Eastwood Kitchen Before and After

I finished up my kitchen project in East Nashville this week. It was fun to see it transform from the linoleum flooring, laminate counters and outdated tile to having a glass tile backsplash, butcher block countertops and travertine stone flooring.

To read all the posts from this project, click here.

The finishing touches included the wine rack (see this post), shoe moulding and repairing some trim. I also caulked around the backsplash and flooring thresholds. (Appliances will be added soon!)

The kitchen adjoined a laundry room so it got a makeover with travetine as well.

This wonderful Craftsman home is full of old trim and beautiful details. It was a privilege to add my own touch to that history!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Improvise a Wine Rack

The homeowner at my Eastwood kitchen project (these posts) installed an over-the-range microwave where an existing cabinet had been. The result was that there was an awkward space above it that wasn't very useful for much. He wanted me to make it into a space to hold wine bottles.

Sure, why not?

Basically, I just needed to add some kind of dividers to make 'cubby holes' for the wine bottles. The trick with this space was that I would have limited access in the cabinet. Here's the creative solution I came up with:

I ripped down a piece of cabinet/stain-grade plywood into strips that were the exact height of the opening. On the front I could get a couple brads in each of them to hold them in place, but on the back I wouldn't have access. The answer was to put some spacer blocks between each board along the back. They will keep the divider boards in the right spot and I could build the entire thing before setting it into the hole.

Once it was built I gave it a quick finish with leftover Waterlox from the butcher block that we used. (see this post). This gave the boards a natural color that matched the insides of the rest of the cabinets pretty well.

After some drying time, I slid the contraption into the hole above the microwave. I got it in position and nailed some face boards across the end of each divider. These would be caulked/painted to match the cabinets and hide the end grain on the divider boards.

I was fairly happy with the results. Now for the wine...

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Grouting the Travertine Floor and Slate Hearth

Things really start to come together once the tile gets grouted. The beautiful character of the travertine and slate really begins to stand out and you remember why you went to all the trouble and expense to put it down.

I've noticed that there are many kinds of travertine out there. Some are left in a more rough condition, having a 'tumbled' look. The particular one I was using has been polished smooth on the surface, even though the back shows many of the natural pores that run through the natural stone. The color may vary widely from a sandy brown color to even stark white.

We used a sanded grout called "linen" which is a light shade of brown that will coordinate with these dramatic tiles really well.

DID YOU KNOW... The Coliseum in Rome is the largest building in the world that is constructed primarily of travertine!

The slate at the fireplace hearth also got grout today. I used a charcoal sanded grout that looks nearly black. It makes a bold statement against the white trim that fills the rest of this Craftsman home in East Nashville.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

A Slate Hearth Brings Out the Artist in Me

My current East Nashville project mostly involves a kitchen makeover. However, "while I'm at it", the homeowner also wanted me to lay some slate tile on the fireplace hearth in the living room.

Fireplaces can be really fun to tile because they often the centerpiece of the room visually. For this particular project, I started with a box of 12" slate and decided to try cutting the pieces into 6" x 12" rectangles and 6" squares and come up with a cool pattern to show off all the different colors and textures that slate has.

NOTE: If you're cutting tiles in half like this remember to account for the grout lines. To make sure mine were perfectly sized, I set some of them up with my spacers and adjusted the guide on my wet saw to make sure all of them were exactly the same.

It was really fun to pull the tiles out of the box and see how unique each piece was. Some were a plain grey, while others had yellow, red, or even green colors in them.

I came up with a pattern that would work well with this particular hearth that is 5 feet across. I cut the pieces and laid them all out to test-fit and make sure I liked where each tile ended up. I wanted it to have a somewhat random look to mix the various shades of color without having pieces cut from the same tile right next to each other.

So far I'm really happy with it. It will only look better once it's grouted to make the tiles stand out even more. It was a blast because I got to use some of those creative juices that run through my veins. :)

BTW- I had to do quite a bit of prepwork to the hearth before laying tile. It sloped away from the fireplace and was quite a bit lower than the finished hardwoods that surround it. To fix the problem, I used a couple applications of leveling cement to raise up the front of the hearth and get it as level and flat as possible.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Laying the Travertine Floor

Today, I got the Travertine down in my East Nashville kitchen project. Travertine takes a little extra care, but most of the techniques of laying tile apply.

