Tuesday 3 March 2009

Reno

Reno you say!
Did you not just move into a new home?
Did, but every time we wanted an upgrade from the builder offering, Cha ching! Another $1000 , please.....

So we decided to sub contract out some of the things we wanted done like the under cabinet lighting , back splash and valance.
For last 2 days it has been a construction zone.
Did I mention I hate the dirt and upheaval?

Xenon under cabinet lighting installed,Xenon is said to be more natural than halogen and produces less heat. I would agree with that , the light it proves is lovely , still generates lots of heat..


Here are the natural slate tiles ready for sealer.


Tile on back splash ready for grout.



Tile now grouted , drying and in 48 hours another 2 coats of sealer to be applied.


Still to come the valance. Hopefully by the end of the week.

Has all the mess and upheaval been worth it?
You betcha!
It looks great so far..
Financially costs are half what the builder would have charged.

The bonus is I also feel like I made a friend. The tiler that was recommended to us , a lady. Lori, is a wonderful person. We hit if off immediately , Lori does jigsaw puzzles like myself and reads the same books as I do, JD Robb among others.
So many common interests.
She even brought me another jigsaw puzzle to do when finished the one I am currently struggling with.

8 comments:

Raph G. Neckmann said...

That all looks lovely, Rosemary! I really like the subtle colours of the tiles.

I just had the thought - tiling is a bit like jigsaws, really! I wonder if you can get tiles in jigsaw shapes? I suppose the grouting would be a bit difficult!!

Anonymous said...

Mom, the backsplash looks great!
Really warms up the kitchen with the lighting!
Valance will finish it off nicely.

Rosanne said...

It looks great!

Lythrum said...

I'm glad that you were able to get someone to do the work for a reasonable price. I know that we pretty much took our house as the builders had it but we have a wish list that we're going to work on over the next few years. As we've lived here we've found more things where the builder used cheap materials and we're going to have to replace them, like the carpeting. I like the kitchen tile. :)

Anonymous said...

The backsplash is beautiful Mom!
The lighting really warms up the space!
The valance will finish it all nicely!

Victoria Williams said...

Looks great. And HALF the cost of the builder? Wow.

WiseAcre said...

You can't beat natural stone. It looks great.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I love your kitchen! Ours is in need of updates, but it's hard to save enough money to get the work done. We keep spending it on other things, and now my husband is pushing for a new 42 inch flat screen TV, and our daughter keeps needing money for medical bills. Hopefully, soon, it will get done.