Monday, November 14, 2011

Making A backSPLASH

November 2010

Now that we had replaced our counters, sink and faucet we had to deal with the missing backsplash.  At first, we thought about putting in subway tile.  We price out the tile and realized this was a bigger investment then we had first thought.  The other issue was the time involved.  Neither Josh nor I have ever tiled before, we knew we were capable, but a little nervous of our finish craft.  Then we thought about the weekends of work to install the tile, grout it, and seal it.  We also realized this would all have to happen while we were using the kitchen, not ideal.   There was also the lingering thought in the back of our heads that one day we really wanted to gut the kitchen and create a more functional space.  Our new goal was to put in a backsplash in the fastest cheapest way without it looking like an afterthought. 

 
We decided we would beadboard the backsplash.  We felt that the beadboard matched the overall style of the house and it was about half the cost.  We went to Lowes and got some 3' x 4" pine beadboard wainscotting.  We laid out all the pieces and primed them at night during the work week, then Josh spent two days installing them, cutting around our various switches and cabinets.  He also installed some trim underneath the countertop to dress up the transition.  It was a whole weekend of work, but it made such a difference. I followed behind with my trusty caulk gun and white acrinamel semi-gloss.  All in all, we felt pretty good about our solution.  It was fairly easy and kept with the style of the house.  We worry a little about the durability of having wood right near our sink but it seems to be fine. Our little kitchen was wrapping up.

4 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you commented on my backsplash post ... your kitchen is adorable! Thank you for giving me another example of why beadboard is an awesome backsplash solution :)

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  2. I'm curious to know how this is holding up for you. I had a beadboard backsplash put in my brand new kitchen and after only a couple months, I realized the sink water splashing was going to be a problem! I don't know if the beadboard (we did the fake paneling stuff) itself is warping, but the trim piece definitely is. It's nearly impossible to keep that area dry. I can't decide if we should tile instead behind the sink (won't look as cute) or just re-do the trim and try to seal it better? Has yours held up?

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  3. Kami,

    Ours has held up really well, we are coming in to about two years with it in place. We did use real wood beadboard instead of the MDF paneling that may have helped. The other thing we did was paint the entire thing with three coats of enamel paint in a semi-gloss finish. The water literally beads on the surfaces and stays until we wipe it away. We also installed a think bead of silicon between the trim and the countertop and between the trim and the beadboard. I have started to notice the silicon is wearing out (ours too is constantly wet) but we can replace that pretty easy. I would suggest replacing the warped trim and then painting with a super durable paint and put a silicon bead on all the joints where water can pool. Let me know if you need any more help!

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  4. The beadboard backsplash looks real nice.

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