Lauren Alexander Designs

NEW WEBSITE

2020-12-19T06:00:00.003-08:00

please see www.Lauren-Mino.com for new updates!

CLARA'S NURSERY

2018-10-20T14:16:00.002-07:00

Clara just turned 7 months old, and I am just finally doing a nursery tour now! This is probably the only "complete" room in our house. I started designing this nursery as soon as I found out we were having a girl. Every time we finished one thing, I'd get another idea and it never felt complete!

The last piece on which I was waiting was her name sign which took a few months to get because it was a custom order. After that, I was waiting to take pictures until I researched how to actually properly use my camera, but life with a baby doesn't allow much extra time, so I still haven't gotten around to that! I also feel like her shelves still need some work as I'm too indecisive to properly style shelves, but considering Clara is already SEVEN months, I figured I better take some pictures before she goes to College - lol.

We thought her nursery was complete in January, but in February I decided to do up her closet about a month before she was born. The closet in this beautiful nursery and this nursery were my inspiration. We already had the IKEA billy book cases from our old house, so all we had to do was temporarily remove the mouldings in Clara's closet, paint the closet pink, and then add the bookcases and re-attach the mouldings (this makes the shelves look more "built in"). A few weeks later I added IKEA's Oxberg doors and some crystal door cabinet hardware from Lowes. The doors are perfect for hiding cases of diapers and wipes.

Here are a few photos of the nursery! I will include the sources at the bottom.

Nursery Sources

Wallpaper: Caitlin Wilson
Crib: Walmart
Chair: Wayfair
Pouf: The Cross
Rug: Wayfair
Crib Skirt: Restoration Hardware
Shelves: Walmart
Nightstand: IKEA
Lamp: Walmart
Vase: Walmart
Prayer Beads: The Cross
Pillows: Bouclair; Walmart
Name sign: Urban Playground Designs
Frames: IKEA; Minted
Flower Hooks: Michaels
Changing Pad: Bumbo
Hamper Basket: Walmart
Diaper Pail: Ubbi
Sound Machine: Skip Hop
Bookcases: IKEA

Thanks for reading!

WE MOVED IN OVERA A MONTH AGO!

2017-11-05T21:29:00.001-08:00

Eric and I have officially been in the house for over one month! Things have been insanely busy trying to get this place to feel more like a "home." Although our weekends have been booked solid with various personal events basically since we moved in, we've gotten a lot done in the last month and a bit. However, we've still got a lot to go! Looking forward to having next weekend free to hopefully do some painting!

Before I start posting updates on what we've done so far, here are a few photos of what the house looked like a few days before we moved in, when it was completely empty! It will certainly be interesting to look back at these photos once we get the house looking how we want it to look.

Entrance into our home

The Kitchen

Master Bedroom

Master Ensuite

Master Ensuite - tub

Main Bath

Main Bath - tub

The Nursery

Take care!!

2 MONTHS TO GO! PAINTED DRYWALL AND STAIR RAILINGS

2017-07-10T19:25:00.001-07:00

I received some somewhat exciting news last week. Our house is AHEAD of schedule, and we may end up getting the house sooner than September! I'm not holding my breath, but it's exciting that it's a possibility... Our builder will let us know next week if we can close early.

Anyhow, just a quick update today.. I stopped by our house again tonight and we have PAINTED walls and our stair rails have been installed :) Looks like we will get trim and flooring very shortly! Here's a few pictures:

Front of the house (View from Dining Room)

New stairs

Another view of the stairs

Upstairs

Upstairs Hall (View from Master Bedroom)

Countdown: 66 days (2 months and 3 days) and
46 days (1 month and 15 days) until our *proposed* new closing date ;)

Goodbye for now!

STARTING TO TAKE SHAPE - WE HAVE DRYWALL!

2017-06-28T19:28:00.005-07:00

We popped by the house again last night and were pleasantly surprised by lots of progress! To be honest, I really don't know why our house closing is delayed as everything seems to be moving at a good pace! The exterior is pretty much complete (minus a few trim pieces and the exterior paint) and the construction crew is almost finished with the drywall!