Getting the layout is always an important step that requires extra thought on the front end. For this project, I knew that I wanted the grout lines perpendicular to the main doorway, but also perpendicular to the laundry door.

I started by laying some tile across the doorways to get the starting pieces in a place where I wouldn't have any super-small pieces on the edges. If possible, it's nice to have large pieces along the walls.

Once I knew where I wanted the starting tiles to go, I marked a couple guidelines parallel with one wall on the floor to serve as a reference point so that I don't veer off once I got rolling.

It's also very important that you think about how you're going lay the tile so that you don't 'tile yourself into a corner'... :) In this picture you can see that I drew a straight reference line down the middle of the room and then tiled down one side and then back the other. This enabled me to start in the doorway where I wanted to begin with whole tiles.

This is different for each project, but it's worth giving some thought to a tiling strategy before you get started.

Every piece of Travertine is different with all kinds of patterns and colors. It cuts fine with a wet saw, but can be brittle if you have skinny pieces. It helps to look at the back of the tile and see how porous it is. The less porous ones will be less likely to break as you cut them.

The other thing is to remember that Travertine, like other stone tiles, needs a heavier duty thinset mortar to support it. Most places that sell thinset will have one meant for this purpose.

I'll be grouting soon and this kitchen will really start to take shape!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Laying a Tight Subfloor

In preparation for laying the Travertine tiles at my Eastwood kitchen project, it became obvious that I would need a more substantial surface to support the stone tiles. The framing was fine, however, there was only 3/4" decking + 1/4" sheathing for a total of 1" of subfloor. So, to strengthen things up I installed another layer of 5/8" plywood.

It's unusually satisfying to put down a new subfloor. (A little weird, I know... :) You can feel the change immediately because the floor is so solid now. It also gives me a clean surface to tile over.

I thought I'd share a couple tips on how to get it to fit well. The first thing is to pick the most square wall and start there. With older homes, like this one, finding something square may be a challenge, but it's good to get a good start with your first piece.

Taking accurate measurements is the most important part to getting a good fit, especially in smaller spaces where there are lots of notches to make. Thankfully, I got today's kitchen finished with no 'do-overs'! Here's how:

1. Pick a reference point and make all your measurements from the same point. For example if you have a notch to cut around a cabinet, measure both sides of the notch from the end of the piece that it will butt up to. All the measurements must be 'relative' to the same end of the board. This is a great tip when measuring drywall as well.

2. Keep the square, factory-cut edges for butting up to adjacent pieces. Cut the other end. This way, all the joints will be crisp and won't have gaps. Once you allow a gap, the rest of the following joints will suffer as well...

Remember to use some good construction adhesive to help the new plywood to bond well to the old floor. I used PL400 construction adhesive which is great stuff. Also, don't forget to sweep often. Even a little chip of wood or drywall will make a hump in your new floor and be quite a headache to deal with. This will also help the adhesive to make a good connection.

Stay tuned for travertine!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Finishing the Glass Tile Backsplash

The kitchen is starting to come together. The butcher block countertops have had 4 coats of Waterlox sealer and are looking great. I also just finished grouting the glass mini-brick backsplash after installing it a couple days ago (see this post).

It's always such a dramatic effect to see a tile project with new grout. I used a white unsanded grout with the green glass tiles. The colors look great and really show off the tiles.

Before grouting, I made sure to take the time to clean out any thinset that had filled in between the tiles. It's best for the grout to fully fill those grout lines, and it will look better as well without chunks of thinset in there.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Make A Hidden Butcher Block Cutting Board

We had a nice chunk of butcher block left when I cut out the hole for the sink. (More about the Ikea counters at this post.) The homeowner had the idea of making it a cutting board that would extend from the cabinets to add a little more counter space.

At first, I thought there wouldn't be enough space above the top drawer on this cabinet. There was about 1 3/4" available, but the butcher block was 1 1/2". That would only leave 1/8" margin above and below. In the end, it was perfect, but it was a tight fit.

The cutting board would be attached using 20" heavy duty drawer slides. They are supposed to hold 100 lbs which might be nice if someone decided to lean on the cutting board when it was extended.

I started the installation by cutting out the top cross piece so the opening would match the drawer below. Next, I built out the sides to match this opening so that the drawer slides would have a place to attach. After attaching the rails I was ready to cut the butcher block to fit.

