It Took Two to Spice Up the White Subway Tile in This Kitchen

This article details a rental-friendly kitchen renovation that focuses on the installation of peel-and-stick subway tiles to create a new backsplash. The author, Lydia Geisel, highlights the experience of Youtuber and DIYer Alexandra Gater, who sought to upgrade her tiny Toronto kitchen. Gater had already planned other affordable upgrades, such as swapping plastic-y counters for herringbone butcher block and adding a farmhouse sink, all with her landlord's approval, provided additions remained neutral. However, for the backsplash, she initially considered installing white ceramic subway tiles but ultimately opted for a more colorful and temporary solution due to her love for pink. The article explains Gater's decision to use peel-and-stick tiles from Smart Tiles, specifically the millennial pink Metro Ava option. She was initially wary of products that felt like mere stickers but found that Smart Tiles' gel-like finish provided an authentic shine and could withstand moisture, making them suitable for a bathroom facelift she had previously undertaken. The key appeal was the ability to incorporate color without making a permanent commitment, an essential factor for renters. The renovation process is broken down into four straightforward steps. Step one involves measuring the space to determine the quantity of tiles needed, with a recommendation to use the calculator on Smart Tiles' website and to purchase extra tiles for future use. Step two emphasizes preparing the walls by cleaning them with mild soap and a damp rag to ensure a smooth application surface, noting that these tiles adhere to most materials. Step three focuses on the application process itself. The tiles come in strips, making coverage quick. For precise edges, Gater advises using a sharp X-Acto knife and a ruler. The application starts from a bottom corner, working across from left to right and upwards. The article suggests that if any gaps remain, they should be positioned near the top where they are less noticeable. The interlinking grout lines are designed to be intuitive, requiring users to simply layer the white seams. The final step addresses filling gaps and making aesthetic decisions. Gater had extra tiles and considered extending them around the corner or wrapping them behind the refrigerator. Ultimately, she decided against tiling the entire L-shaped kitchen, opting instead to leave the second wall white and fill a one-inch gap at the top with pink paint. This decision was based on the understanding that an accent backsplash, especially with a bold color, can be sufficient and is commitment-free, ensuring the landlord remains unaware of any permanent changes. The article concludes by emphasizing the ease and rental-friendliness of this DIY backsplash project. #RentalKitchen #PeelAndStickTiles #DIYHomeImprovement #KitchenBacksplash #HomeRenovation #AffordableDecor #SmallSpaces #DesignInspiration

This article highlights four regional architects who renovated five outdated kitchens in Pittsburgh, transforming them from functional spaces into designer areas. The architectural projects emphasize improved layouts, increased natural light, and enhanced aesthetics, focusing on the kitchen as the central hub of the home. Architect Mary Cerrone undertook two kitchen renovations. In Squirrel Hill, a 320-square-foot kitchen and deck addition aimed to improve the home's functional layout and views. The design incorporated durable materials such as linoleum over radiant floor heat, stainless steel, engineered stone countertops, stained maple cabinets, and porcelain tiles. A new deck connected to the kitchen expanded views and natural light. Cerrone maximized space by combining the kitchen with a small pantry, building out over the basement stair for a recessed refrigerator, and using a sliding screen door to eliminate door swings. In Upper Saint Clair, Cerrone transformed a 1,000-square-foot first-floor kitchen from a builder-style design into a streamlined, contemporary space. This involved redefining connections between the kitchen, eating area, laundry, and family room by adding windows and reorienting the kitchen workspace. The project featured end-matched walnut cabinets, aluminum and glass elements, Cambria countertops, and cork flooring. Storage was maximized by trading wall cabinet space for windows and installing an 8-foot length of full-height cabinets. The formal dining room was converted to a living room, and a generous eat-in area was created to accommodate twelve people. Fred M. Fargotstein focused on renovating a 1920s Pittsburgh home, changing its 1970s modern kitchen to a traditional style that aligned with the house's overall character. The