Rental-Friendly Kitchen Backsplash
Lately, with all of my work travel, I haven't really been spending too much time in the kitchen. This past weekend, was one of the first weekends, in a while, where I actually had a chance to enjoy being home and of course it didn't take long for me to find a project. I had wanted to do something with the under cabinet space in my kitchen, for a while, but I wasn't quite sure what, so I got in the car and went looking for a little inspiration.
Have you ever come across a really good shopping center, that has all of your favorite stores in one place? This was me on Saturday, when I pulled into the Plaza El Segundo shopping center and found The Container Store, Cost Plus World Market, and HomeGoods all in one place. Although it started out as just browsing, I found my inspiration in the kitchen storage aisle, of the Container Store, when I came across these really cool under cabinet chrome stemware holders.
After checking out at The Container Store, I realized that all of my wine glasses were stemless, which led me to the clearance aisle at HomeGoods, where I found a set of 6 wine glasses for $10. (It's no secret that I love a deal). Once I got home and installed the stemware rack, I still felt like something was something missing. I had to find something to break up all of the white in my kitchen.
The Before:
The thought of a tile backsplash popped in my head, but seeing as I don't own my apartment, taking down tile and plaster, once I moved, didn't really seem like a commitment I wanted to make. After doing a little digging around online, I found a temporary and more cost-effective option that would give me the same look within minutes. Luckily Home Depot stays open til 10, so I made that my last stop of the night and picked up 6 Smart Tile Peel and Stick Decorative Mosaic Wall Tiles and a box cutter. It took about 10-15 minutes to install the backsplash and required very little guess-work. I did have to cut a few pieces to size, but other than that, I'd say just about anyone could do this. For more information check out this step by step installation video.
Here are the results.
The After
I also picked up two new cookbooks, "Vegetables" by Martha Stewart and "My Life on a Plate" by Kelis, from Barnes and Noble, to get my cooking mojo back.
** Remember, 9 times out of 10, there is a temporary, renter friendly way to do most home updates, you just have to get creative and be resourceful ! **