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Saturday, July 6, 2013

Our Kitchen Backsplash Project

After watching HGTV's  Bang with a Buck  recently, my husband and I decided to do a DIY project in our kitchen. Actually, only one of us did this project. (I just helped out however I could.)  Unfortunately, I'm not one of those wonderful bloggers who can wield their trusty hammers or paint brushes. Not even a little bit!  But I do come up with ideas from time to time and Dave will usually say, "I think I could do that."

In our first home, my husband and father-in-law built the most beautiful white pergola off of our back patio - totally from my husband's design sketches and my father-in-law's building expertise.  I think he could pretty much do any job he put his mind to do. He is a pastor by day, but I think he could be a contractor on the side.

So, my husband and I went to Lowe's and picked out tumbled marble tiles and all the things we ( uh-hum, I meant "he" ) would need for the job.

We decided we liked the tiles laid on the diagonal and so the job began.

Here is a "before" photo. We have granite countertops in the kitchen and antique white cabinetry. The wall color is "Restrained Gold" from Sherwin Williams.



This is my husband, Dave, hard at work.







Things were going along very well until it came to THE GROUT. We both stood in the aisle at Home Depot looking at all the colors of grout there were to choose from. We agreed on a color and brought it home. Dave began adding the grout until....

We both decided it was the wrong color!

The problem is that Dave had gotten pretty fast by this point. If you've ever done a kitchen tile backsplash, you know that you can't stand up and work. You have to crouch the whole time since you are working under the cabinetry. It was starting to take a toll on his back, so he was working quick and had gotten a lot of the grout work done on one whole wall.

But as we stood back and looked at it, we both thought the same thing. It was just too dark.

We decided to try and dig out the grout. Easier said than done! We both worked and worked on it, but decided the grout had also discolored many of the tiles making them darker than the original.

Dave made the decision to remove the tiles he had put up on one wall. As he began popping out tiles, we made another discovery. Some of the tiles came off fairly easily. But other tiles came off with chunks of the wall attached. I sat down at the computer and googled "how to remove tiles without removing the wall"....(here's where my help came in - ha!) Some of the sites said, "Forget it. There is no way around it. The wall will come off with the tile." But then I found a helpful tip. It said to aim a blow dryer at the tiles. I ran upstairs and retrieved my blow dryer and started working. Sure enough, it did cause many of the tiles to pop right off. But some of the tiles were more stubborn and were still taking off the wall with it.

We debated. What should we do? Our littlest boy said, "Mom, we should pray about this." We did and then heard the phone ring. It was our dear friend, Quinby Collier. After a few minutes of conversation, he headed over to help.

In the meantime, Dave made the decision. He was going to have to remove the tiles and then also put up new drywall on that wall. The two other walls were safe since they had no grout on them yet.

Ugh! A job that had been moving speedily along now came to a grinding halt. Thankfully, Quinby was available to help that afternoon and knew how to cut and install drywall.




I know! We still can't believe it either! My beautiful kitchen...but it gets better! There will be a happy ending, friends.





Once the decision was made to actually do it, the two men worked fast. You know the old saying, "Many hands make fast work." Both Dave and Quinby are hard workers as well as perfectionists. So, I knew the end results would be great, but I felt so badly for Dave. He was using up his vacation days for this "project from..." well, you know the rest.

But here is the final reveal.


Remember the before?



The after.



Here are a few more "afters".






Close-up






It looks so beautiful now. You'd never guess what he had to go through to "right the wrong". I'm thrilled with how it looks. It reflects the light so beautifully and seems to finish the kitchen out.

If you ever decide to tile, test out your grout before you put it on the wall. It would be good to do a "mock up" of the tile on a board and see what you think before you ever put it up on the wall.

It may sound crazy, and we burned up a lot of vacation days, but in some weird way it was sort of an enjoyable experience - working together in the kitchen through the good and the bad.

Didn't he do a great job? And...thank God for good friends!

Linking up to:  homestoriesatoz.com 
www.savvysouthernstyle.net  astrollthroughlife.net   stonegableblog.com  impartinggrace.com  frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com  beneathmyheart.net
bystephanielynn.com  virginiasweetpea.com kellyskornerblog.com

41 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Gloria. He really did do a fantastic job.

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  2. Looks awesome!!!!!! I love tiling the end result is always worth it :)

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    1. Yes, I really love it, too! Now on to the shower! ha ha

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  3. It looks beautiful. What a process!!

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    1. Thank you! It did turn out so well, but we weren't sure we were ever going to get there.