renovation increased the kitchen size by 36 square feet by removing a servants’ stair. A colorful cast iron English import range became a focal point, featuring five commercial-style burners, two convection ovens, and a separate broiling compartment. Fargotstein improved efficiency by eliminating the problematic servants’ stair traffic pattern, creating a contiguous countertop work area, and ensuring the dishwasher did not obstruct access. A separate, fully functional work zone was incorporated in the pantry, complete with a prep sink and hot beverage station. Storage capacity was significantly increased by extending wall cabinets to the ceiling and incorporating glass doors for a sense of openness. Custom modifications included specialized storage for cookbooks and a nook for pet food bowls. Paul J. Levine revamped his own 1920s French Tudor home's kitchen in Point Breeze. His goals included aligning the kitchen with the home’s style, complementing existing Mexican Saltillo tile floors, increasing home value, and creating an eco-friendly space. The small kitchen, measuring 8 by 15 feet, was designed in a Craftsman style. He maximized island cabinet space and countertop surface for a bar-type eating area, using frameless cabinet construction to enhance interior space. Custom features included extending wall cabinets to the ceiling, using drawers instead of roll-out shelves, and a specific drawer for flatware. Levine self-performed the construction, using low VOC paint, water-saving fixtures, and Energy Star-rated appliances. He replaced a drafty back door with an energy-efficient wood door and restored a transom window. Gerald Lee Morosco led a kitchen remodel in Shadyside as part of a rehabilitation of a Dutch Colonial-style home. The existing kitchen, remodeled in the 1980s, lacked historical details. Morosco’s design aimed to reintegrate functionality with the home’s classic style. The kitchen was arranged into functional areas: a primary cooking area with a range and island, a cleanup area with dual dishwashers, a pantry with storage for a freezer and wine cabinet, and a breakfast space. Cabinet and drawer contents were meticulously planned for efficiency, with pull-out trays for pots and pans, and individual bins for garbage and recyclables. The island's non-working side included pull-up stools for guests, allowing them to engage without obstructing the cooking process. #KitchenRenovation #HomeDesign #ArchitecturalDesign #InteriorDesign #SpaceMaximization #SustainableDesign #FunctionalKitchens #PittsburghHomes #HomeImprovements

The home design landscape, particularly for kitchens and bathrooms, is undergoing a significant transformation, moving away from traditional safe, neutral aesthetics towards a vibrant embrace of color and pattern. This shift was prominently displayed at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas, where luxury brands showcased appliances and fixtures in bold hues. For instance, True presented refrigeration and wine coolers in emerald green with brass or copper pulls, while Ann Sacks featured crackled glossy tile in similar shades, notably made from recycled materials. Kohler introduced sinks in plum, lavender, and indigo, reflecting prevailing home décor trends. BlueStar, known for its extensive color options, highlighted Living Coral, Pantone’s 2019 color of the year, and even teased a patterned prototype with blue-and-white stripes and floral overlays, designed by Madcap Cottage. The collaboration between Dolce and Gabbana and Smeg brought their vivid, ebullient patterns to ranges, stove hoods, refrigerators, and small appliances, marking a departure from the conventional white cabinets, Carrera marble, and stainless steel that have long dominated kitchen design. This burgeoning appetite for color and pattern extends beyond appliances to cabinetry and surface materials, invigorating design shows in global hubs like Paris, Frankfurt, and Milan. Trend-watchers have observed an increasing exuberance, with some designs verging on full-blown maximalism. This movement aligns with the growing emphasis on customization and bespoke solutions in home décor, a theme central to events like EuroCucina. While modular forms popular in Europe have yet to fully permeate the U.S. market, personalization is gaining significant traction. Beyond bold colors, there's also a warming trend in metal finishes, with burnished brass, rose gold, and copper replacing stainless steel pulls. Black matte, often paired with gold, is also gaining popularity. Exhibitions at KBIS demonstrated innovative material mixing, including natural and stained wood, matte or lacquered finishes, and various stones, porcelain, and metals. Manufacturers are actively responding to