Kitchen Backsplash Reveal

I’m so excited to share my latest project with you!

I’ve been wanting to do a tile backsplash in our kitchen for years! Not only does a tile backsplash protect the drywall from splashes and stains, I feel like it just adds such an overall completion to the look of the kitchen. 

Currently lighter cabinets seem to be the on-trend option for kitchens, but I actually LOVE my dark cabinets. The only down side to having the dark cabinets is the darker feel to the kitchen, (and it doesn’t help that we only have one small window over the sink)...not only did adding the white subway tile give the kitchen an overall brighter look, it makes it feel so much bigger as well.

Both wins in my book!

I’ve listed/linked all the supplies I used for this project below, and I’ll also go over any tips, tricks, and thoughts.

How to Remove a Granite Backsplash

For years I’ve wanted to have a tile backsplash installed in our kitchen. 

After a lot (!) of research, I finally decided to just jump in with both feet and get it done. (A huge thanks to my husband for believing in me on this one!) 

If I was going to do this project I was going to take to the extra time to do it the right way (in my opinion). I knew I wanted the 4” granite backsplash, the builder installed, gone. I felt like removing this would give the kitchen an overall cleaner look.

The first thing I needed was a heat gun. Lucky for me, my neighbor had one and graciously let me borrow it. So thankful to him for that!

I have to admit, I was really nervous to get started. I was worried that once I pulled off the backsplash, there was no going back. I decided to have some confidence in myself and tackle this.

To start, I plugged in the heat gun and turned on the higher setting. It kind of just sounds like a loud hair dryer.

Remove Permanent Marker from Board Books

My youngest has a couple of board books with mazes in them. A dry erase marker is supposed to be used when drawing in the book so it can be erased and used over and over. 

One evening I was in the shower. My husband and my youngest decided to read some books together, and my son grabbed his mazes as well. He also grabbed himself a marker and they got to work. It wasn’t until later they realized it was actually a permanent marker. 

They tried wiping it off with an eraser, using a wipe, Windex, etc. Nothing worked. Luckily, I know a trick! I swear I’ve done this a hundred times!

Camping Chair Storage

For the past couple of months I’ve been tackling organizational projects in our garage. I felt like too many things where just being thrown here and there, or were just constantly in the way.

How to Make A Digger Cake

A few weeks ago we celebrated our baby turning 3.

He absolutely loves construction trucks and always points them out to me while we're out and about.

I wanted to make him a 'digger' cake and searched for ideas.

There were a lot of good ideas where people had little trucks on the cake, but I wanted to make the actual 3D version of a truck.

This is what I came up with...

There is a time-lapse video at the end of this post showing the actual process if you want to check it out, but I'm also going to go through step-by-step here with pictures.

Wooden Medal Holder

After finishing the built-in shelves in my son’s room a few months ago, we’ve been slowly decorating his room. He had his medals kind of piled up on a shelf, so I decided he needed a better way to display them! 

Built In Entryway Coat Rack

I am happy to say I was able to complete a few built-in projects over the last few months!

I actually have a few more on my list to complete, but with the hustle and bustle of the holidays I took a little break to focus my time elsewhere.

This entryway coat rack was my most popular post on Instagram for 2018, so I wanted to write a quick post to share all of the details on how it all came together.

Clean design plus functionality.

I'm so in love with how this turned out!

Let's take a look at the 'before', shall we?