Now that the drywall is up, you can really see what each room will look like, and I have a feel for the layout of the home. Besides a few unwanted bulkeads (-.-) - haha - I am really loving our house!

Here's a few pictures of the progress to date.

Exterior - June 2017

The Study

Hall Closet

Dining Room

Living Room

Kitchen

Kitchen/Patio Door

Hallway/Stairs

Master Bedroom

Office

Future Kid's room

Guest Room

Guest Bathroom

Goodbye for now!

Countdown: 78 days (2 months and 16 days)

GETTING THERE! 85 DAYS

2017-06-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we are finally getting there! For a while there, it seemed like we were never going to pass the 3-month mark. The exterior is pretty close to being finished, and inside the home actually feels like a home! Our plumbing and electrical looks complete now, we are just waiting for our frame walk appointment to ensure everything is correct, and then they will begin drywalling, and the finally the fun things (finishings) will be installed.

Here's a few pics of the progress to date. Due to the great weather we've been having, I'm sure by the end of the week the shingles and siding will be complete.

Countdown: 85 days (2 months, 24 days)

Goodbye for now!

THE DREADED DELAY...

2017-05-28T19:29:00.002-07:00

Well, we seem to be going back in time (again). We've been delayed again... However, since this is our second delay, the new date we were given is firm! We will take possession of our home officially on September 14, 2017. Overall, the delay is not too extreme (3 weeks from our last tentative closing date, or 2 months after our original closing of July 2017). Considering some people have been delayed close to a year, I am happy with 2 months.

While it's inconvenient we have to be out of our current home by August 25, I'm happy we sold our house when we did, as houses are starting to drop in price, and some houses on my street/nearby streets are having a hard time selling. Moving all our belonging twice will be a lot of work, but we are thankful to at least have multiple options for where we can live for 3 weeks. And the good thing about pushing our move-in date until September is the weather will start to cool down so we won't need to invest in an air conditioner for almost a year!

Anyways, here's a photo of the house as of today. The newest update is doors and windows!

Countdown: 109 days (3 months and 16 days)

Talk to you later!

FRAMING COMPLETE

2017-05-14T19:59:00.005-07:00

Just a short update to today!

From the looks of it, our framing is now complete and the construction crew is now starting to focus on the interior of the home! It's a bit difficult to get inside the house with all the construction and security workers present (they don't like you running around the house for obvious safety reasons) but I took a quick peak in the house today... It's amazing to see our home finally taking form! It looks like their getting ready to start the ductwork soon, and we will be invited to do our "frame-walk" (where we confirm everything is in the right place and they've got all our upgrades correct). I'm super excited to do an actual walk through the entire house

Here's a few pictures of the recent progress!

View from the front window:

View from the front door:

Countdown: 102 days (3 months and 10 days)

PROGRESS, FINALLY! FRAMING HAS STARTED

2017-04-30T22:19:00.003-07:00

We were seriously doubting we would close by our new closing, as we just hit 4 months until close and there was still no progress on our home. However, the builder finally started the framing this past week! And they seem to be moving along really quickly. This was so exciting for us as our house is finally starting to look like a HOUSE!

I went by to see the house on Friday on my way home from work, and then for some reason thought I should go back on Saturday on my way home from a friend's house. I was surprised to see they actually made a lot of progress in just one day!

Below are some pictures of the current state of the house. I will try to resist posting again until all of the framing is done!

Friday:

Saturday:

Wednesday

Countdown: 115 days (3 months and 23 days)

Goodbye for now!

WE SOLD OUR TOWN HOME!!

2017-04-30T21:49:00.003-07:00

A lot has happened in the last month! A few weeks ago we found out our new home will be delayed until Aug 24, pushing back our closing date a month in a half! This was disappointing news of course but the silver lining is that we will now get to enjoy the entire summer in our *fenced* in backyard.

