Home Improvement Today?

The herringbone I drew isn't to scale but it would match the herringbone I did on the other wall of the kitchen. With that said, I don't want it to feel like a bathroom and I associate that thin metal trim as bathroom edging. I did buy a strip that would work as I was originally going to do some in brushed aluminum but holding a small cut off of it on the wall with the tile, I didn't like it as it didn't compliment the color of the cabinets and I am aware of the thin white edging. I then found those bull nose edge pieces and I liked that edge profile much more so I went with that over the metal banding.

-J

 

I understand that, how about tile? Could you purchase the same finish and color tile but larger dimensions? Maybe too bathroom like again but in a few cases instead of continuing patterns into a niche or window open, I will use like 1 or 2 like pieces on the bottom.. less grout joints to clean, but also it may be easier to miter the whole thing.. sorry I use a lot of schluter

 

That seems like a nightmare with all the grout lines and kind of turns the project into a mosaic with all the little pieces. I think you've got too much going on with that pattern. I would've picked a simple horizontal subway tile pattern instead. I like the 3x5 idea in the window sill though.


This was already done by the previous owners, but it gives you an idea. I'm not sure why they didn't run the 3x3 travertine in a diagonal on the inner window, but it is what it is. I took a bunch of pictures for reference to use on the next house.

 

definitely option A for the edge-finish option.

as far as how to finish out the window, the OCD option would continue the diagonal pattern within the window inset. but yes, that's really more of a mosaic project than it is tiling at that point.

but personally, and considering that you use the inset for plant and plant related items, i would put a strong preference towards easy clean-up for inevitable dirt/grime/water spills, which would make a large format tile or granite piece with the least grout joints as possible a better option. it's quite popular right now to install the granite sills on kitchen windows, which i think ties in the window to the rest of the kitchen, but takes a lot more work because the drywall at the bottom of the sill needs to be stripped out.

could also combine the idea's, and go with a large format sill plate tile/granite section, and then do only diagonal tiles on the sides.
this would be my personal preference.

 

the benefits of having a welder...

apparently 30 years ago, there was a neighbor dispute over one of now-my fence sections. the old neighbor didn't like it connecting to HIS fence, so he came over and tore it out. been just an opening ever since. being that my dog likes to run, i needed to contain him.

so $50 in fence 'top rail', $25 in gate hardware, some cutting, grinding, welding and some free fence from a farmer friend, and i now have a gate.

 

I also suggested something along these lines

 

and this is why it's sometimes best to allow management to decide the best course of action. you'll still be wrong when it doesn't work later for following through, but management has to admit failure as well, which generally leaves leeway later on in future projects.

 

Grabbed 4x4 posts and concrete for the impending outdoor shower. Days like today it will be nice to shower off outside before coming in. 95degrees f and 53% humidity.

 

Took all day but got my first coat of paint on the cabinet faces. It’ll be too late to put the second coat on tonight so it’ll have to wait till after work tomorrow. That and the front of the doors need a light sanding then the final coat.

 

you didn't have any bleed through issues so far with the old darker color? many times updating to a lighter color introduces tons of problems.

 

Nope. Though I did a bit of extra prep steps.

Clean and degreased
Deflossed,
Sanded with 120 the 180 grit
Primed with Sherwin Williams extreme bond
Sanded with 180
Primed again and Sanded with 220 or 240
Painted and sanded with 500 grit pad
Second and final coat of paint.

Such a pain in the ass but so far looks good. This was before I started back at it today. I had to take a few day break so put the doors back on till I was ready.

 

I do like the thin pencil tile which I tried to find before I came across that bull nose. If I can find a plain white pencil with glazing on the side, I'll go that route. Since I already "finished" one wall with the bull nose, I'd like to continue that edge detail in some form. I did see a half round pencil tile but I wasn't sure how well it would hold up to being knocked since, as you can see in my photos, the wife uses that sill for plants and plant based activities. I want to say that the grout color is a light to medium gray sanded so my thinking is if I kept up with the sealer, it should be easier to keep clean.

See, it looks like the tile in these photos are completely encompassed (surrounded?) with texture. Is that a stone tile? The subway tile I'm using is only glazed on the top exposed face leaving the sides of the tile in some color that is similar to terracotta orange. If I was to overlay one tile over another, in both configurations I would see the unfinished tile because of the cuts. Whether I lay the sill tiles first then overlay the wall tiles or lay the wall tiles first then lay the sill tiles as you have pictured, that edge of the tile will be orange. My issue with that option is how to hide that corner transition? I'll try to take a scrap cutoff and show you what I'm talking about in a future post. I thought about making it stupid difficult on me by mitering all the corners but with that tile, I'd be worried about both chipping and getting a razor edge on the corner detail. Maybe I could build up a lip of grout (or that silicone grout colorized to match). The wife wanted a herringbone pattern despite my best efforts to sway her into an easier to lay pattern. Nope, it had to be white subway tile herringbone. What's the saying? A happy wife makes a happy life.

I'm kicking myself for not replacing the countertops with stone but it was out of my budget even with the cheapest option and that included putting in a little stone sill in the window. It would've come with a new sink and the whole nine yards. Matching the current laminate of the countertops would be impossible at this point but I could construct a window sill out of wood but then it gets into the neighborhood of encasing the whole window in a sort of drop in encasement. If I remember correctly when I measured it, it was 36". I am only aware of 24" large format tiles. I could center the large tile in the sill and use the cutoffs closer to the sides.


Thank you all for your suggestions, the reason that this is so important for me is because it's going to be right there at the sink/window and we spend most of our kitchen time in that spot so I dont want to mess it up. I'm a tile novice and a tile backsplash virgin.

-J

 

i think you have a pretty good plan.. here’s one more wrench to through in your equation, bullnose schluter metal…..

Also if you get diamond polishing/sanding discs you can make miter look good if you wanted to eliminate border or metal… here’s a little mitered corner because the countertop was ill fitting around the bullnose of the drywall..

$26 4" Diamond Polishing Pads, 12PCS Wet/Dry Granite Stone 50-6000 Grit for Drill, Grinder, Polisher - For Concrete Marble Stone Countertop Quartz

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XYYP4XV
(Here’s an example of sanding/polishing disc, cheap version.. I usually use pearl myself)

 

Do you think that the polishing disk wouldn't take too much of the glazing off the tile? That's the last thing I want is to pop out tiles that had their ceramic exposed through the glazing.

-J

 

So uhhhh when you coming to PA and helping me do mine? I need to do a new backsplash as well.

 

Work I do that I’m ok with is probably not the same anyone else would be ok with

I’ll lend you the HVLP sprayer. That thing works pretty great for a cheap Amazon buy.

 

no sir! Although I’m not sure if we thinking the same about how to use it, typically use to go back over a cut to reduce chipping, or depending the tile I will re roll to give a factory like appearance, then also you can get aggressive enough to shape miters to a very clean line.. how about a tile blade for a grinder? If you were going to miter these tools help tons rather than trying on a saw..

Here’s that mitered corner midway through, there is a few small chips if you really pick it apart but nothing grout won’t hide..

with a bit of practice you can do extremely small details (return pieces below)

this little guy was all grinder blade/ similar sanding/polishing disc.. no saw at all

 

lol i bought the aluminum ties that most people use, but figured 120 pound-rated zipties are far more durable and stronger.

 

Finished my kitchen project-

top/before
Bottom/after