Faux Antique Tin Tile Backsplash Tutorial and Some History

We purchased our house 9 years ago and it needed a lot of work.  The first thing we did was rip out the entire kitchen.  When I say the entire kitchen, I mean down to the sub floor, which we also replaced.   To be clear when I say "we" I literally mean Bobby and I!  We installed new walls, floors, ceiling, electric, plumbing, and windows, THE WORKS!  We even took down a wall.  This was extreme but a must.  It really helped to open up the kitchen.  There was a closet that was in the dining room, but the back of it was sticking out into the kitchen, making for very awkward space in the kitchen.  I dreamed of having people over and I knew I would be in the kitchen a lot and with only a 24" door from the kitchen to dining room, I would never see anyone.  Bobby wasn't at all excited about this.  It was a load baring wall and you must know he was not skilled in any of these areas.  He is a software engineer that has been self taught, and been helped and taught by reliable friends.  We were in a little over our heads.  In the end I was able to make him see it my way..ha!  Best decision ever!!!  Made the biggest difference and we are both so thankful today for that choice. 

Taking down the wall and closet between the dining room and kitchen

There goes the ceiling!

View from kitchen into the dining room

We were both working full time and working full time on the house after work and into the wee hours of the morning.  It took us a full year to finish the kitchen.  Having been married only a year and just buying our first home, we had limited funds.   This ment we did all the work ourselves.  I designed and Bobby implemented.  We were a great team. 

 We Still Are!

Notice there is no glass in the cabinets.  We did not have the glass cut for almost 3 years.  When we finally did, it only cost $50.00 for all of them.  It is so funny the amount of times we say, "Why didn't we do that sooner?"

As you can see our first counter tops were not granite.  Bobby actually made then with linoleum.  He did a great job.  If you look at the picture below, you can see how he trimmed it out.

I loved these counters.  They looked really custom.  If we did not get a steal on our granite counters, I would not have changed them.

We lived in only 2 bedrooms upstairs for 2 years while we gutted and refinished the main rooms downstairs.  The additional rooms we left for later.  Now that you know the history I can begin with the back splash.  We invested all of our funds in buying beautiful quality cabinets.  I decision that I would not have changed.  This left slim funds for all the rest (sink, lights, counters, back splash..).  I have always loved french country decor and had already picked out my dinning room color.  With the help of my aunt and interior decorator Tracy Froment, I decided on this paintable wallpaper.  I then painted it the same cranberry color that I had picked out for the dinning room.

I kept it this way for many years.  I didn't love it, but it worked and I wasn't sure what I wanted.  Also, there were other more important things to work on like finishing the dining room and living room, so that we could use our downstairs.  And a bathroom and bathtub to bath  2 year old son.  It has been quite a journey.  Basically we have let the house guide us.  Whatever the most important need was at the time, was what we worked on next.  We have finally reached a point that we can now pick and choose what we want to work on or update.

Two years ago I took both the boys to FL for a week and Bobby stayed home.  While we were gone he refinished the dining room.  This was its second make over.  I loved the blues and reds that I had in the house, but it felt too much for me to live with daily.  I have been slowly going more neutral through the house. When it was time for the dining room I said good bye to cranberry walls and went neutral.  Little by little all but little accents of red in the house had disappeared, really making the back splash stand out like a sore thumb.  It was time for a change.  I had wanted to do this for a while but with two little boys, a newborn, and school it was going to have to wait.  Finally this past fall I had a chance to implement.  So here we go!!

If you notice the paintable wallpaper that I had chose 9 years ago resembles tin tiles.  I love antique tin tiles.  I did not have the money or the desire to install actual antique tiles.  This was a project that Bobby wasn't interested in helping with at the time.  So I needed to do something easy.  Well how easy is paint?!  Over the past 9 years I have developed a decent ability for painting and refinishing things.  This includes faux finishes.  I must admit still I was a little intimidated.  I didn't read a blog or follow a book, I just went with what I know and had on hand.

