Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Tweet Chirp Squawk

What do the birds outside my window and I have in common? We are both nesting like crazy! Seriously, this nesting has taken on epic proportions.

I have been painting my kitchen back splash in my spare time. Though I've never liked the back splash, I've put up with it for 4 years. Most of the time, I don't even notice it. It's cream-colored tumbled limestone, set with cream-colored grout, and is just kind of there.

But getting our appliances replaced has triggered something in my pregnant brain and now the tiles are intolerable! The atrocity that is our back splash can not be allowed to remain in our kitchen.

So, I'm painting it. And not like you'd see if you were to Google, oh, I don't know, "paint porous stone tile." Those people had the good sense to use a roller and latex paint and do it all in one go. But, I, I hate taking the easy way out.

Instead, I am using a mini foam brush, some indoor/outdoor craft paint, and a watercolor brush, and I am painting each tile separately. Each tile is its own special unique snowflake of color (which, in all instances, will be some variation of the same brown paint with different amounts of water added to it). I am carefully avoiding the grout to allow for maximum contrast.

This means that I am having to stretch, squish and contort my pregnant self over the kitchen counters to get this done. I am doing it for short stretches at a time and it is taking me more than a week to finish, but so far I am happy with the results. The paint really allows you to see the pocks, cracks, and imperfections in the tile, which I think are beautiful. Also, it helps blend in the ornamental metal flower tile thingies that the previous owner put into the back splash. They now seem complimentary, rather than a stark juxtaposition with their cream surroundings.


This pic shows the painted tile on the bottom, the unpainted tile on the top (that's the paper towel holder hovering in front of it), and the ornamental metal flower tile thingy. 

Here's a pic of a section that I've completely finished. Most of our kitchen stuff, like containers etc., are white and completely disappeared into the back splash before. I'm really pleased with how they now stand out. Also, look at how the outlet cover now blends in!

I achieved the different colors by watering down the craft paint to varying degrees. Also, some tile just soak up the paint better than others. Check out this one.



Pretty cool, right? And it cost me about $8 for mini foam brushes and craft paint.

The new paint job mostly compliments the counters. Not perfectly, but I don't expect this to be a permanent fix. In the not-too-distant future we'll be painting the kitchen cabinets. The honey oak cabinets are another feature that I've never been fond of but am living with. When we paint those, we'll most likely replace the back splash. 

Anyway, operation update all the things is moving right along. We are buying a new toilet this week, the last bit we need to renovate our main bathroom, which is happening next week. Yay! Plumbing! Demo! Something sure to go horribly wrong! So exciting.


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