by Wendy Scheel | Jul 18, 2016 | DIY
I ran my first half marathon (13.1 miles) over six years ago. Making it to the 12 mile marker at that first race and every race since then has been the (literal) sign that I was almost done. All of my hard work had paid off and I could see the finish line.
The backsplash finish line is near. The last 1.1 miles is where we are right now with the backsplash. This past weekend we picked out the new switch plates and then sealed the tile and grout.
This step was the quickest and easiest. Using an old cotton washcloth, I put some of the sealer on the cloth and rubbed it onto each and every tile. That’s it. Done.
Now we wait for 24 hours to allow everything to completely dry. The switch plates have to be put back and it’s a wrap, hands in the air celebration as we cross the finish line.
I do want to share a few thoughts about this process. I tend to shy away from lists, but this is an instance where a list works well. 🙂
1) LOVE the tile you pick. If you are not 100% in love with it, keep shopping.
2) Take a hands on class.
3) Have all of the proper tools. A good quality wet saw will be your best friend.
4) Make sure the space you are tiling is clean and free of grease.
5) Don’t put too much mortar or grout on your trowel. Having too much on the trowel means that you will drop more and have a bigger mess.
6) This is a messy job. Be okay with that.
7) You can tile a backsplash this size in a weekend. A very long weekend. Drying times stretch out the amount of time it takes, but they are necessary.
8) Turn off the electricity. I learned this one the hard way. Twice.
9) Have fun! Know that it will be great and you will love it even more knowing you did it!
10) Do not buy expensive tile cleaner. Use a 1:4 ratio of vinegar and water to remove the haze from your tiles.
Wednesday will be the big reveal! Be prepared to be amazed. 🙂
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Jul 11, 2016 | DIY
What a day! On Saturday’s post I mentioned that this was the weekend the backsplash would be started. And it was. Let me tell you that it is going to look amazing! Tiling has put this kitchen in a whole other class of awesomeness.
Usually Wade doesn’t want anything to do with yet another DIY project. But something changed and I was not going to question what or why. He was ready and willing to help. We typically don’t work well together, but today we were a well-oiled tiling machine.
The first thing we did was cover all of the countertops. We used red craft paper. This prevented any of the mortar or grout plopping off and drying onto our countertops. I had previously purchased a large roll of paper at our local big box hardware store and along with it, several rolls of painters tape. This step was simple but a little time consuming.
The next step was to lay out all of the tiles. Laying them out allowed continuity from sheet to sheet. I didn’t want one area to be filled with only one color. I wanted it to flow. Our tiles came in sheets that measured 12×12 inches, but with some under counter lighting, the backsplash area runs 13-14 inches high in most spots.
That means we did A LOT of pre-cutting before putting the tiles on.
A wet saw can be used to make all of these cuts. I found the saw a little intimidating, but after a few practice cuts, it was very easy to use. We borrowed a friend’s saw, but again these can be rented or purchased from your local hardware store.
After covering the counters, pre cutting our sheets and removing any pieces that might have broken it was time to mix the mortar. Per the mortar-mixing instructions, once it was mixed, you had about 25 minutes to use it before it is too dry. For that reason alone, it is very important to have all of your pieces pre-cut and laid out.
Wade and I choose to mix our own mortar although pre-mixed is an option, a much faster option. Like anything, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. This being our first time mixing mortar, it took us about 20 minutes to get the correct consistency. I had read that the consistency should be similar to that of peanut butter. First, we put water in the bucket and then added the mortar powder. There isn’t an exact recipe for this only because it depends upon how big of an area you are working on and how fast you work.
We started with about a quart of water and then added around eight cups of powder. From there it was a process of adding more powder and mixing, adding more powder and mixing. One thing we both agreed upon is that a little water goes a long way when mixing your own mortar.
Before applying the mortar we had to make sure the walls were free from dirt, dust and grease. Then we used a plastic spatula (you could use a trowel) to generously apply the mortar to the wall. Another clue I read about consistency, when you put the mortar on the trowel, it will not fall off. But if you gently shake the trowel, it will.
As I took the grooved edge of the trowel and passed over the mortar, the spaces in the edge of the trowel left the proper amount of mortar on the wall. Any excess mortar was left on the trowel. If I didn’t use it, I scraped it off and put it back into the bucket. When purchasing your trowel, be sure to ask a qualified salesperson as to what size of “groove” you would need for the type of job you are doing.
Although tiles come on a webbed sheet backing, (don’t remove your tiles from this webbing) we made sure to gently press each individual tile into the mortar to make sure it had adhered to the wall. If you have excess mortar squish between the tiles, you will need to wipe this off with a damp rag. Also be sure to wipe off all mortar that might be on front of the tiles.
Let me stop here for a second and point out that our tile sheets not only had the webbing behind them, but also a piece of thin plastic so one sheet didn’t scratch another when packed in the box. We missed removing the plastic on one of the sheets and that was a big mistake. The area had to have new mortar applied and grooved. Pain in the butt.