So again, I started with this wall paper already on the wall.  It is a paintable wallpaper that looks like antique tin tiles.  It is nice because it is slightly raised.  I recommend starting with a primer, however, for this project I did not prime.  I didn't have much time and needed to get the job done.  It took me about 2 hours on 2 different days.  First I taped off the edge of the counters and cabinets.  This was the only way Bobby would agree to let me do it.  I can get a bit messy.  Then I rolled on 2 coats of RustOleum Silver Metallic paint in a can.  I only used the really small size for my whole back splash.  It looked like stainless steal.  I left it like that for a day to let it dry through. Bobby does not like a modern look and was so scared when he saw it like this.  I promised him it would not look like this when I was finished.  I had hoped not, I was a little scared too.

 The next day I got back to work.  I created a glaze with regular black acrylic paint and painters glaze from Benjamin Moore.  I am not even too sure on the amount I mixed but it was something like a 1/2 cup of glaze to 1-2 T of paint.  You can play with it.  After I mixed it I just started to work in small areas at a time.  I worked left to right.  First I applied the glaze with foam brush.  I made sure to really get it into the cracks and let it sit for a couple minutes. 

 

I then began to wipe if off in gently circular motions with a lint free rag.  This is where it began to get a little tricky.  If you press to hard you will wipe too much off.  I actually did two rounds of this.  To get the look I wanted.  It is really up to you to decide how much or little you want the aging to look.  I really wanted to be able to see it so I went a little heavier with it. Can you see how I wiped more off the top and left more in the background.  I think it gives it a more authentic look.

  

After it dried I went over some areas that I thought were lacking.  I really loved how it turned out.  So did Bobby, which is a success in my book!

 Over the next 6 months we plan on making some some improvements to the kitchen.  One of the options was to finally put in a real back splash, whatever, I wanted.  I decided that for now I love the back splash just the way it is!

If you are wondering where we ate when were living in only 2 rooms upstairs, we had set up a little kitchen in the living room and literally used a work bench for a table!!

What you can do when you're young!

The Shelves I Love and They Were Free...Almost.

What is up with the HUGE header on my blog you may be asking or not?  Well it is no secret that I am still very new to the blog world, so please excuse me as I try to put what is in my mind on to my blog.  It may take a while.

Now that, that is all cleared up I will move onto my SHELVES!  Can you hear the excitement?  You may have gotten the idea that I LOVE old wood.  If not, now you know.  I LOVE old wood.  I mean really old, the kind with nail holes or even better with the old nails still in them.  The kind that most people tear out of old homes and throw out.  Oh if I could find those dumpsters.  Well fortunately I have people in the world that love me enough to bring me old smelly and sometimes molded wood.  I get so giddy, my head spins and I can't stop thinking of what amazing creations I will make with it.  Well this is one of those times.  Remember the old mill wood that my brother had found for me that I made the coat rack for the playroom out of?  Well I had more of it!  Yay!

I have been really wanting some nice shelving in my living room to display more of my special sentimental things, or what my husband lovingly refers to as (my junk), potato patoto, either way I wanted shelves.  I looked at Ballard designs, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Home Goods.  I also searched Craiglist, Etsy, and Ebay.  I found many beautiful shelves that would work but of course the ones I want were $150 or more PER SHELF!  Yikes!  Suddenly I became brilliant and really loved myself for my grand idea.  I may have even patted my own back, but I would never admit to it.  I would make shelves out of the wood from my brother.  I am genius right?  Duh!  What took so long for me to figure it out.

