The Backsplash Not Traveled (or, building a tile consensus)

About this time last year, our kitchen still somewhat of a construction zone, my husband and I volunteered to host Thanksgiving dinner. For 25 people.

We went into overdrive, putting drawers in the new pantry cabinet, putting kitchen items back in their rightful places after weeks of living in shelves in the dining and rec rooms. At some point, we switched into "as long as it looks good" mode. For instance, the trim on the top of the cabinets was not attached. Nor did we bother to do the part of it you couldn't see from the breakfast bar. Same goes for toe kick, bit of baseboard here and there, under cabinet lighting...while everyone oohed and aahed on the big holiday reveal, there was a lot of smoke and mirrors.

Which was fine. We knew we'd get to it "one day." Flash foward about 365 "one days" later and we realized it was time to admit we needed to call in our favorite handyman to finish the job for us. Plus, it turns out some of the money we saved on building cabinets unfortunately was needed for back surgery on my husband this spring. His days of heavy lifting are in the past. We may have overdone the DIY.

Ok, so our guy is scheduled. And his prices are so reasonable we can afford to have him do the backsplash while he's at it. Awesome, right? Except now I'm back to what feel like MAJOR KITCHEN DECISIONS. We worked so hard--like, husband slipped a disc hard--to get the kitchen to where it is today, I want to pick just the right tile. Within budget. That will not turn off sellers a few years down the road. I'm kind of in love with Twilight in Fiji from Floor & Decor:

All shimmery glass and the glass stick tile you see EVERYWHERE these days. But, at $17.99/sheet, it's a little spendy for me. And, hubs doesn't love it. (Or, he's smart enough to pretend to not like the most expensive choice.) I'm also digging on marble, it makes me think of old NYC apartments:

But, again, no consensus there. At $10.99/sheet, it's the middle ground, price-wise.

 Looks like we may compromise on the white porcelain Arabesque Lantern:

Pros: CHEAP, $3.79/sheet. White is elegant and classic; it also looks fresh against the Lidingo gray and will match our farmhouse sink. I love the Morrocan-flavored shape; it's exotic, but the finish and color mean it should still have mass appeal.
Cons: I'd secretly always pictured marble or some pop of color. I worry it will be too plain. Glass is very on trend, and I don't want to hurt resale or just wish I had something "fancier."

I guess I do like it, and think with light gray grout, it may be beautiful. And when I see similiar examples online, I love them:

Decor Pad | Utah Valley Parade of Homes

Guess I'm just fixated on the glass- or marble-road not traveled. I know, first world problems. If we go with the cheapest option, I'll donate some of the savings to things that actually matter. Sigh.

Kitchen Post-Wall: The Open Look

One day, I really was going to go back and detail the full process of how we turned our cramped 1970s kitchen into our favorite spot in the house. But, as I come up on a year since the project started, it's time to admit that it ain't gonna happen. Besides, all people really want are pictures of the good stuff right? So here goes, starting with when we had a wall between the living room and kitchen, and when we didn't...

The "nook" in the foyer (below) is the old entrance to the kitchen, which is now moved down to the other side of the breakfast bar. It solved a flooring problem, namely that tile had been run past the end of the foyer...now we've incorporated that section into of the foyer. Also, it gave me something I've always wanted: space for a storage bench in my entryway. 

On the kitchen side, the fridge backs up to the nook, recessed so as not to block window sight lines. I opted to put my Hoosier in this corner, rather than add more cabinets. I worked hard on that baby, and love that we fit it into the reno (and saved $$ by doing so!). 

For the fun of it, here's one during. See more pictures of the de-construction here.

The day this opened up, I sat on my couch with a glass of wine and just stared at this opening for like an hour. Partly marveling at how much that beam of wood added to the renovation costs (see the budget breakdown), but mostly at how drasticly the feeling of my home changed pretty much overnight. Ok, more pretty after "after" pictures to come.

Knobs! Mismatched Matching

Because I planned to change blogging platforms, I've put off blogging about our Ikea kitchen remodel. Unless you count posts composed in my head. There are like 30 of those.

Anyway, as a result, I still plan to chronicle our DIY remodeling adventures, but it will now be out of order and a bit willy nilly. So, let's start near the end with cabinet hardware. I'd set a low budget ($70) for this considering that we need 12 pulls, 16 knobs and 6 appliance pulls. It meant scouring for deals and some creativity.

I'd picked up this pull and knob set for $4 at a yard sale over the summer, originally for another project, but ended up not using them. While the knobs were a little flowerly, I decided that, for my budget, I could learn to love the cup pulls. The catch was trying to find knobs that would match. Until I thought of a much better idea. NOT matching.

Especially since I was shopping on Amazon and Ebay looking for deals, it was impossible to determine if I'd end up ordering something that would prove useless. Glass became the work around. Last night I ordered 18 of the oval glass knobs pictured at right. For...drum roll...$2.35 each, on Ebay. This is a savings of several dollars per knob, compared to retail prices. With shipping + yard sale pulls, that brings me to about $53 total on cabinet hardware. And I have faith that I'll find those last few appliance pulls at a yard sale this weekend. Stranger things have happened.

At least some parts of this project are coming in under budget. Finally!