Honeymoon? Not yet. We took a pre-honeymoon four days following our nuptials. We exchanged vows in Northern Michigan at a beautiful estate winery. Our family and friends headed back the day after the wedding, and Justin and I hung out and enjoyed the area (er... fell asleep at 8pm) for an extra few days. We will be jumping on a plane and heading east to Italy for two weeks in March for our much awaited 'moon. If you are looking for a sneak peek of photos from our big day, you can jump on over to our photographer's blog.
Our kitchen has come a long way since I last shared it way back in, oh...June! Whoa.. sorry for the break folks. I have a coworker in Chicago (at my paying job) who reminds me frequently that I suck at blogging about progress. I can't argue with that.
First off, we put the cabinet doors back on (long ago, I promise).
(I still have some paint touch-ups... clearly).
And we finally made a decision for our backsplash (remember, when I shared our thoughts back here). If you know me, you probably could have guessed what direction I would go. I like to play it safe, and although hex tile would add some great pattern, I was afraid I'd tire of it over time. So subway it is.
Justin spent 4 days golfing (that's right, golf widow right here), and I wanted to surprise him with a finished backsplash when he got home.
This little project was really affordable for marble ($196 in materials)! But installation was a PAIN. For one, I chose 3x6 individual marble tiles. I used 12"x12" sheets of 2"x4" subway tile in my last house, and installation was a breeze! Not so much this time around.
Secondly, I didn't have many long runs of straight tile, so 75% of the tiles had to be specially cut using a tile saw. I was working with marble (a natural stone) which has fault lines that would cause a small cut to crumble to bits. I purchased a new saw blade, and this seemed to help some, but it still wasn't perfect.
I hired our friend to help me install the tile. He cut, I layered on the mastic and laid the tile. Working together with no breaks (I'm a slave driver...), it took over 10 hours to install the tile. I did the tile backsplash in my last house by myself and finished in about 8 hours... and there was more tile!
The grout went on quickly. We used 1/8" tile spacers and grouted with an unsanded white mixture.
It's been too long, so let's take a quick look back at where this ol' kitchen started.
A note about the tile I used in the kitchen. I purchased the Venatino Polished Marble from Lowe's and I overbought a ton. I'm so glad I did because I found a large variation in the undertones of the tile. They ranged from bright white, to gray, brown, and gold. I would lay out a few boxes of tiles, choose the ones I wanted then returned the tiles I didn't want (gold and bright white). It turned out great, but there was definitely some leg work that went into choosing a pattern before I installed the tile.
Standing ovation! Backs hurt and manicures are destroyed, but you did it yourself.
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