Kitchen Redo Pt 2, the Backsplash

One of the projects we took on to prep our mother-in-law's condo for selling was to put a glass tile backsplash in her kitchen.  We started by removing all the outlet covers and laying down brown paper to protect her countertops, as tiling is a messy business.

Admittedly, my hubby did the most of the tile laying.  I couldn't let him have all the fun, though, and actually put up a couple of tiles myself.

The blank area above the stove is where the new rangehood will go. After all the tiling was put up, Dave started tiling the floor in the smaller bathroom, the one with the yellow 1980s laminate flooring. I did the grouting in the kitchen. This involved smearing gritty mud-like mortar over the tiles, a small section at a time, using a rubber float to push the goop into all the grooves.  Then you need to wipe all the mortar off the tiles while leaving it in the joints between, going over the tiles several times to wipe off as much as possible before it dries.  This took me almost five hours, but I'm proud of it.

One of my jobs in assisting Dave putting up the tile was cutting the little glass pieces to fill in around the electrical plugs and line up in the corners and edges. There's a tool they make especially for cutting glass tiles, go ahead and invest the $13 they want for it at Home Depot, it makes the job much easier. BTW, you have to pull all the plug and light outlets out of the wall and get extenders to raise the outlets over the tiles. Turn off that electricity first.

With the covers back on, it looks practically professional.

A small area of the finished product.  I'll include the entire kitchen with new counters and backsplash in another post.

Most of my time and energy lately have been divided between helping fixing up the condo and attending to my mother-in-law, who is now residing in an assisted living facility.  It's amazing how the summer has flown away.  We are almost complete with her condo, though, and looking forward to beginning our own. 

Kitchen Counter Redo - Pt 1

My husband has been working on getting his mom's house ready to put on the market.  One of the projects he has completed is refacing her kitchen counter tops.  They were a very undistinguished off white standard builders grade laminate.  He used the Giani granite look countertop paint, which we've gotten to refinish our old but still functional bathroom counter.  The kit comes with everything you need, and involves putting on a black primer, then sponge painting on a series of paints to achieve the look of granite, and finishing up with a couple coats of polyurethane finish.

Here is the original countertop, taped off and ready to be primed.

Even putting the primer on gives it more presence, I thought.

You need to work in sections, so the three colors you are dabbing on have a chance to blend naturally.  That stove will be replaced, not only is it outdated, half of the burners don't work.

Here is a good section of the finished color.  Putting on the polyurethane afterward really gives it a nice shine, and of course protection.  He finished by replacing her kitchen faucet, doing a much better job than the 'professional' which had replaced her last faucet just a few years ago. The 'almost-new' faucet was leaking badly from the handles.

I do not know why I don't have a complete picture of the finished countertops, as this was completed several weeks ago.  Since his mom was still living there, he needed to complete this as quickly as possible. We do need to either paint the walls or put on the mosiac tile which he wants to do.  We already have the tile purchased, the hold up is in contemplating how to install it around the electrical plugins and light fixtures.  I'm pushing to forget the tiling for expediency sake and paint the walls a nice taupe color to match the new countertops.

I'll post the finished pictures soon, hopefully we'll have the walls done and maybe even have the new stove installed as well.

Take care, and everyone have a glorious 4th of July!

Jane

Happy Mother's Day

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day.  I am intending to spend mine in contemplation of the time I have shared with my beautiful daughters, who are fast becoming grown women.  I am so proud of them both.  Raising children takes more effort and energy and pure dedication than you ever comprehend when you first have those little bundles of love, but it's one of the greatest things you can do in life.  To repeat my sister, 'I like the way they turned out.'

My darling family got me a new camera for Christmas, and I knew there must be some way to make those photos less underexposed than what I'd been able to do.  Five months after I received it, I finally come across the button setting for 'lightness'.  Admittedly, I wasn't doing much research on it, the find was more a mistake than anything else.  Since I had my afternoon free this beautiful spring day, I worked with that setting, and am happy with the better quality of my photos.  Now my pictures of my new plantings on my patio actually bring out some detail.

The paint job on my little bird is fading out, but he is still very cheerful amid the colors in my hanging basket.

I tell myself I'm not into cherubs, but I do have my little gardening angels.  This sweet thing is just one of those small resin statues plucked off the shelf of a local chain drug store during a half price sale.  Doesn't she look happy to be here?  I'm happy she's here, too.

Have a blessed weekend!

Jane