My New Kitchen

One of the things I really wanted when we built the house was was a back splash in the kitchen. During the building process we looked all over for the right back splash, until I decided on this one online. When it came in I debated for days on whether I liked it...this is the hard thing about buying some stuff online. I finally decided I didn't really like it and didn't think it would look good in the kitchen.

Well, money ran out and I didn't get my back splash...which I was really disappointed about, but what can you do?

Recently, we had gone to Lowes looking at the tiles that they had and picked up a sample and brought it home with us to see if it fit. Giving it some thought, I decided I didn't like it either, but wanted to re look at the one we already purchased. After much consideration I thought it would look great...plus we already had it!

We looked into hiring someone to install the tiles, but it would cost around $400. I had heard that it was an easy project and my sister Liz knows how to do it so I called her to come and do it for us. Unfortunately, she couldn't fit me in when I needed but offered suggestions for us. Thomas felt confident that he could do the project. This project would get completed over the Thanksgiving holiday. Time to put Thomas to work...and KG too!

The process would be a multi-day process. First, we would have to prep the area. The guys would need to lay out the sheets of tiles and cut out the unneeded pieces for the outlets and such (this was the hardest thing according to Thomas). Second, we would need to use the mastic tile adhesive in the area. This is the glue that will hold the tiles to the wall. This was a little grueling to get into the tight areas. After putting the mastic on the wall the guys had to carefully place the sheets on the wall, making sure the lines lined up and all. This would have to dry for about 8 hours.

The guys were back to work early the next morning where. Today would be grouting day. This was a delicate process, you cover the tiles in the grout and have to shove it in the cracks between each little tile. After doing this you use sponges and wipe off the excess grout off the tiles...this has to be done numerous times. At some point the majority of excess grout is off but there is still a film on the tile so we took a dry paper towel to get this off.

In all, the process wasn't all that difficult. I helped a little, but the guys did a majority of the work and they did a great job for being their first time! Wow, my husband and KG did awesome!