Renovating certain parts of a home is always an exciting experience regardless of whether you’re hands on or not. It’s a way of fulfilling your wishes and seeing it eventually come to reality gives you a feeling of thrill and excitement.
If you want to add value to your home, renovating the kitchen is a must. For those who are still not aware, the kitchen and bathroom are important parts of a house that most homebuyers give much consideration. These are also the ones that real estate agents prioritize.
A great way of remodeling your kitchen today is to use backsplashes. These are plain colored, patterned or hand painted tiles installed on the walls above the countertops including the cooking range area.
A unique type is the travertine backsplash. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it evokes a natural stone appearance unlike the other types of tiles that have a smooth surface. Common colors for this material are cream, beige, gold, ivory, grey, coral red and deep walnut. Various sizes are also available from the 12 x 12 inches, 18 x 18 inches and the rectangular ones.
If you’re not familiar with this material, travertine is a type of stone that can be found in Italy, Turkey, Mexico and Peru. It is a relative of limestone the reason for their similarity in shades. Travertine normally forms from geothermal springs and a favorite habitat of algae, macrophytes and other organisms. For this reason, you will see holes on this stone particularly those in their natural forms.
But today, you have two choices when using travertine in your home depending on what look you want to achieve. You can choose the filled or unfilled forms. Other finishes are available as well such as the polished with a shiny appearance, honed which has a smooth and slightly shiny surface, brushed which features a natural and grainy surface and the tumbled which evokes a natural look with more texture.
Being a natural stone, the big advantage of a travertine backsplash is its durability. When properly maintained, the material can last for a long time.
Installing a travertine backsplash in your kitchen can be an affordable remodeling project. Depending on the size and types you want, the price of this tile starts at only $2 or more per square foot. Those that command a higher price already took into account the source of the stone, its thickness, its rarity and type of pattern.
A good way to ensure that your tiles are mounted equally is to use tile spacers between the tiles while you’re installing them one by one. These spaces will need to be filled in by grout once you’re done installing your kitchen backsplash.
To successfully complete a travertine backsplash installation project, you need to leave the mounted tiles overnight. This is to ensure that they stick to the wall securely before putting the grout in between the spaces. Applying the grout is the last step in creating a modern and elegant kitchen that you and your family will love to be in most of the time.