this demand for individuality. Kohler has expanded its palette to cater to the desire for more color in the home. Dacor offers a DacorMatch Color Match service, allowing consumers to personalize appliances with custom colors. Victoria and Albert provides 194 RAL colors through its color-match system, supplementing its standard offerings. Industry insights suggest a growing interest in deep blues and greens, alongside predictions for warm palettes of apricots, tawny browns, and parchment. The rise of personalization is attributed to social media and technological advancements, as consumers seek to replicate admired aesthetics in their own homes. Digital printing technology, for example, enables the application of virtually any image, text, or pattern to appliances with durable, easy-to-clean finishes. This technological progress means consumers now have unprecedented tools to express their unique styles and avoid a "cookie-cutter" aesthetic. Designers are leveraging these new possibilities. Caitlin Wilson, for instance, made a BlueStar Pigeon Blue range and matching hood the centerpiece of her kitchen, contrasting it with white cabinets, natural oak, and antique brass accents. Angela Wellborn O'Neill of Wellborn Cabinets suggests that vibrant colors in kitchen design can enhance sensory experiences during cooking and serve as a focal point for the entire home. This trend also extends outdoors, with colorful grills inspiring patio décor. Hestan, an appliance manufacturer, actively gathers color insights from designers. John Loecke and Jason Oliver Nixon, authors of "Prints Charming," advocate for layering colors and patterns. Studio DB's Kips Bay Decorator Show House bathroom exemplifies this approach, featuring a plum clawfoot tub against a panther-patterned silver wallpaper and Viridian Green walls, creating a "sexy boudoir" ambiance. The role of pattern is also expanding through elegant hand-painted murals and a wider range of porcelain tiles, quartz, stones, and laminates, which now feature more exotic materials and complex veining. Backlighting and translucent surfaces like quartz and onyx further add dimension. Despite the growing acceptance of color and pattern, remodeling these spaces remains a significant investment, often leading to careful consideration of product choices and budget. However, there are accessible ways to introduce color, such as making a statement with a colorful range or tub, adding a vibrant backsplash, utilizing the floor as a canvas for geometric patterns, making the island a focal point, incorporating texture through strong wood grains or 3D tiles, or simply updating taps and cabinetry hardware for a quick refresh. #KitchenDesign #BathroomDesign #InteriorDesignTrends #ColorInDesign #HomeRenovation #ApplianceColors #Customization #PatternInDesign #MaterialMixing

Sophie McGehee embarked on a comprehensive renovation of her 1965 home in Little Rock, Arkansas, known as The Colorblock House, with a focus on assigning a distinct color to each room. Her kitchen, originally characterized by a bland, yellowish-beige aesthetic, was transformed into a vibrant, retro-inspired space with a bold teal color scheme. The initial state of the kitchen was problematic, featuring rundown equipment, unstable cabinets, chipped paint, and an inefficient layout. McGehee's initial intention was to perform a simple facelift, including painting the existing cabinets; however, a closer inspection revealed that a complete overhaul was necessary, prompting her to start the renovation from scratch. The renovation was a significant undertaking, classified as a professional project with an estimated cost of $15,000. With the assistance of an architect friend and a professional construction company, McGehee redesigned the kitchen layout, specifically for the oven and refrigerator. New cabinetry was installed and painted in Behr’s Dragonfly, a striking teal shade. This bold color choice was a central element of the transformation, reflecting McGehee’s preference for vivid hues. She advocates for experimenting with various paint colors and embracing bold choices, even if they deviate from conventional aesthetics. The new cabinets also incorporated open shelving, enhancing both the aesthetic appeal and functionality by providing ample storage and opportunities for displaying decorative items. Among the displayed items is a DIY faux cake crafted from styrofoam and paint. Further enhancements to the kitchen included a bright white square-tile backsplash installed behind the cabinetry, with blue grout adding a subtle yet playful detail that McGehee particularly appreciated. The introduction of a white vintage refrigerator, new appliances, and canned lighting contributed to brightening