Kitchen Backsplash Tiles, Now Beadboard

Over at the Little Mac Shack they have been working on covering up their kitchen backsplach tiles with a new updated beadboard look.  See how they accomplish it with no tile demolition.


So, we've been plugging away on our kitchen project and I'm finally ready to reveal our grand transformation! (As a side note, please understand that most of the "we"s throughout this post really mean "Mr. Mac." Oh, and this room NEVER gets good natural light. Sorry!)

Now, I must say we were very lucky to purchase our Little Mac Shack from an architect. He had already upgraded our 1930s bungalow in many ways. The once three bedroom home is now two bedrooms with a spacious master closet, we've got built-ins galore and TONS of great recessed lighting. Unfortunately, some of the decorative finishes are not what we would have chosen. We'd done some painting, but the one thing we hadn't touched was the kitchen tile.

OH, the kitchen tile. The thing is it wasn't hideous. It wasn't puke green, or cracked or stain. It just wasn't what we would have picked. Most of it was a dingy cream color with a gray-ish decorative band near the top.

Hrm... I'm more of a crisp white gal. We've painstakingly painted all of our cream trim Delicate White and the cream tile just did NOT fit in. What to do? Well, we definitely were not excited about breaking out all of the existing tile and attempting a new tile job. So, I cannot tell you how excited I was when I stumbled upon Thrifty Decor's Chick's kitchen beadboard project. HELLO! You can put beadboard on top of existing tile?!?! Sign us up!

First step, a good scrub down...

Then, time to deal with a pesky vent.

Finally, time to get some beadboard on the wall!

We used PowerGrab adhesive and went with these vinyl wainscot panels from HD. Why vinyl? Good for kitchen clean-up.  Smaller, easier to work with pieces. No dealing with warped beadboard sheets. I was initially worried that the final result would look too "plastic" but it turned out perfectly.  (When the pieces first went up, you could see the break between the panels. If you look closely at the above picture, you can tell there are four panels up on that wall. However, a tiny bead of caulk where the panels met killed the shadow and made it all seamless. Beautiful!)

The toughest part was working around all of the odd edges and our TONS of outlets. (I just counted, we have 9 outlets in that little kitchen.)

About halfway through the project, we had to pause and wait for a special delivery...

New cabinets! Our kitchen had a secret. With a quick glance, you saw crisp white cabinet. Lovely. However, a closer look revealed FOUR different styles of cabinets. Yes, four.

Predominant style...

Above the stove...

Original(?) metal sink unit...

Cheap wooden cabinets to the left of the sink...

I would never part with that sink unit and the cabinets over the stove were close enough, but the cheap wooden number had to go!
The new cabinets look much better and Mr. Mac even built me another corner shelf to fill the space between the cabinets and the window...

And because there is nothing better than a good before and after...

BEFORE...

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

We are loving our freshened up kitchen! Didn't Mr. Mac do a fantastic job?

And because I can't do a post this long without a dog shot...

What a helpful pup!

That is a nice kitchen update with new beadboard and cabinet doors.  What are your thoughts on their process with the beadboard?