Due to the delay of our new home, we intended to wait until June to sell our current home.. However the idea of waiting was causing me a lot of stress! Especially with lots of recent intervention from the government to bring down the cost of housing. Ultimately, we decided to take a risk and go ahead and sell now. Our rational was: we know what the market is now, but don't know what it will be like in the future. Plus, we're in the spring market where more people are shopping for homes!

We listed our townhome the afternoon of Monday April 24 and already had people visiting that evening, and an offer came in on Wednesday April 26, which we accepted! We could have possibly got a better offer if we had waited, however the offer was very generous and the new home owners let us push the closing date until the end of August which was important to us. Now we just have to be hopeful that our new house isn't delayed now (our we will be paying our parents a visit)!

We are super excited for our new home of course, but also very sad to leave our first home! We live in a great, quiet location with no homes located across from us (which is arguably nicer than the location of our new home), and we have very friendly neighbours. So we will have to start coming to terms with leaving soon!

Anyways, below are some beautiful pictures taken by our Relator's photographer. We think the photographer did a great job and even possibly made our home look better than it looks in person! We borrowed a few accessories from our Relator's stager (who I loved by the way), but the majority of stuff we had was fine.

Take care!

AWAITING OUR FIRM CLOSING... (ALMOST) 4 MONTHS TO GO

2017-03-06T20:08:00.004-08:00

Well! I have nothing exciting to report, other than, it's officially one month until we get confirmation if our home is firm or not.. Woo! If we aren't notified by April 4 of a delay, then our closing is considered FIRM and we are good to put our current house on the market! If we do, however, get notified of a delay, we will have to wait about a month to find out if we will be delayed again. So here's hoping to us being on time! This has been a quick (but also LONG) two years. I'm so looking forward to selling our house so we don't have to worry about owning two houses anymore! The market is crazy hot right now, but you never know what could happen...

Really nothing has happened since my last post, but since we visited the home yesterday, here's a pic of the house in more sunny weather (at least it's not snow covered).

Countdown: 4 months, 7 days (129 days)

Goodbye for now!

THE BEGINNINGS OF FRAMING! 5 MONTHS TO GO

2017-02-20T21:16:00.003-08:00

I have just a quick post today as there isn't much to update. I drove by the site the other day and it looks like they will be starting the framing of our house shortly. I see some wood around the stairs, however I think it's only there to pour concrete for the stairs. Hoping they start the bricks on the houses around ours soon, so they can start our framing! I predict our framing will be started in March and done by the end of April. I absolutely cannot wait for our "Framewalk" where we'll actually get to see the "bones" of our home. I'm also looking forward to putting our current home on the market and hopefully selling fast as I'm quite antsy about owning two homes!

Countdown: 142 days (4 months, 22 days)

Goodbye for now!!

WE HAVE FOUNDATION - LESS THAN 6 MONTHS TO GO

2017-01-19T19:20:00.001-08:00

We drove by our lot a few weeks ago and were pleasantly surprised when we found out our foundation had been poured! There likely won't be any more activity on our lot until March/April since we are the "fire break" house, but it will be interesting to drive by and see progress on the rest of our street. Unfortunately, it sounds like people are starting to get delayed, so we may not actually get to move in July.. but we're crossing our fingers that we'll be able to move in as soon as possible!

Below are a few pics of our foundation.

Countdown: 175 days (5 months and 24 days)

THE DESIGN PLAN - THE POWDER ROOM

2016-12-12T00:12:00.001-08:00

I've had a few ideas spinning around for what I want to do with the powder room in our new house for a while now, but haven't had the chance to put all my ideas together yet. A powder room, in my opinion provides a great opportunity to add some drama to your home, but it a "contained" way that is not overwhelming or tacky. I have been toying with the idea of wallpapering our entire powder room with a bold print, but with so many great patterns and designs out there, I've been having a hard time deciding on a wallpaper. That was until tonight!