The application process is repeated until…well until you are done, out of mortar or tired. We hit tired. This is not a quick DIY. We wrapped everything up around 4:45pm. So factoring in a fifteen-minute lunch, it took us roughly five hours to tile ten square feet, which for us was about half way done.
So here we sit as of last night.
Tomorrow we will continue around the corner and then onto sealing, and grouting and sealing.
It’s gonna be a fun week!
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | May 23, 2016 | DIY
Last week we received a follow-up call from the landscape contractor about our outdoor living space. (This is where I first mentioned that project).
The small city that we live in has a regulation that only 25% of your property can be hardscaped.
Hardscape refers to hard landscape materials in the built environment as opposed to softscape, the horticultural elements of a landscape. This can include paved areas, driveways or retaining walls. It can include materials such as stone, concrete, etc.
Currently we are at 25%, which means we cannot add on a larger seating area, fireplace or pergola.
Oh wait, that’s not true! We can if we present our plan to the city council and then beg, OR we can rip out the cement driveway OR we can tear up everything we currently have and start over.
Ugh.
The area we have is fine and wonderful so as of today we are going to drop that project and maybe re-visit the idea some day in the future.
All I can do is take a big disappointing breath and move on to the next project on the wish list.
Luckily, I am equally excited about this next project.
Drumroll please…….A new backsplash in the kitchen!
Did you even know that our current backsplash is painted? Someone with a lot of talent painstakingly created this.
But is has run its course. There are spots and areas that will no longer clean up nicely. And when I say they don’t clean up, I mean they are really bad.
Cleaning is not my greatest strength. Oh who and I kidding, it’s not even in my Top 10. I can overlook, and flat-out ignore small spots and stains, but even for me this backsplash is past its prime.
Something needed to be done, so where else does one go if they are looking to tile their backsplash?
The Tile Stop.
This is where God presented me with a gift from Heaven.
He calls himself Chub.
Knowing very little about tile, Chub was a wealth of information. Not to mention a great listener and a patient man.
Like all of my projects, I have a vision. But I depend on others sometimes to make my vision a reality.
I described my vision to Chub and we talked though what my current cabinets and counters looked like. Thank goodness I could refer to the Home Tour 2015 pictures so he could totally envision the area.
After walking basically through the entire store (I told you he was patient), these were the first two sets of samples I brought home.
I quickly eliminated the sample on the left. It was too light and didn’t “add” anything to the kitchen. The other sample is a quartzite stone also in a brick pattern. Each and every brick has a different look and feel. And if I don’t like a particular brick, I can replace it with one from another sheet.
I think this might be “the one”. Stay tuned.
Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Jan 11, 2017 | DIY
Not only did we tile the desk backsplash while Wade had some time off from work, but we also upgraded our bedroom closet.
By definition alone, upgrade as a verb means that you,
raise (something) to a higher standard, improve by adding or replacing components
And that is exactly what we did. There was nothing wrong with the bedroom closet . The organizational shelving was already in place when we purchased our house, but it needed to be “cuter”.
As long as I am being all Webster’s Dictionary today, I asked Siri if cuter was a word and it is not. But Wikipedia gave a definition so I am using it. 🙂
Moving on….
There isn’t a defined entrance to our closet. Technically I guess it would be called a walk-in, but you have to walk past the double vanity, the shower and the toilet room to finally reach it. There is no door, just a big open space.
This is the before picture of the cubbies in the closet that we upgraded.
Like I said, it looked fine, but it was always jumbled. To make it look more uniform and organized, I wanted new containers besides the awkward variety of clear plastic ones I had been using.
While Samantha and I took a quick trip to sunny Texas for the weekend to visit my parents, Wade shopped at Lowes, Target, Walmart and Menards for the perfect containers.
He didn’t find them and when he did find something he liked, there weren’t enough of them or they were a bit pricey.
Now, I know that I recently shared with you our new ottoman and how much I loved the At Home store, but I went to Ikea to look for containers this time. Besides, it was Tuesday and I was taking some friends to the airport anyway (which is about 3 miles away from Ikea) so why pass up the chance.
Total side note: If you have an Ikea in your area, go on a Tuesday between snowstorms. There is no one there! They only had two checkout lines open and it still only took me 5 minutes to purchase my things.
Amazing.
Okay, back to the point of this post. I found these perfectly sized, sturdy neutral baskets.
The smaller ones on the bottom shelves were $8.99 and the taller ones were $14.99. That catapults the closet into the cuter category for about $100.
Better?
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Dec 21, 2016 | Life
Are you ready for Christmas? If you are like me, you are close to ready, but you still have those last-minute run around things that need to be finished.
So in the spirit of the giving, I would like to give you a short break from all of your last-minute running around and share four of my favorite before and afters.
Number one: An updated bedroom
Number two: Adding a wall of shiplap using wallpaper
Number three: Updating the staircase
Number four: The kitchen backsplash
Thanks for stopping by!
~Wendy
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