Color Renderings of the Kitchen Design

I seriously don't have the time to be playing around in Photoshop, but I can't help obsessing over the kitchen design. A new cabinet guy is coming out today to take measurements and we are very excited that he understands the style we are wanting. I created these renderings from Steve's design to ensure that everyone is on the same page with the design concepts. We'll see how the meeting goes today. (Fingers crossed.)


Here are a couple of back splash ideas... We are at a complete loss as to what to put there. All white seems too "white", but we do not want it to be busy. We've had fantastic luck with the Hakatai mosaic tiles on our bathroom and pool projects, but I'm not sure it's right for this space. Please let me know if you have any brilliant ideas!

Cloudy Grout Scum

Looks like we will finish up grouting the pool tile tonight. Just have the lagoon and one skimmer left to complete. Health issues and appointments have slowed us down this week, but we're still on schedule to fill the pool this weekend. Yippee!


I love the grout lines... it is the DIY tiler's best friend. This is BEFORE I cleaned off the cloudy grout scum. (I just want to say cloudy grout scum one more time!) I'll post final pics when it is completely finished.

Progress on the pool

Max is an animal at removing the old tile. Some came off with just a tap tap... others worked best with a screwdriver as a pry-tool... but it was most fun to just whack at it with a hammer and watch the pieces fly.
IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: Ceramic shards cut skin quite nicely. (We all had our battle wounds from flying tile shrapnel. Wear gloves and safety goggles... also, keep a stack of Band-Aids handy.)
The old tile is gone and all the water has been removed, but it's not ready for new tile yet. The old mud and grout need to be removed!
Note from Steve:
And don't worry about that water... if you look at the large version of this pic you'll see six holes in the wall and I had just taken out one of the plugs. Two are for the current pump system- one takes dirty water to the filter, another shoots clean water back into the pool. When you plug up the return hole that diverts water to the upper pool area and the waterfall. I have NO idea what the other 4 holes are for. I've tried every combination of open/close with them and my best guess is that they're from the old pump system and the pervious owner just left the holes.


We tried scraping, wire brushing and pressure washing... none were successful at removing the old cement and grout. After a quick google search we found that another DIY pool tile person has used a 4.5" grinder with a masonry bit... and YES! It did the trick. It was messy and took Steve one day to grind down the tile base.

We also had to smooth out the lagoon. The plaster surface was installed over the old tiles. Steve cut into the plaster, removed the tile chucks and rounded over the thick part of the plaster. Not perfect, but will work great until it's time to resurface the pool. And a smooth, continuous line looks a lot better than before.

With the surface prepped and smooth, Steve applies a skim coat of cement to the border.

First tiles go up! Yup, that is a very blue/green border. I love it and it really will brighten up the pool.

The transition from the pool to the lagoon was tricky. The lagoon doesn't have the aggregate coping at the top. To keep the visual line of the aggregate we decided to add a dark grey mosaic blend to the top. It works really well and eases the transition from pool to lagoon a little better.

We spent hours laying on our stomaches nipping individual tiles to fit the curve of the pool. This is all under water, but I know it would bug me if it wasn't done right. No one will see it, but we know we like it!

The finished lagoon with grey border. Awwwww. We pre-sealed the tile yesterday and will start grouting tonight. We hope to have the pool filled by this weekend. (fingers-crossed!)

Tile Removal Begins

We began removing the tile around the lagoon today. The tiles actually POP off easily... not a good sign, so it's good that we are re-tiling.


The mortar is very crumbly under the tiles. We've found bugs, pine needles and mold under some of the tile, and the surface is very moist... is that normal? I think the only thing holding the tiles up is the grout. The removal looks to be the easy part. The cleaning and prepping will take some time. I'm going in to talk with our pool guy tomorrow to discuss strategy and buy the correct mortar and grout for the project.


Some of the tile actually sits underneath the pool surface and there are a few crack in the pool wall and lagoon bottom, so I will schedule a professional to come out and evaluate the pool surface. This may be a little more than a do-it-yourself project.

That's one green pool! Oh, and it's bigger than I estimated... I have to buy more tile.

Pool Tile is Here

I ordered tile on Tuesday and it was delivered this morning... it's gorgeous. I love Hakatai!

I'll post pics soon. :)

The Pool

Seems like I've been focusing on tile quite a bit, so sorry if this topic is getting a little boring.

New Project: The Pool
We planned to have the pool ready by Mother's Day, but our pool is a mess. Very, very green. And the weather has not been cooperating. It will actually cost less to drain and refill it than purchase all the chemicals required to clean it. The decision to drain it and start over was simple. Since it will be empty we will give it a good scrubbing, repair the tile and rust-proof the supports for the lava rock waterfall wall. I'm hoping that we can resurface the pool too, but that's still in the maybe column... the previous owner re-did it a few years ago and decided that the black bottom gave it a lagoon feeling. Who wants to swim in a lagoon?... when you can have the cheesy, bright, obnoxious turquoise color of the South Seas. I'm hopeful, but have no idea what the process is for resurfacing the pool bottom. We'll research this in the next couple of days and post our findings.

Step 1: Drain the pool.

Step 2: The blue tile must go.
Plan A: chip off all the country blue tiles around the edge and replace them with this snazzy mosaic from Hakatai. Today I ordered 50 sheets of Sky Blue/Mint Green Blend. It will be here next week.

Plan B: there is no plan B so plan A better work!

Colors in blend
30% sky blue
25% light blue
20% lake blue
15% mint
10% mint ice

Step 3: Clean metal supports and apply rust-proof paint
I know absolutely nothing about this. Steve will post the project details, but I believe it includes wire brushes and spray cans!

Step 4: Repair lava rock waterfall and reroute water.
Steve really wants to create a fabulous water feature in the back corner of the fill pond... possibly a volcano (surprise!) The water pipe carrying water from the pump house will need to be moved about 6-8 feet. Steve assures me that the process if fairly simple... but Rule #1 in home improvement is: nothing is ever simple.

Some of the rocks and masonry work around the waterfall is breaking down. Many rocks need to be re-set. I don't know how to do this either... hmmm. How hard can it be?

Step 5: Fill pool, add chemicals, heat water and enjoy!
Sound pretty simple to me. Time to start shopping for patio furniture!

More Fabulous Tile!

Check out these colors! Our friends just ordered custom blend mosaic tiles from Hakatai. I love these colors and they will look great with their pink/peach fixtures. Must be the season for bathroom projects!