I just found out I won a contest on Instagram, hosted by a very talented interior designer/ blogger who I started following this year - Paint the World White. I won 2 rolls of wallpaper from a company called Milton and King!! I am so excited, I get to choose anything I like from the "Tastemakers Collection." Lucky for me, this includes wallpapers by my favourite designer, Jillian Harris!! I am leaning towards the black and white spot pattern named after Jillian's son "Leo's spots" - the wallpaper seems whimsy, chic and eclectic, which is sort of the style I'm going for.

If I end up going with this paper, I think I will design the space like this:

What do you think? Which paper would you choose and in what room would you put it?

Goodbye for now!

WE HAVE FOOTING...I THINK?

2016-12-10T18:23:00.004-08:00

I stopped by our lot on the way home today, and I was delighted to see there has been some progress and our house is no longer a pile of mud! The foundation hasn't been poured yet, but it looks like we have "footings." I expect our foundation will be poured in the next few weeks. After this step, I don't expect we will see much progress until April - we are the firebreak house, so they have to finish work on the other houses on our street first.

Anyways, here's a look at what our lot looks like today. Just a "short" 214 days to go!

Countdown: 214 days (7 months and 2 days)

Goodbye for now!

CHOOSING DESIGN FINISHES

2016-11-16T20:36:00.003-08:00

Now that we have officially chosen our design finishes, we can begin to plan all the smaller details! I'm not planning on buying anything (or at least not *too much*) until after we move, but it's fun to think up how we will design our entire house.

The below images shows all our finishes on one page (and some of the things we hope to switch out asap - such as the builder-installed sinks and faucets).

We went with laminate in the kitchen with the builder, but we hope to upgrade to white quartz after we move in (assuming the budget will allow it)! I would love to get a farmhouse sink and a beautiful faucet when we change out the countertop so I have included those on my plan since it represents my overall vision.

Kitchen:

Ensuite:

Main Bathroom:

Take care!!

CHOOSING UPGRADES IN A NEWBUILD

2016-11-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

The day I had been planning for all summer finally came! We chose our design upgrades for our new home a few weeks ago, and we surprisingly kept within our budget! We spent significantly less time deliberating our choices for our first new-build house. This was because the timeframe in which we got our townhome was was much shorter (so we didn't have time to deliberate), and because we had a much smaller budget (of about $300), so choices were limited. We're hopeful that our second house will be our "forever home," so we decided to put a little more money into it and intend on doing some more custom renovations after we close.

When designing a new-build, not only do you have to decide on specific finishes (i.e., cabinets, tiles, cupboards etc.), but you also have to decide on what areas you are willing to pay extra money to upgrade (i.e., add fireplace, add hardwood, etc). Builders generally charge waaaay more for upgrades than what you would typically pay to install upgrades yourself after you close. However, by going through a builder, you pay for the convenience of having a "move-in ready" home. Additionally, by upgrading through the builder, you may have the option to add the costs to your mortgage. A few thousand dollars divided over 25 years seems much more affordable than out-of-pocket after close.

When choosing upgrades, the best options, in my opinion, are things that will be harder or more costly to change after you close. We also evaluated our choices based on the price vs. how positive an an impact it would have on the home. Below are the options we went with and our reasoning for how we decided it was worth it to pay extra for them:

First Floor

Smooth ceiling on ground floor - $1,000 (will give a cleaner look to the space and we can avoid the mess of a DIY popcorn ceiling removal after close)
Install hardwood flooring in lieu of tiles in entryway and kitchen to match rest of the hardwood home - $1,200 (the space will flow better; rooms will look bigger when they are not broken up by different flooring)
"Carrara" style interior doors in lieu of standard doors - $275 (inexpensive upgrade that will make the home look more custom and modern)
Square pickets on stairs in lieu of included round pickets - $100 (gives a more modern look to the staircase)
Gas fireplace - $3,000 (self explanatory!)

