Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Easy BackSplash Makeover using SMART TILES




 Good Morning again my Beauties!
I have been hard at work with lots of projects 
and little time to write about them.
I finally eeked out this post late last night as we are prepping to go on our
first camping trip of the summer.
How convenient that my post is about our travel trailer. :)


 You see we bought our new travel trailer a couple of years ago. 
I love this thing! Especially after all the years the six of us and the dog crammed ourselves
into a much smaller camper for all the past 15 or so years. 
When we found this camper we loved it. It was the perfect one for our family.
But as with anything that sits outside year after year you start to have a few minor issues.


 Here was our issue. It started at the end of last summer. These tiny bumps appeared out of nowhere 
on the back splash in the kitchen area.
We had no idea what it was as there was no spot anywhere else in the whole camper.
But it never got any worse so we decided to just watch it, as we could not find the cause.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago when I was making over my sisters backsplash at her Condo.
You can see that post HERE.
A friend of mine who also travels all summer said..."oh man, I have been wanting to do that in the travel trailer"...I thought..."OH DUH"!!!!
This was my CHANCE! 
I could finally see what was causing those raised bumps AND I could update the look of the BackSplash.

 So I got to work. Pulling off the old border was a piece of cake. 
Its wasn't like normal wallpaper but a giant sticker. It peeled right off;
but when it got to the spot with the bumps..It ripped the wallpaper right off the back wall board.
NOW we would finally know!
Come to find out it was a small spot of water damage. 
We have had a very wet...very snowy winter and spring.
Hubby got on top of the camper to see a small piece of caulk was missing exactly RIGHT over
where this water damage was sitting.

 Good old hubby got up on the roof and repaired the missing caulk and caulked everything else again
for good measure.
While he did that I had let the board dry out and then I DRY LOCKED the whole area and a bit around the area just to be safe.
Once the UN FUN stuff was finally done, and the dry lock was dry and cured it was FINALLY time to start the Makeover.
The colors went PERFECTLY with the whole interior of our travel trailer.


 Having done it once already I was ready to roll.
I gathered all my tools including a utility knife, sharp scissors, straight edge and light sand paper and cleaner for the backsplash (since we don't do a ton of greasy cooking in the camper and I didn't want to put chemicals on the backsplash I simply lightly sanded the whole area and cleaned the area well with an ammonia based cleaner)
I cut my starting tile made sure it was level and started peeling...and sticking..
The KEY as they say ...is OVERLAP! Not my hubby or my kids could see where any of my seams were. In fact when I go back and look it takes me a while to find them as well.
You can see the full video on how to use them HERE.
The only time I ever needed my hubby's help was for him to help me pull the hood over the range down so I could put the tiles back behind without having to make a bunch of awkward cuts.


I am in love with how it looks and how Easy it was.
I would use this again in a heart beat and my mind is honestly racing to see where
I could use them next.
 Between my sisters condo and our travel trailer I have had about 10 people ask me
if was real tile. No one can tell the difference.

I can't wait to head out camping tomorrow.
All my work will be worth it when I wake up that first cool camping morning and 
my eyes will be greeted by my new beautiful backsplash!
Now you guys go and have a BEAUTIFUL day!!!




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"I received product and/or compensation for reviewing Smart Tiles  Company products. All opinions are genuine."