The homeowner also had the idea of making the face of the cutting board wider so that it would cover the end of the drawer slides and match the drawers below. This was a great idea, but required some extra thinking before I made any cuts. The board would set back into the cabinet 20", but would need an extra 1/2" for the lip on the front.

I made some careful cuts trying to keep everything square so that it would slide right once installed. It took some adjustments, but it did fit and looked great. There's about 1/8" clearance between the cutting board and the countertop above. That's plenty to make sure there's no interference. These counters overhang quite a bit, so even with the lip on the cutting board it will be hidden until someone needs it.

We'll have to find some kind of drawer pull to put on the end after I've sanded and sealed it so that you have an easy way to pull it out.

It's fun to work with clients to see their ideas become reality, especially something that will be so functional- as long as you remember it's there!

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Laying Glass Mini-Brick Backsplash

If subway tiles are cool, then glass mini-bricks are super-cool! Today, I was installing them on a backsplash in an older home in Eastwood Neighbors.

After prepping the drywall a little, I marked my layout. I was trying to stretch the tile as far as possible, because the homeowner only had a limited amount and we weren't sure where to get more to match. That's fine, I had just enough to do it all.

Prepwork is very important to laying tile. For a backspash, drywall is typically a suitable surface because of the limited exposure to water, unlike a shower surround where you'd want some kind of cement board under the tile because it's less affected by the moisture.

Working with the glass tiles is not that different from other smaller mosaics. A wet saw works well, just cut slowly to try not to chip the tiles and leave a straight edge. My trick for cutting a sheet of tiles worked with glass too. (Read this post for that technique.)

The countertops haven't been installed yet, so I marked a level line on the wall where the tile should start. I attached a support along this line to hold the first rows of tile, a ripped 2x4 worked great. This ensures that I start off level as well, very important if I want this to look good!

I removed the tiles from the sheet where outlets would interfere and then put cut pieces in afterward. I like to hold them in place with blue painters tape as you see in the pictures.

The effect of having several sheets of these small 1" x 2" tiles is stunning. I might have to find some of these for my kitchen...

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com

Upgrade with Ikea Butcher Block Countertops

I started a new kitchen project today. By the time I'm finished there will be a glass mini-block backsplash and travertine floors throughout this character-filled East Nashville home. In addition, I'm installing butcher block counters from Ikea.

I tackled the counters first because they'll take a couple days to seal. The stock comes from IKEA in several different lengths. They are solid birch and come unfinished.

Working with the butcher block was fairly easy. This kitchen is divided into three sections with no 90 degree turns so that was helpful. To cut, I bought a Diablo finishing blade for my circular saw. (A finishing blade has more teeth so that it makes a cleaner cut.) I made the cuts so that the factory edges would be the only ones seen.

After making the measurements, I fastened a straight edge to the butcher block using clamps so that I'd have a solid edge to run the circular saw against. This extra precaution ensures that the ends will be square and straight- as long as I measured it right!

Cutting out the sink was the same as with a laminate top. I marked the sink and removed the piece with my jigsaw. You want to have a couple long boards under the butcher block while you're cutting it so that parts don't break off while you're cutting.

(Remember, today was the first day of this project. The pictures will get better as things progress! :)

Once the cuts were made I lightly sanded with 150 grit sandpaper and got ready to finish them. (Remember to sand with the grain.) Thankfully the block was fairly smooth and didn't need major sanding.

I did quite a bit of reading to see what was recommended to finish the butcher block. Of course, Ikea has their own sealer, but, by far, most people seem to recommend using a product called Waterlox.

Waterlox is a tung-oil based sealer that is non-toxic and food safe according to the manufacturer, as long as it's applied correctly. It should be allowed to dry overnight between coats and these counters will probably get 4 coats with at least 2 coats on the bottoms. Waterlox can be a little tricky to locate. I found it at the Woodcraft store in Franklin.

All the butcher block in this kitchen cost around $200. Not much more than stock laminate from the home stores. If you don't live near an Ikea the shipping costs will eat you alive. This homeowner was able to pick up the counters on a trip through Atlanta so it made sense for him.

So far, I'm impressed, but the real test will be after a few years of use.

BTW- If you want more info about installing Ikea butcher block check out: www.IkeaFans.com.

-Peter

www.CarpentryGuy.com