Don't mind the orbs... Todd looks scary up there! Apparently the purpose of this stone platform was to hold a wood burning stove? 

Chris sanding the wall to prepare for primer.

Piper, orbs and the wood steps leading to the sunroom door.

Basement after primer, chalkboard wall and loading up the teal paint. This was our first paint project!

Painting away

A look at the stone wall.

We have carpet!

Our kitchen from day 1. See that fancy wallpaper border

Our original sink/faucet.

A little bit after moving in. That end cabinet was added by the original owner.They blended pretty well! This was after we replaced the hardware. There was white marshmellow knobs previously.

Some new hardware. See below for the original white knobs that drove me nuts! 

Original knobs, cabinets. 

Bedroom. This is the other side of that wall where they removed a door leading to the sunroom.

Main floor bathroom day 1

Main floor bathroom after we put up our new curtain

Alright! That's your first look at our home as of 2012. Can't wait for you to see what we've done! We have come a long way.