This post contains a partnership with SimpleCoat through Statusphere. All opinions are my own.

When we bought our house in spring 2018, we created a long list of DIY projects to upgrade, improve, and tailor the house to be exactly what we wanted it to be. This lengthy list included everything from painting the walls and trim to replacing the deck and pergola in the back yard. But the item at the very top of our list was renovating the kitchen.

Our galley kitchen sits behind the living room and is connected to a small breakfast nook with three windows looking into the back yard. Even though the space was dark and dated, we could see potential to make it a bright room we would love spending time in.

A single piece of bright red laminate not only served as the countertop, but also curved up to form the backsplash. A truly baffling concept. The cabinets were chipped and cracked in some places and the garbage disposal wasn’t working. Like I’ve said in previous blog posts about our house, the previous homeowners did not take care of the house, and even if they caused damage to any part of the house, they didn’t bother fixing it.

We started ripping apart the kitchen as soon as we moved in, with the whole renovation taking roughly two months to complete. We replaced the ugly red laminate with slabs of white quartz. I initially wanted granite, but Colton was set on quartz. He eventually swayed me after he explained how easy quartz is to take care of. Quartz is extremely durable and non-porous so it resists staining and doesn’t collect bacteria. It also doesn’t need to be sealed and cleaning the surface is as simple as wiping it down. So we selected a beautiful white quartz with light lines of gray running throughout.

We decided not to replace the cabinets since they were overall in decent shape. We, along with the help of my construction-savvy father-in-law, sanded down the cabinets as best we could and painted them a deep shade of gray to complement the light French gray we painted the walls throughout the house.

We debated on the backsplash for some time before I finally won with a simple yet elegant white subway tile with white grout. Since the room is so dark on one side and we went with a dark cabinet color, I felt the countertop and backsplash needed to be the source of light. We did the entire backsplash ourselves even though neither of us had much experience (thank you, Youtube!). I’m not going to lie, it was harder than we thought! Keeping the tiles in a straight line all the way down the wall was next to impossible and cutting tiles to fit around the outlets (of which our kitchen has a surplus) was an absolute pain. But we did it! After grouting, the whole backsplash took about three days to complete.

To be very honest, after we finished the backsplash, we were so sick of working with tile and grout that we didn’t immediately seal everything with a sealer. We let it sit for several months before we finally picked out a sealer we wanted to work with. We settled on SimpleCoat, a natural stone polish and sealer.

I was really drawn to SimpleCoat for two reasons. First, it’s easy to use, which is music to my ears after doing all of that backsplash work!  And second, SimpleCoat’s formula is eco-friendly and non-toxic. It’s food-safe and pet-safe, with no odor, solvents, VOCs, BPAs, or petroleum distillates – which is perfect considering I’m using it in an area where we store and prepare food!  And SimpleCoat is safe to use on most surfaces, including natural stone (granite, marble, quartz, travertine, and more), stainless steel, leather, hard plastics, wood, and, of course, grout.

Applying SimpleCoat as either a polish or a sealer is super easy. Saturate the soft cloth provided with the SimpleCoat formula and wipe on the surface you wish to shine up or protect. Then immediately wipe down the surface with a soft, dry cloth. For porous surfaces, you can let the sealer sit for up to an hour before wiping down. Then you’re done! SimpleCoat is safe for skin contact and is completely odor free so there’s no need for masks or gloves when you’re applying! Now our backsplash tile and grout are shiny and protected against liquid and staining. You can buy SimpleCoat with a 5% discount on Amazon here.

And there you have it! Our completed kitchen renovation. Well, almost complete. We still need to replace the light fixture in the middle of the ceiling. We’re planning to replace the dated, ceiling-flush fluorescent fixture with pot lighting around the cabinets. Colton even wants to play with up-lighting on top the cabinets toward the ceiling and down-lighting below the cabinets onto the countertops. But for now, we’re so happy with the way the room turned out. The space is light, bright, and a great place to cook and bake in.

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