Category Archives: Kitchen

The favorite area of the house for many, including myself, that’s why I’ve made it a point to make it a comfortable and pleasant place to be in. On this section, I show you the different kitchen improvement projects I’ve completed, from new flooring to lighting and everything in between. Enjoy!

Installing a Mosaic and Subway tile Kitchen Backsplash

Showing you how to install a mosaic kitchen backsplash

First mosaic tile piece in place

A Mosaic and Subway tile Kitchen Backsplash? Absolutely! They’re not as common as all mosaic or all subway tile ones, but we believe they look amazing! So when we chose the materials for our kitchen backsplash, we did not go all mosaic or all subway tile, we decided on a combination of both, and the result was this Mosaic and Subway tile kitchen backsplash.

There are several reasons why we made this decision. First of all, an all mosaic tile backsplash was going to end up costing us a small fortune, not because there were not reasonable priced alternatives, but because, the ones we really liked happened to be the most expensive ones (why does it always have to be that way? I don’t know).

On the other hand, an all subway tile kitchen backsplash looked kind of boring to us. Not that they don’t look nice, but we wanted to go with a nicer, and perhaps, more original idea.

Continue reading →

Wall Preparation for a tile Backsplash (No Sanding)

Preparing to install new kitchen backsplash

Kitchen walls as they looked after installing the countertops

Tired of looking at it, and thinking about how ugly it looked (after removing the old tile and installing the White Quartz countertops) it was time to work on the kitchen’s wall preparation for a tile backsplash.

If you’ve ever looked into it, you’ve most likely come across different techniques to prepare a wall for a tile backsplash. Most, if not all of them recommend some, perhaps unnecessary and messy, sanding.

I’m not saying that sanding is never required. In some cases, especially if you’ve patched any holes or other imperfections, it definitely helps level the wall’s surface, however, I would dare to say, that in the vast majority of cases, it is not necessary.

What you need, though, is to roughen the wall’s surface so the tile adhesive has something to grab onto.

Continue reading →

Upgrading from Laminate to White Quartz Kitchen Countertops

New Quartz Countertops - Celeste (White)

New (Celeste) White Quartz Kitchen Countertops

Moving on with the kitchen improvements, and with the Travertine tile flooring installation out of the way, my wife and I chose, ordered and got new White Quartz Kitchen Countertops installed.

Just like the last time, when working on the previous kitchen upgrade, this countertop installation was planned weeks in advance.

It takes a long time to choose between all the beautiful stones available, get quotes, place the order, get templates, and have the stone cut and the countertops ready for installation, all in all, it took about a month from the day we placed the order to the day we had them installed.

Continue reading →

Improving the Kitchen: Laying Travertine Tile Flooring

New kitchen brick pattern Travertine flooring

Up until this point, I had neglected (if you can call it that way) some areas of the house, the kitchen was one of them.

It is not that it was not important to me, actually, it is very important, because of this house’s open floor plan, the kitchen is visible to all visitors as soon as they walk in. However, as always in life, some things take priority and that’s why I completed a whole bunch of projects outside, in the laundry room, the garage, and the bathrooms, just to name a few before I was able to even look at it.

Once I was able to focus on the kitchen, as a first step, I decided to go ahead and remove the existing vinyl flooring, so I could then start laying Travertine tile. The same type I had already installed in the bathroom floors.

This may sound kind of crazy for those of you not in the US, however, over here, it is very common for builders to install the same type of flooring in different rooms, usually, the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry rooms, and the same carpet in all bedrooms (cheaper?).

Continue reading →

My DIY Kitchen Remodeling Project – Part 2

DIY kitchen remodeling project completed

The new kitchen!

This post is a continuation of My DIY Kitchen Remodeling Project – Part 1.

As you learned on it, this kitchen remodeling project was basically a multi-project in which I pretty much used almost every skill I had learned on previous projects until then. On top of it, it also allowed me to learn a few new ones, like some basic carpentry and cabinet work and some electrical work.

As of the end of Part 1, I had removed some laminate and vinyl flooring, replaced it with new porcelain tile flooring, upgraded the lighting by replacing a fluorescent light fixture with some recessed lights, and custom built a new kitchen island using cabinets from Lowes.

It was time to move on to the next task!

Continue reading →

My DIY Kitchen Remodeling Project – Part 1

Builder grade kitchen, before starting my DIY kitchen remodeling project

Very builder grade kitchen

Having already completed a few projects in the garage, backyard, bathrooms and laundry room, I felt so empowered by the results and what I had been able to learn and accomplish that I decided to embark on the most ambitious of all my projects, to date, a DIY kitchen remodeling project.

This was basically a multi-project in which not only I was able to use pretty much everything I had learned so far with the other projects, but also learned about how to do many other things I had not done before.

Continue reading →