Kitchen

Upgraded kitchen cabinetry and layout - includes fridge gables, extended upper cabinets, under-cabinet valance and pots and pans drawer - $6,000 (easier /more cost-efficient to upgrade now rather than buy and replace cupboards after close)
Gas rough in for future gas stove - $600
Delete cabinet above stove for exhaust fan - $100

Second Floor

Rail and picket in lieu of knee wall in upstairs hall - $500 (opens up the space in hallway)
Hardwood flooring in hall - $1,100 (hardwood will be easier to keep clean as hallway is a high traffic area)

Ensuite

Double vanity - $1,000
Increase vanity height to kitchen counter height - $270 (more custom look)
Upgrade cabinet style - $280 (cabinets look more high end)
Install quartz countertop - $1,700 (price of quartz comparable to market value)
Upgrade tile grout colour - $70 (expensive for grout, but will better match tile and is much less money than upgrading tiles)

Main Bath

Upgrade cabinet style - $60 (wanted a black vanity which wasn't an option in the cheaper line)
Install quartz countertop - $1,300 (price of quartz comparable to market value)

Countdown: 249 days (approx. 8 months)

Talk to you later,

HOUSE PROGRESS - HALF WAY THERE!

2016-09-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

There isn't too much to report just yet, but as of today, 307 days have passed since we purchased our home from the builder, and we have 307 days to go until our closing date, which means... we are are *officially* at the half way point!

In the last month, the streets in our subdivision have been created, street signs are up, and the asphalt has been poured! It is so great to see where our house will be located in proximity to all the other streets, and pretty soon, we will be able to drive down the street, which will make it a little easier to stalk the progress of our home. This week, we also finally got the call to make our design center appointment, so we will really need to work on finalizing our budget and our list of upgrades before our appointment the first week of October.

Here are few pictures from late August 2016:

September 2016

CHOOSING UPGRADES IN A NEWBUILD - BATHROOMS

2016-08-19T21:31:00.003-07:00

After going back and forth numerous times, I have pretty much finalized the bathroom finish choices for our new home. We anticipate we will have to confirm our upgrades with our builder sometime in October or November, so there's lots of time to change our minds again, but I think this will be it. We decided to splurge and upgrades to quartz countertops for both bathrooms. We also decided to upgrade the cabinet level, which surprisingly is not that expensive, and gives a much higher end look to the bathroom. We saved by choosing included floor/ wall tile options and cabinet hardware.

I also took some pictures in the design center of what the real life versions of the finishes look together. The lighting wasn't the greatest, so the tiles look a bit beige, but in actuality both tiles are quite neutral with regard to the tone of the grey.

Ensuite:

Main Bathroom:

THE DESIGN PLAN - MASTER ENSUITE

2016-08-07T21:10:00.002-07:00

Given my newfound love for white spaces, I have decided to go all white in our Master bathroom. We will be upgrading to the same cupboards we chose for the kitchen (white, shaker style style) but with a standard, included knob. Another upgrade are planning on ordering for the bathroom is quartz countertops. Caesarstone is our builder's supplier, and the current contenders are: "Misty Carrara," and "Organic White."

Caesarstone - "Organic White" Caesarstone - "Misty Carrara"

Organic white is a beautiful crisp, clean white with a slight barely noticeable "bubble" pattern and "Misty Carrara" is slightly off white with a grey pattern. It doesn't look exactly like marble, but it's one of the more "marble like" quartz countertops that I've seen - besides "Frosty Carrina" which we will likely have installed in our kitchen sometime after we close - when we can afford it!)

Also undecided is whether or not we want to pay extra for upgraded floor and wall tiles. I am leaning towards upgrading the floor tiles and going with a standard wall tile because I think the floor will make a bigger impact on the room. All to upgrade the floor tiles will run us about $300, wheras the charge for upgraded wall tiles is $400 - so that helps to make the decision easier. The tile I'm thinking of getting is called “New Byzantine" by Olympia Tile and for a ceramic tile, it looks pretty similar to marble. The below image makes the tile a bit more blue than it actually is (it's more grey in person)

Olympia Tile - "New Byzantine" in Azzuro

The wall tile I'm thinking of coordinating the above tile is either a plain white tile, or something like "Belinna" in Grey by Anatolia Tile (which is "standard" and not an upgrade). The tile has a bit of a sheen and somewhat resembles marble. There is also a coordinating floor tile, but it is quite shiny which I'm not sure if I like for a bathroom floor and the reason why I'm leaning toward the abive upgraded tile

Anatolia Tile - "Belinna" in Grey

Below is what the finishes I'm leaning toward look like together.

