Home Improvments

 To take you back a little, we moved into our house almost two years ago (August 8th to be exact). It was a brand new construction. We had no say in the actual construction of it, but we are the first people to live and own the house. Everything was a clean slate, so to speak. There is nothing but primer on the walls and we had to buy the basics: bathroom fixtures (toilet paper and towel holders), door stoppers, blinds, and closet organizers (it's kind of crazy the things that you take for granted in already lived in homes). It's taken this long for us to make as many of the room changes as we have. Both of the girls bedrooms are painted along with two bathrooms, and that's it. Well, that was it until last weekend (yay!!).
  The Hubby and I (mostly the Hubby) added a back splash to our kitchen and we painted. I always have ideas as to how I want my house to look but I can never seem to be able to fully explain it, so this is were Pinterest becomes my BFF. After all my hours of mindless pinning (mostly the hours when I'm lying in bed and should be sleeping, you know what I'm talking about) I was able to find a back splash idea that I thought would go well with our counter tops and I was able to find the paint that I wanted. The paint was the worst part, we have an open floor plan with no wall dividers. So the paint has to literally be the whole downstairs with the exception of the girls playroom and our foyer.
  We bought everything we needed from Lowes. They are just very convenient to our house and always seem to have exactly what we need. Our back splash is by American Olean in the model/pattern Chateau Emperador.
     Here's a before picture of our kitchen area and during the process (please don't mind the lack of professional pictures and the mess):
 

Before

laying out the back splash

Hubby putting up the first pieces

First side up 

Next part

Hubby cleaning up (pots on the stove because we had to make lunch during the middle of this)

Finally all up

 Between the cutting, putting up the tile, cleaning, grouting, and caulking, it took us about 4 days to complete. We still need to put the grout sealant on and than it will finally be done, but that's just a spray that takes a few seconds. There was a lot that went into this, but to be honest it wasn't as hard as I was expecting it to be (ask my Hubby and he'd probably beg to differ- poor guy is still picking glass out of his hands). There was a lot of little glass pieces from the cutting of the tiles, so we had to do LOTS of vacuuming and cleaning after Hubby was done. I made sure the inside of the house was as clean as could be before letting either of the girls walk/crawl in the kitchen area or the hallway to our garage. Hubby cleaned up great in the garage, but the pieces were so tinny that a small one got into my crocks and I cut my toe later that night. So if you happen to take on a project like this yourself, be prepared for lots of tiny glass pieces (and move all shoes away from the area). 

As for painting, I picked out Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter. Lowes doesn't carry Benjamin Moore but they do paint match and I think they did a fantastic job! Here are some progress pictures of painting. I started in our entry way from the garage and worked my way into the kitchen away. I'm still not done painting but I plain to be sooner than later.

Painting the trim

    The Hubby and I knocked this (^^) portion out in less than a half hour. Zoe was down for a nap and Lilly helped a little. I finished around the cabinets and behind the fridge later that night when both girls were in bed. There's actually still a spot above the fridge that I have to get to, somehow. My arms just won't reach and trying not to get it on the ceiling is a little difficult.

And now, the finished kitchen:

With the back splash done and the painting done (almost) I am in LOVE with the space. I feel like the back splash alone transformed the whole area. I'm not done with the "little' touches. I want to get rid of a few things on the counters and add different things but for now its what I've got. I love my new message board and baskets (its on the left side of the first after picture). I got both at Target and there is a cartwheel offer for 15% off wall art. I made the mistake of not using the coupon when I bought the message board, I didn't think I had a coupon. I scanned it for the heck of it when I went back and bought the baskets and it worked. So lesson learned, always scan your cartwheel no matter what.
   For now, the kitchen is probably my favorite place in our house. So silly, I know. But being a military family we move around a lot. We have always lived in apartments and military housing. You can paint and make those places feel "homey" but you always have to paint it back to the basic white when you move and honestly, who's got time for that? So to have even just added paint to a portion of the house that is most lived in, makes such a difference. It feels warm, cozy, and homey. It feels like ours. And that's probably one of the best feeling when it comes to your home.
  Once the rest of the living area is done I'll post update pictures. I hope you liked the transformation. If you have any questions about the processes of the back splash just let me know. I'll do my best to answer them (in reality I'll bug the crap out of Hubby to get you your answer).
Thanks for stopping by!

  XO,
  Nikki