I would love to show you pictures of our tile being installed and all the work that went into it but, it happened so fast that I didn’t have a chance to photograph it. I know…bad blogger.  Here is a little photo evidence of the install

As my apology though, I will share how to seal newly installed tile! {Disclaimer: I am NOT a tile expert. Before applying anything to your tile, please check with a professional. The products shown here are just what our professional adviser recommended.}

Your supplies:
- Tile Sealer
- Plastic scraper
- Vacuum
- Mop
- Water
- Paper Towels
- Toothbrush {or similar}

Let’s start with the floor tiles. Our tile has a small amount of grout that didn’t get scraped off when the tile was being installed. I started by vacuuming the tile to get the surface dust and dirt off.

From there, I went on to mopping the tile with a small amount of water.

Then, using a vegetable brush, tooth brush and cup of water, I went tile by tile to scrub off any extra grout. I used paper towels to wipe up the water immediately after my scrub.

Once that was done, I vacuumed the tile again to make sure it was nice and clean.

After the tile was cleaned, I poured some of my solution into a bowl and grabbed my sponge. I started in the back corner and worked my way out wiping the tiles with the sponge. 

The key is make sure there are no sitting puddles as you go along. I waited 1-2 minutes for anything that looked like excess to seep in. If there was still excess after that time, I wiped it up with a paper towel.

Once you are done, stay off of your tile for about 12 hours. Then, apply a small amount of water to the tile and check to see if it seeps in. 

If it does, you need to apply a second coat. If it doesn’t, you are good!

Now, the wall tiles! These are MUCH easier since our guy recommended to just seal the grout versus the entire tile. 
Grab your solution and a small paint brush. Paint the grout lines with your solution.

Let sit for 12 hours and you are done.

So, you now know that we’ve been busy shopping bees buying stuff for the wetbar {mostly from Ikea}. We now have 198+ boxes/pieces in our basement ready for assembly.

Want to take a look at what is in those boxes?

We went with the Ramsjo in Black/Brown for our cabinets and drawers. There is a mixture of solid doors and glass front doors

We’ll have the Tyda handles on all of the cabinets and drawers.

For the countertop, we ended up going with Silestone Mont Blanc

For the appliances, we did the Renlig tall tub dishwasher. It has a higher sound decibel rating than I would have done in our kitchen but, since this is in the basement and will run overnight, I didn’t mind it being in the 56 decibel range.

We had originally planned on a full size wine refrigerator but decided to be a little more practical. So, we selected the Nutid refrigerator. It was amazing how hard finding a French door {or almost any full size fridge really} with no ice maker/water dispenser in the door.

I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the microwaves there so picked a different one from Lowes. Nothing fancy…just a basic stainless steel and black microwave.

For the floors, we have the Claro Silver Travertine tile.

Now, we just have to put all those things together!

Ready for some cabinet shopping?

From the start of this whole basement planning thing, we knew we wanted a wet bar. We also knew that we didn’t want to drop a ton of cash on cabinets BUT didn’t want cheapo looking/feeling cabinets either. We’re picky that way

Let me remind you what space we’re talking about here…

We did a little research (i.e. got quotes from 4-5 places) on cabinets for this space. A lot of places were coming in around $7k for the cabinets. That figure was not really in our price range so we kept looking. In reading around on different blogs, I found a lot of people used Ikea for cabinets.

Off to Ikea we went…where we found we would save at least $2k on the cabinets. Well, we just kind of sat on that info for a while because we weren’t really ready to order cabinets that would be arrive in a week or so (versus the 8-12 week timeline of the other stores).

Then, Ikea did us a solid and started their kitchen sale right when we needed it. The sale would give us an additional 20% off of our purchase. So, we went back ready to purchase.

I’ll get to our actual selections in another post but first some Ikea kitchen shopping tips.

1) Use their online kitchen planner BEFORE going to the store. It is a great tool that lets you design the kitchen in 3D, print your designs and generate a supply list. We didn’t do this and so we spent a lot of time in the store that could have been avoided. Here’s our plan from their online planning tool:

2) Have accurate measurements when planning. I’m sure this sounds obvious but, since we were initially doing research prior to the space being framed, our measurements changed slightly over time.

3) Set a budget. Just like any store, there is a HUGE range of options that fit into just about any price range. Just know what your price range is!

4) When you are ready to order, block off a significant amount of time for the in-store ordering portion. It may seem like, after doing step 1, you can just walk into the store with your supply list and order. It really isn’t that simple. You will want to sit down with one of their kitchen planners and have that person look over your design and list to make sure you didn’t forget anything. Even with a prior trip + an online design, we were still there for 3+ hours actually placing our order.

5) Shop in late July/early August. This is when they do their annual kitchen sale…although, I have heard it happens more than once a year. It helped us save an additional 20% on our kitchen stuff.

6) Buy it all at once. Buying everything in one big order will really help ensure that you get everything you need. Plus, if you are getting it delivered, you get the most benefit of that $99 delivery fee.

7) Bring your calendar. When you order, you’ll also go to the delivery desk to schedule delivery (unless you are awesomesauce and get to take them home that day) so be sure you have a date in mind. Oh, and the delivery window is typically 10am-10pm so you’ll need an entire day!

8) Bring a folder or some sort of paper holder. Ordering the kitchen stuff comes with a lot of paperwork. For us, we ordered cabinets, appliances and a countertop. Plus, there were 2 items not in stock. Each one of these comes with a separate piece of paper and/or receipt. They give you a little folder to keep it in but I would 100% suggest some sort of zippered document holder to keep those receipts all together.

9) Inventory! When your stuff arrives, be sure to match it up to your receipt to ensure that you received everything you were supposed to. You have limited time to go back for corrections so this is really important.

10) Read the directions. The cabinets come flat packed (like just about everything from Ikea!) so be sure to read the directions before getting started.