Take care!

HOUSE PROGRESS - ONE YEAR UNTIL CLOSING!

2016-07-29T21:27:00.003-07:00

We have officially passed the one year to our closing date mark (348 days to be exact). And while that seems so far away, almost 9 months has passed since we purchased our home last November, so having our closing in less than one year actually feels like progress!

I'll admit, there hasn't been much excitement on the construction site thus far. The land has pretty much been an empty field since we purchased.. However, more recently, the builders have started to dig up the site, and tractors are moving around over there every day. In the last few weeks, they've dug out /flattened our future street! And it looks like they're working on water lines/ sewage, etc. (the not so pretty, but otherwise important stuff)!

*Edit: We took a walk down our future street today, and we were actually able to find a stick with our lot number on it! I am so excited we got to see exactly where the house will be! None of the surrounding streets have been built yet, so before today we had no idea how far we'd be located from the main road. After seeing it in person, I'm not impressed by how close we are to an intersection but I'm hoping the street won't be terribly busy and it will be ok! There were homes left to chose on some quieter streets when we chose our lot, but there was a very expensive premium to select those lots, and we decided we'd rather spend that money on a the house model we wanted vs. a better location (hopefully we don't regret that decision when we move in)!!

Below are a few snaps of the construction site. Not too exciting yet, but it will be fun to look back on once our house is built, and we can compare our new home to the mud pile that was once in its place.

Early July 2016

August 1, 2016

Take care!

Design Inspiration: The Master Ensuite

2016-07-13T21:05:00.001-07:00

I am super excited for our new master ensuite which unlike our current ensuite, it is big enough for a double vanity, and even includes a "hamper niche" - maybe that means I will actually throw the laundry in the hamper, instead of in a pile in the corner of the bedroom!

Like our kitchen design, I plan on designing the ensuite mostly in white to create a classic and clean look. We decided not to upgrade to a separate tub and shower because it was way above our budget.

Even though tubs are not the most glamorous, I have seen a few designs with a glass door across half of the bathtub, and I actually think it can look quite high end! We probably won't install a glass door immediately after we take possession, but I am designing with the idea in mind that we will eventually install one.

Source: HGTV

Below are a few white bathrooms that I am taking inspiration from!

Source: Alyssa Rosenheck

Source: Highgate House

Source: Chango & Co.

Talk to you later!

Sold on Gold! White and Gold Kitchens

2016-06-29T19:18:00.003-07:00

Silver is classic and timeless, and silver will likely be the most predominant metal used in our new house, but I have to admit.. I am loving this gold trend that's going on right now! The more and more gold kitchens and bathrooms I see, the more I want to scrap my original plans, and go gold! I don't necessarily like the look of gold EVERYTHING, but a mix between gold, white and stainless steel looks great.

Below are a few of my favourite takes on the gold/mixed metal trend!

Source: Caitlin Wilson

Source: Studio McGee

Source: The Ivory Lane

Source: Studio McGee

Source: House & Home

If I was going to incorporate gold in my home. I think I would add it in the cabinet hardware and light fixtures, and leave the appliances and faucet in stainless steel. I also absolutely love calcutta marble, which I think can tie in very well with both gold and silver hardware

What do you think? Are you loving the gold trend? Hating it? Do you have gold decor?

The Design Plan: Main Bathroom

2016-06-19T23:13:00.001-07:00

Eric and I popped by our Builder's Design Center on the way home from running some errands today thinking the DC would be less busy than usual because of Father's Day (we celebrated with our families Saturday night). We were wrong... it was packed! We were hoping to make some firm choices today.. except I think I left more confused! We've picked most of the big items for our home, but we're still working on deciding on an appropriate budget and all the finishing touches.