So I didn't waste anymore time.  My dad came to visit last month and I put him to work.  He ripped the board down the middle (I love that term...means to cut it) and cut the end off slightly so they would be even.  I wanted two shelves that would fit my wall in length but would not stick out too far.  It was PERFECT.  All I did was very lightly sand them with a sanding block and coat them with a dark wax.  Done!  I found simple black metal brackets at Lowes and presto.  Perfection.  I even hung them myself...well sort of.  I had hung the first shelf using Bobby's drill and level.  I was so proud because unlike I normally do, I actually measured and made sure it was even, instead of just eyeing it.  Well it became more difficult to hang the second shelf, because I was standing on my desk and trying to drill in one end of the shelf to the wall while still holding the other end up....hmmm.  This is when long arms would come in handy.  Bobby came home while I was trying to figure out what I could boost under the shelf to hold it up.  I was kind of annoyed and relieved at the same time.  Some how I wanted to prove that I could do it all myself and yet I knew that I needed help....can you say prideful.  So I humbly admitted my failure and asked for help.  In the end I didn't care because my shelves were up and I loved them.  I spend the rest of the afternoon filling them with my special stuff.  Surprisingly I have not changed them up since I did it.  This only happens when I am completely satisfied with it.  And I am...for now!

So what do you think?  Is it just me or do you love them too?  On another note if you look in the background of the second picture you can see my little Jonny cutie at the table playing with his legos.  I posted that one just because he is so cute!

New Dinning Room Bench Makeover

I have been wanting a bench for my dinning room for a few years now.   I had used the grain sack styled one that I had done back in May for a little while.  I loved the look of the bench but size didn't quite fit the table.  After searching the web and finding that the look I wanted I soon realized that it was going to cost much more than I could afford anytime soon, so....I decided to make my own.  I had a wood bench downstairs in my craft room and it almost was a perfect fit. 

It was the right length but it seemed a little to narrow to sit comfortably on.  I made a trip to Lowes and had them cut me a 14 inch x 4 foot board.  I glued it on and put screws in it to secure it.  Now it was the right shape and size, it just needed to be covered.  I had some chair cushion foam on hand so I used them.  I would eventually like to redo it with a 4 inch foam, but this works for now.  I had upholstered my dinning room chairs a couple years ago in a washed canvas drop cloth and I still love the way they looked, so I used the same fabric to cover the bench.  I was first going to make a slipcover for it, but it was going to be used a lot by children getting on and off.   I didn't want the slipcover to shift and move all the time so I decided to upholster it instead.  I first put the foam down and then covered it and secured with staples.  I measured for the skirt, hemmed just the side that would touch the floor.  I then began to gather and staple around the top edge of the bench.  I finished it with white trim.  It isn't perfect, but I am happy with it.  I love the look it gives my dinning room.  The boys love it too, they now sit at the dinning room table all the time.  It is funny how a simple project can take a room from being used only at sit down dinners and make it a cozy part of the house.

Well it has been a while since my last post.  We are enjoying our summer and have been very busy having some fun.  I will have a few posts on all of our summer activities when I have a chance, but for now I thought I would give you a glimpse of my house. We bought our 1932 cape 9 years ago and as with most older homes it needed quite a bit of work.  One day I will show before pictures.  

Very slowly we have gutted each room and remodeled.  We are on our second and third round in some cases, but feel that we have finally created rooms that we love.  My husband and I have done all the work ourselves.  We hired out only 2 jobs.  One was the plaster in the kitchen and the other was replacing and converting our old furnace.  In time I will go over each room in detail and explain exactly what we have done and hopefully pair it with before pictures.  

Antique stool that I painted on.  The kids use it to reach baskets on the upper shelves.

This again is the playroom but I added some pictures to see the overall look.  It is still not complete.  I have more details to add, such as, a rug and lighting.  I also have a few projects that I would like to do.  All in good time!

View From Kitchen

View From Livingroom

My Rug

Hanging herbs

If you haven't guessed already, this is my dinning room.  I will give more details about paint color, projects, and where I purchased items in a later post.

These are pictures of my three loves in the tub all at the age of 9 months

This is our downstairs bath.  The clawfoot tub is an antique and did not come with the house.  That is usually one of the first questions I am asked.

Kitchen and hallway.  This was the very first thing we did when we purchased the house.  I still love the layout, cabinets and counter.  We do need to update with some fresh paint.  I would also like to add some other details that will really make a difference.  We plan to start work in here in the spring.  I will be blogging more about this as the project grows closer.  Stay tuned!