And the winner is...

Da...Da....Da....Daaaaaaah!!!! The back splash is in!! Whew! What a journey this kitchen has been. We're actually not quite done yet. There is still the matter of under cabinet lighting that needs to be addressed but the back splash was the biggest piece that was still missing from my kitchen. We just finished grouting today and got everything all cleaned off.

We decided to go with the marble tile instead of the glass. When I wrote about this last time I told you all that the glass tile was running $28 a square foot or three times what we'd budgeted for our back splash. Well, after a little more investigation we found out that that price didn't include shipping and handling which would add another $25 a square foot!!! I almost died. With the shipping and handling the tile to do our kitchen would've been $1855!! That's more than we paid for our granite counter tops. So, that was the kiss of death for the glass tiles. We went with the marble, which was still pricey, but Becky was able to hook us up with a small builder discount so that was nice.

We picked up the tile on Thursday after work and started putting it on the walls yesterday. The tile came on 12x12 sheets so that made laying it interesting. In a way it was good because we didn't have to lay each 1x2 tile by hand but the sheets were a little awkward to fit on the wall. We did the wall behind the stove first since it was all just the 1x2 bricks. Then we moved to the side with the sink. That wall was pretty easy as well until we got to our decorative inset over the sink. Joe and my math skills were put to the test as we tried to figure out how many of the 3x4 tiles we needed to cut off the sheet in order for it to fit inside the border we selected. But, we put our minds together and made it work and it turned out great. It was tough piecing the 1x2's around the inset but we managed.

We're both really proud of ourselves today because this is the biggest thing that we've done in the kitchen all by ourselves. My dad wasn't here at all to help us with this one. We were all on our own and we did a great job. I even laid some tile too! It's nice to look at a project and admire how good it looks aesthetically but it's an even better feeling knowing that you did it yourself. We're so proud of all the work we've done to our house. It really makes this house feel like ours and it really reflects our style and tastes. I know we've always considered this our "starter" home but it is going to be hard leaving this house someday with all the hard work and time and effort and especially the memories that we've put into it. It's a really special house and I'm really proud to live in it.

Of course there are pictures in the album so check them out and let me know what you think. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!!!