Retiling the Backsplash: Application of Tile

Once we were finished putting cement board underneath where all of our backsplash tile would go, it was time to actually stick 'em up! This process was the easiest and most fun part in my opinion. 


The materials we used for this part were:

• the tile sheets
• a utility knife and pair of scissors (for cutting around the individual pieces/sections of tile on the mesh backing)
• glass tile thin-set mortar: we used this one, this is what goes between your wall and the tile and makes it stick
• a 3/16 trowel like this one, this is what you use to apply the thin-set and give it nice grooves to ensure suction between the tile and the wall.  
• a big bucket for mixing up the thin-set 
• a plastic butter knife, used for "back-buttering" the individual tiles when we had to put them up in mosaic fashion
• tile nippers: we had to do some trial and error on cutting our tiles since we had a combination of glass and marble. these nippers worked great for the softer marble tiles while these worked well for the glass tiles. 

This is the backerboard surface we started with: 

You can see we laid out the tiles after cutting around for the electrical outlets while the thin-set was setting up. It should be the texture of peanut butter or toothpaste.

We just worked in small sections so that the thin-set wouldn't dry on us. When it did, we just scraped it off with a chisel and reapplied.

And this is how it looked after being applied. For the pieces around the corners and the electrical boxes, it was time to get creative with mosaic. This was the most fun part! We used no rhyme or reason, just cut pieces with their respective nippers to fit and applied thin-set on the back of the individual pieces with a plastic butter knife.

At this point we felt relief because we were actually starting to have a backsplash again and we loved the way it looked. The only thing left to do was grout... 

Retiling the Backsplash: Demolition and Cement Board

Last weekend, we jumped in headfirst into a big kitchen project... retiling our backsplash! We had always planned on replacing the current backsplash with subway tiles, but at Costco one day we randomly happened upon this gorgeous glass and marble mosaic tile at an amazing price. I've never ever thought I would like any glass/mosaic tiles enough for our own kitchen backsplash, but I am so in love with this tile. We made the decision to go for it after Costco came out with a huge markdown coupon. We got each box of 5 square feet for $21, so it was about $4.20 a square foot. 

The first step was to demo the current backsplash. We knew that the tile would be adhered to drywall, and that we wanted to try to save it, but soon we figured out that was not possible. Oh well, we knew that installing cement board would be economical and would prevent mold, as well as make it easier for someone to take down this tile and redo in the future. 

After we cut off the power and removed the electrical stuff, Aaron used an arsenal of tools to get that tile down. I'm not really sure he used one favorite technique, but he used a grout saw, beat on a chisel with a mallet, and used a crowbar. 

Once we got all of that tile and drywall out, we made a detailed diagram with every measurement we would need. 

Then we went to Home Depot and purchased cement backerboard, the proper screws for that, and a carbide-tipped blade. The YouTube videos make the "score and snap" method look so easy, but we had quite a bit more trouble. On the  way few pieces, we had to score it almost all the way through on both sides. Here's a big tip that saved us a lot of time later on: score it nice and good, and then place a 2x4 on one side of the score line. Have one person stand on the 2x4 and the other lift up from the other side. It snaps cleanly every time, as long as you've scored it well enough! For holes for outlets, carefully drill holes and score until you can punch out the outlet area. 

We then drilled the backerboard into the studs.

The next part will be the installation of the tile itself! In my opinion, this part was actually really fun! 

Customized IKEA Barstools

I got a CB2 catalog in the mail a few weeks ago and immediately fell in love with these barstools. They are just a perfect mix of modern and rustic, with their rugged seats and crisp white iron legs. I wanted them badly. But unfortunately I didn't have $378 to spend on the most wonderful barstools I'd ever seen.

Thats when my wheels got turning to DIY something. I knew the first place to go- IKEA of course! The gigantic store with all kinds of goods just waiting to be "hacked". There I found the unfinished birch BOSSE barstool for $39.99. I had been wanting to experiment with stain for some time now, and this was my perfect chance.

I bought two of these guys, along with some Krylon white spray primer and
Fusion spray paint in satin white. I also got a little can of Minwax Wood Finish stain in Jacobean.

The first step was to just take everything out of the boxes. I laid out the chair frames on top of bricks and just got to paintin'. The primer and paint dries REALLY fast, so this took just a few hours for one coat of primer and about 1.5 coats of paint. I can't recommend highly enough that you don't skip the primer stage. The paint goes on so easily and covers so well after.

The scary part was the seats, since I haven't ever used stain before. Let me tell you if you haven't either, the stuff is messy. I would recommend latex gloves if you have 'em, because that stuff was in my fingernails for days. First, you want to sand the top of the seat REALLY WELL. I put my husband to work on this job after I realized I hadn't sanded hard enough. I'd recommend a pretty rough grit sanding block. The fine won't really do much. Get it really nice and even though, because you don't want any scratch marks showing up on the seat once the stain is on. Also make sure that after sanding, the item is free and clear of dust and debris.

I then put a coat of stain, using a foam brush and going in the direction of the grain, over the whole seat. I let it set for about 15 minutes, and then just buffed out the excess with a rag. It was tricky though, because by 15 minutes it's already starting to get gummy. I found the solution for that to be applying another coat of stain the opposite direction, and then only leaving that on for about 5 minutes or so before wiping off.

A few days later I applied two coats of Minwax Polycrylic with a nice brush. I was debating whether I even needed to do this step, but I'm glad I did because they look so much more finished now. Don't skip this step! It seals the stain and makes the wood look very finished.

 So maybe by now you'd like to see the finished product?

Total cost for the pair: under $100. I know my version isn't as cool and organic looking as the CB2 version, but I love mine, and my favorite part is the DIY :) I'm looking for other things to stain now too! 

Deal of the Century

So I might be a little too proud about this deal that I scored a few weekends back at the Crate and Barrel outlet. I was shopping with my husband, mother in law, and aunt in law and Aaron and I went ahead of the others into Crate and Barrel, where I happened upon a large selection of “final sale” dining tables and various furniture. They had some beauuuutiful wood dining tables at some pretty amazingly deep discounts. I didn’t believe it when I saw the Pranzo II extension dining table, a $1699.00 table, for … yes, $249. That is an 85% discount.

 

What I loved about it:

• Too good of a deal to pass up an 85% discount on a very high quality piece.
• The wood table is so lovely. The black legs go perfectly with our already owned chairs.
• It has THREE extension leaves. Yes, THREE. So that means that it can seat 14 people. How amazing is that?! This gives us an opportunity to host both big and small groups of people without even having a formal dining room.
• It was made in Italy.

Why my husband thought we shouldn’t get it and how I convinced him otherwise:

• We already have a table. Why yes we do. We got it off Craigslist for $60 including chairs and it badly needs another coat of paint. It also collects and shows EVERY speck of dust and dirt and makes cleaning it impossible.
• He didn’t wait to buy new chairs. Well guess what, we don’t have to! The ones we have go perfectly. Just need a coat of fresh paint.
• We pretty much only bought it because his mom and aunt kept telling him it was such a great deal.

After we paid for it and left I remembered that I had a 10% off coupon for Crate and Barrel from changing my address on the catalog when we moved. I examined it and it didn’t list any exclusions for final sale/clearance items. We went back to get $25 back and they said it wouldn’t work on final sale items. After I politely pointed out that it does not say that on the coupon, they said their computer just wouldn’t accept it. I knew that customer service would come to my rescue. Not sure why they didn’t call customer service to ask for support in the first place, but alas, customer service said there shouldn’t have been a problem and promptly refunded $25. So the total was only around $240 with tax!