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  4. Wow! Glad to know we are not the only ones who end up with similar situations when doing home improvement projects! They never show this type of stuff on HGTV, do they? My hubby and I always joke and say - oh - we should have this done in 30 minutes just like on TV! HA! Ok, believe it or not, my kitchen is so very similar to yours. Counter top, white cabinets, and a similar backsplash as well! I'm going to email you a photo! Your hubby (& friend) did a great job. And what a wise son you have as well. Hooray for prayers! Catherine (new follower)

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    1. Hi Catherine! Thanks for writing. I'd love to see your kitchen!

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    2. Gorgeous kitchen, Catherine!!

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  5. Amazing. I love your tile and it looks fabulous on the diagonal, and perfect with your granite. Great tutorial too. I would love for you to link up to my ongong Inspire Me party. - -http://www.astrollthrulife.net/2013/07/172nd-inspire-me-tuesday.html Hope to see you there. Hugs, Marty

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  6. It looks just gorgeous! I was getting stressed reading the escapades. I hate it when stuff like that happens. It seems to happen a lot to us do-it-yourselfers but that is how we learn and how God teaches us patience. ;-). Have a wonderful day! Love,Wanda

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    1. Thank you! It was all worth it in the end, but I was stressed for my husband. He's pretty laid back, though, and rolled with it. lol Have a blessed day, too, Wanda!

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  7. Oh gosh, it's gorgeous! You have such a beautiful kitchen. Even though you ran into some snags, I'm sure it was all worth it.

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    1. Thanks, Alison! We've lived here for 6 years in this home and the kitchen is my favorite.

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  8. It's beautiful! See? Prayer works! Dave did a fantastic job, and your family will enjoy the beauty for many years. :-)
    Blessings,
    Kim @ Curtain Queen

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    1. Thanks, Kim! He really did a great job and he's glad it's behind him. By the way, I see you are from Mississippi. I used to live in SW Mississippi. Have a great day!

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  9. Kathy I love it! Your back splash came out beautifully and I'm so happy for you. It's amazing how these kinds of changes can make us feel...so good! :)

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  10. Thank you, Leslie! It feels complete now. I am loving it. Thanks so much for writing!

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  11. Thanks so much for stopping by!!
    What a great transformation!! I am the handy one since I am a carpenter's daughter and my hubby is NOT handy!! LOL!!

    Hugs,
    Debbie

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    Replies
    1. Isn't that funny? I wish I had a little of your expertise! Have a wonderful day, Debbie!

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  12. I just love this post--the good, the bad, and the ugly! Thanks for sharing it all. And your new backsplash looks terrific!!

    Thank you SO MUCH for being a part of the Grace at Home community. I featured this post! :)

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    1. Thank you so much, Richella, for hosting this every week. It's a lot of fun:)

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  13. Fabulous~! couldnt be better
    enjoy every moment in your classy kitchen

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  14. Love the beautiful colors in your kitchen! Your husband did an awesome job:) The back splash is looking gorgeous against the granite and cabinetry! Love it! Thanks for stopping by at my place:)~Poppy

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  15. I've got a very similar quartz countertop and the same backsplash tiles, but they aren't on the diagonal like I wanted them. Yours look wonderful, and you've got the same bullnose tile on top that I used! Great minds think alike. :)

    Your blog header is so pretty, and you don't look like you've got one, let alone 6 kids!!

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    1. You are very kind! You are right...great minds do think alike! Do you have photos posted of your kitchen? I remember seeing your beautiful entryway. I will have to go back and take a look for photos of your kitchen. Have a wonderful day and thank you for writing!

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  16. The backsplash turned out beautiful. Thanks so much for linking up to Throwback Thursday! Kim

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  17. I remember Pastor Dave talking about this project at church after the fact. Something he said about it has stuck with me. When you lay tile on the diagonal, it has to be exact and precise, otherwise, all of the other tiles will be off too. He compared that to dysfunctional relationships, if we are dysfunctional and we decide to become a little more healthy, all the people around us have to shift and adjust. It affects more than just us.
    Beautiful result by the way. :)

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    1. Oh this is good and I'm going through this right now. It's a hard road but so worth it!

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  18. This looks beautiful! So glad everything worked out for you in the end. And I LOVE the molding around your kitchen window. Gonna have to pin that one for future house! Ha.

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    1. Thanks, Kristen! I'm glad, too. Every time I walk into our kitchen, I feel so pleased with how it came out and very grateful to my husband :) I love the molding, too!

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  19. Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Renae! It took longer than we had thought, but we are still loving it:)

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  20. I know this has been quite a few years ago, but we are contemplating doing our backsplash soon and our cabinets and counter are almost identical to yours. Hubby is not crazy about the "rough" textured tile and I wonder how hard it is to clean. Also, what color grout did you eventually choose. I was going to do off white subway tiles with a mocha grout, but now I am skeptical! Thanks!

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    1. Hi Gail! It has not been hard to clean. I am trying to see if I can find the color grout we used. I don't remember off the top of my head. If I can find the color, I'll let you know.

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