One of the most difficult things to decide, in my opinion, is flooring (tiles to be specific). I've narrowed down the colour choices to white and grey and we will definitely stick with the included or level one tiles (for budget reasons) but I'm still having a tough time picturing what will look good in each space. We need tiles for the garage entrance, powder room, main bathroom and ensuite (we will be doing hardwood in the front entrance and kitchen)

Since the kitchen is pretty well planned, next to tackle is our main bathroom (or the "Future Kids' Bathroom" as Eric likes to call it). Since this bathroom won't get much use for a while, we're not going to invest too much money in upgrades. Below is the structural plan:

We will probably go all white in our ensuite, so I'd like to have a little fun with the main bath! I found this beautiful bathroom on Pinterest a year ago, and even though the cupboards are super dark (navy, i think?) the light grey floors/countertop/walls really brighten the space. I love the pops of pink as well!

Source: Studio McGee

Our Builder doesn't offer navy cabinets; so to get this look it was between a colour called "Soapstone" (included - light/medium blue grey) and "Caviar" (level 1 upgrade - black with maybe a slight blue undertone). Even though it's an upgrade, we are leaning toward the black. Due to the limited amount of cupboards in the bathroom, the cost to upgrade is only $61, so in the grand scheme of things, it's not too much money.

Below is my design plan, but chances are I will flip flop on the tiles a few times before we make the final decision.

Take care!

Installing a Backsplash

2016-06-17T19:05:00.002-07:00

Last weekend Eric and I installed a backsplash in our kitchen! This was our first time working with any sort of tile and I have to say, it wasn't too too difficult. We definitely made mistakes along the way.. but my rationale for installing a backsplash (even though we're moving) was that it would be easier to learn in a small space, with a less expensive tile, than in our new kitchen. Below are a few photos I took of the process... Ignore the crookedness, I haven't mastered interior photography yet!

The overall project cost us around $120 (it would have cost it quite a bit more, but luckily I have a friend who works at Rona, and I was able to score an employee discount on a lot of products).

From Rona, we purchased:

- 2 Boxes of tiles (it was JUST enough for the space)

- Tile Adhesive

- A Plastic Trowel (to apply the adhesive on the wall)

- A metal Spreader (to distribute the adhesive evenly on the wall)

- Tile Spacers

- Grout

- Grout sponge

- Painters tape (great for holding the tiles together on the mesh sheets when cutting the tile)

- 4 Nuts (we actually put nuts behind the outlet plate to get it to sit flush with the tile)

Not included in the above price was the wet saw we had to purchase to cut the marble. We thought about renting a wet saw, but since we are planning on doing tile work in our new house, we figured buying would be the best option, especially since we found a wet saw for only $70 at Canadian Tire (and it doesn't cost us anything because we happened to have money leftover on a gift card we got from wedding).

After cutting the bottom of each tile to sit flush with the countertop, we lay the first tile. I have to admit, we cut the tile quite crooked and it did not sit flush with the wall.. but with the magic of grout, you can't really tell how not straight it was. We managed to get around the electrical outlets simply by taking a pair of scissors and cutting the tiles from the mesh. I messed up this part a little, as there's currently a small gap around one of the outlets.. but we're hoping on one but us notices.

This is what the tiles looked like at the end of day one. We anxiously awaited the recommended 24 hours before applying the grout the next day.

Applying the grout was surprisingly quick and easy. One tip we got from a a friend was "when you think you've finished cleaning off the grout, clean it off 3 more times" and that we did. We probably cleaned the backsplash about 12 times after we applied the grout! Because of this, we had no problem with the backsplash looking hazy (apparently it's tough to get off if you let the grout dry too long). My only worry about the grout was that it looked quite dark when we applied it (as you can see in the picture), but I am happy to report, the grout dried white!

And voila! The kitchen is done. I'm hoping to pick up some little decor accessories to pretty up the kitchen, but I need to be careful not to crowd our limited counters pace with a bunch of stuff.

And that's it! Take care!