New Tile

The next project on our list was redoing the tile in the kitchen/dining room/entryway. While it was in pretty good shape, the tiles were small and gray and didn't match our warmer paint colors. Here's a picture before we painted the walls and removed the mirrored tiles on the back of the cabinets:

Last Wednesday I took the day off and Robert and I took a trip to Home Depot to rent some tools. It took about 3.5 hours to remove all the tiles.

Robert is amassing quite a collection of tools. He already had the ear protection, goggles and knee pads. He used the power tool to remove the tile and I followed behind, collecting the broken pieces in boxes and sweeping. It was dusty work. We had to use a chisel and mallet for some of the more stubborn pieces, but they generally came up easily. This is how it looked after we were done:

A friend's dad did the tiling the next week and Robert helped him, cutting nearly all the tile himself. It took 2.5 days total.
The kitchen:

Along the dining room:

The entryway:

We're really happy with how it turned out. Next we'll be saving up for wood laminate for the living and dining rooms.

Our New Home

As many of you know, we purchased a home in late November. Built in 1973, it has undergone a few facelifts since then, but definitely needed a little more TLC. At Robert's request, I am creating this blog to document the before-and-after process as we continue to renovate our nest.

Walls, Walls, Walls...

Pretty much the first thing we did was wash and paint most of the walls in our new place. (The two bathrooms are proving to be extra challenging, so we are leaving those as-is for now). Picking out paint colors was a conundrum. I like light colors, Robert likes darker colors. What would go best with the wood laminate floors we will put in later? So we compromised. Our paint colors don't fit neatly into the "Cottage Colors" spectrum or the "Arts and Crafts" vein--it's a mix. But overall, we are happy with how things turned out. Bedroom #1 Before and After

Bedroom #2 Before and After

Dining Room Before and After

Master Bedroom Before and After

Living Room Before and After

A few touchups later, and a gallon of bright white high gloss paint for the trim, we are well on our way. Next up, flooring!