Life as we go it

This is where we do dishes...

Our home is around 120 years old. When we moved into our house 4 1/2 years ago the kitchen was the one room that we said we'd like to re-do eventually. It was very functional the way it was (great appliances, plenty of storage space, heated floors, under cabinet lighting, etc.) but it just wasn't our style. It had orange textured ceramic floor tiles, late 80's-esk cupboards and counter tops and a Spanish-style back splash. It definitely did not mesh well with the style of a 120-year old house.

So around 2 1/2 years ago Matt & I took the plunge and started remodeling the kitchen! Matt & I and some family & friends did all of the demolition. We saved the appliances because they were totally fine and donated the cabinetry to our local Restore. We did all of the wall and trim painting ourselves. My uncle added more lighting in the ceiling and installed new cupboards. We splurged on custom granite counter tops from a place in Milwaukee and hired a local carpenter to install a new wood floor and legs on the kitchen island. Matt and his uncle installed new floor & window trim and window ledges. We hired another local carpenter to make custom open shelving in two areas. As for the decorating, that has been a long process done by me. Some day I will show photos of the rest of the kitchen....

We finally got a new tile back splash installed last week. It's amazing how different the kitchen looks with a new back splash! It really pulls all of the elements of the room together and finishes it nicely.

We picked out a really simple, small subway tile. Our cabinetry and flooring is quite simple, yet our granite counter top is detailed, so we wanted something simple that wouldn't take away from the beauty of the granite. And we got the tile on super sale at Menards which makes it even sweeter!

Here are some before photos of our back splash area, without tile:

The grout we chose is called "Mushroom."