"Why do brides wear white? ...so the dishwasher matches the refrigerator."

We bought a new house!
Well, not "new." It's nearly a hundred years old, and needs a lot of work. We got it super cheap on an online auction which was kind of weird. Sure we had to meet at an office to sign a paper, but we bought our house. online. with my phone.

Walking up the sidewalk with the keys felt pretty surreal. I've never owned property before. We put on a few tours for our family and close friends. Some people were so excited for us. Others simply said, "Well, I would be intimidated." After that, we pretty much locked her back up and didn't visit too often. We had so much figuring and planning to do. For a while, all we could do was some occasional yardwork, and let me tell you, it's a jungle. Slowly, we began to formulate a plan of action. Finally, we are ready financially, and the work can begin!
So far, we've been contacting roofers, electricians, and my dad. I've been itching to do what I can. I found a nice, stainless steel stove at a garage sale for a hundred bucks, so I drove that over and dropped it off. I'm going to patch up plaster in several rooms, and (when Tim and I are ready) I can start tearing out plaster in the rooms that we'll sheetrock.

With all this waiting and less exciting stuff, I've had plenty of time to contemplate my kitchen. First of all, there's this forest green tile backsplash. It wouldn't look so bad except it "fades" to white around the stove hook-up, with a few green squares here and there. It sort of reminds me of pixels from an old video game. The floor tiles are blues, purples, and neutral tones. The cabinets are painted green like the wall tiles, and the walls are painted blue like the floor tiles. To borrow an analogy: the color schemes are "bickering like brothers in the back seat. 'Mom, are we there yet? NO!'" I have no desire to attempt to tie them together.
So I am left with no option but to get rid of one of the tiles. The wall is pretty tacky, and the floor is pretty nice. The choice isn't a difficult one. Actually, the floor is a great place to start. "From the floors up" has become my mantra. I think it before making any decisions about the rest of the kitchen because everything has to at least coexist with that surface. Any colors I choose will come out of the preexisting color palette right beneath my feet.

I knew from the beginning, I couldn't replace the backsplash. We aren't in a great neighborhood. This house, while we got it cheap to begin with, could never sell for more than a certain amount. Because there's a cap on its value, we have to be careful not to pour too much money into it. That being said, I've got to do what I was raised to do: always look for cheaper alternatives.
First I spent some time looking into peel-and-stick tiles. It's a pretty awesome product, actually, but not quite cheap enough. Then I headed over to Pinterest and read lots of tutorials about painting tile. Lots of people went with oil based paints under some kind of varnish. A backsplash doesn't get a lot of wear and tear, but I was a little hesitant about that. Then I found out about those epoxy tub and sink refinishing kits. (made by Homax, not Hormel who makes chili) There're a lot of angry reviews from people who now have peeling bathtubs and can't bathe without getting paint chips in their hair, but there are a few great reviews implying that other people didn't adequately prep their surfaces. Since I don't plan on my kitchen wall getting the same kind of use as a bathtub, I think it'll hold up real well if I make sure I follow the instructions right. I ordered a bisque finish instead of bright white. Ever notice how "bisque" is kind of a vague color? It kind of annoys me that the website doesn't have a picture of the product color, but all the colors from the google image results can be found somewhere in the floor colors. (From the floors up!) I ordered it today because epoxy stinks literally and takes several days to harden completely. I'd rather get this project finished before we move in, and before we make a mess with plaster dust.

On that note, there's something else I want to use before the dust comes. At first, I wasn't concerned about my discolored laminate countertops. A friend mentioned that someone painted theirs to look like granite. I had seen DIY blogposts about the same project, but I never looked into it. I didn't believe that it would look very good. But then he said it actually looked really cool. So I found some of those posts and flipped through the pictures. They looked good. VERY good, actually. And the best thing about granite is that there are all kinds of colors, so I could do what I wanted. My favorite picture didn't come with a tutorial, just a note that they used Envirotex Lite for a high gloss finish. Hmm... more epoxy. I read that one pour-on coat is like 50 coats of varnish. I've worked with epoxy a lot in my art-student days, and I know what it's like. The idea of putting it on my countertops only began to feel less intimidating once I watched a boring youtube link with an instructional video.
I'm looking to spend around a hundred bucks for a "new" backsplash and "new" "granite" countertops. If I get the chance, I'll let you know how it goes.