the overall space. The original yellowish-tan floors were replaced with a light gray wood-look laminate, and a dated pendant light above the sink was swapped for a brass and glass fixture, modernizing the area. The design was completed with geometric wallpaper adjacent to the ovens, an abstract-print washable rug, and a teal vintage poster, all contributing to the room’s cohesive retro-inspired and colorful theme. The renovated kitchen successfully integrated vibrant colors without overwhelming the space, achieving a balance between boldness and visual harmony. The project showcased a significant improvement from the dilapidated original kitchen to a functional, aesthetically pleasing, and colorful environment that aligns with the overall artistic vision of The Colorblock House. This transformation underscores the impact of strategic color application and comprehensive renovation on revitalizing a dated and dysfunctional space into a modern, retro-inspired focal point within the home. #KitchenRenovation #BeforeAndAfter #BoldColors #InteriorDesign #HomeProjects #RetroInspired #TealKitchen #DIYHome #HomeMakeover

Jim and Maureen Wolf, who married later in life, decided to renovate Jim's 1959-vintage kitchen in their Media home after Maureen moved in. Jim, a school psychologist in Delaware County, and Maureen, a property manager, concluded that his long-standing "man-cave" kitchen needed a complete overhaul to accommodate their new life together, and they aimed to achieve this on a budget. Jim had purchased the house in 1989 after a diving accident left him using a wheelchair. He had lived in the house ever since, initially with high school friends and later alone, before Maureen entered his life. The kitchen, with its dark wood, beams, original stove, low-slung ceiling, and linoleum floors, reflected its age and Jim's bachelor lifestyle, designed for easy cleaning rather than aesthetics or accessibility. The breakfast nook was rarely used, serving mainly as a pet refuge. The couple embarked on a renovation project to transform the outdated kitchen into an open-space concept, securing a loan for the undertaking. They enlisted the help of Patricia Nunan from Lifestyles Design in Perkiomenville, who guided them in creating a "universal access" kitchen. Universal design principles, typically applied for seniors to enable them to age in place, were leveraged to ensure ease of access for people of all ages and abilities, including Jim's use of a wheelchair. This approach aimed to make the kitchen functional and comfortable for both of them, now and as they age. The renovation budget was set at $80,000, and the couple strategically sought ways to save costs. They purchased appliances like a refrigerator, cooktop, and double wall oven during a buy-two-get-one-free sale at Sears. A pleasant surprise during the renovation was the discovery of wide-plank oak floors beneath the linoleum, which their contractor, Eric O'Brien, suggested sanding down to a lighter hue. This decision not only enhanced the aesthetics but also saved on new flooring costs. The low-slung ceiling was removed, a load-bearing beam was relocated, and space was borrowed from an outdoor porch to expand the kitchen area. The completed L-shaped kitchen and dining area now spans approximately 300 square feet, featuring an airy loft, a ceiling fan, and doors that offer views of the lush backyard. A working fireplace adds warmth and ambiance. While committed to their budget, the couple allowed for a few splurges. Maureen desired a wider, 36-inch cooktop to facilitate meal preparation, which Jim insisted she have. Jim, in turn, requested a loft-style ceiling and speakers for his sound system, allowing him to enjoy music daily, often joined by their Labrador retriever Gunner and tabby cat Rocky, who listen to classic rock-and-roll, Amos Lee, and Trisha Yearwood. Patricia Nunan's design effectively transformed the cramped and often scratched-up kitchen into a sleek and functional space. The universal design elements, including widened door frames, easy-open cabinets, a butcher block on wheels, and a barrier-free layout, mean the couple anticipates never having to move, as these features will accommodate them as they age. The renovated kitchen has become a central hub for their extended family during holidays, with children now enjoying table hockey and the pool, a testament to the successful integration of accessibility, aesthetics, and a welcoming atmosphere. Jim Wolf noted that visitors don't even realize it's a universal design, while Maureen Wolf expressed her comfort and warmth in their new kitchen. #KitchenRenovation #UniversalDesign #HomeImprovement #BudgetRenovation #AccessibleDesign #CoupleLiving #AgingInPlace #HomeDesign