by Wendy Scheel | Sep 28, 2016 | DIY
Have you ever noticed a disclaimer statement at the top of a blog? It looks something like this:
Disclaimer – This post is sponsored by {brand X}. All opinions are 100% my own.
The term ‘sponsored’ is usually defined as “they paid me to check out their product”. What it doesn’t mean is that you have to love the product. You just have to give your honest opinion.
There is not a disclaimer on the top of this post because I was not compensated to check out Aspect Peel and Stick Tiles. Aspect did send me the product for free though. Thank you Aspect!
After finishing Nikki and Jimmy’s backsplash I have some honest opinions, 100% my own of course.
For comparisons sake, I had the advantage of comparing the peel and stick tiles in Nikki and Jimmy’s kitchen and the mortar and grout tiling procedure from our kitchen.
Three things stood out between these two projects: Time, money and clean-up.
|
Time |
Money |
Clean-up |
| Aspect Tiles |
Easy weekend project |
Average cost:
$12.99/sq ft
(no additional costs) |
Minimal |
| Mortar and Grout |
Long weekend project |
Average cost:
$18.99/sq ft
(additional costs*) |
Tedious |
*additional costs include: trowels, wet saw, mortar, grout, sealer
Despite the obvious winner (based on the chart above), there was a minor drawback to the Peel-and-Stick tiles. The fact is, that the tiles are appropriately named. They are sticky, super sticky! So much so that once the sticky back of the tile touches the wall, it is very difficult to remove. For me this meant the placement of the tile had to be extremely accurate before it was pressed into place. On the positive side, you will never be worried about these tiles coming off.
So the question is, would I recommend Aspect Tiles?
I would highly recommend this product.
That being said, I would also recommend reading the directions thoroughly before beginning your project. Aspect Tiles has a great step-by-step tutorial on their website.
And now for the fun before and after pics!
What do you think? Peel and Stick or Grout and Mortar?
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Sep 14, 2016 | Life
It’s not easy growing a company. I started blogging a year ago in July and just reached my 200th post on Monday. I hadn’t even realized that I had reached such a big milestone, because I was so focused on filling a huge wholesale order, getting things ready for the upcoming Market on Old Lake George sale, and scheduling blog content with Sam. There are so many aspects of running a company, but reaching this fun milestone reminds me that I’m making progress.
One area of progress I did not see myself getting into when I first started this company was wholesale orders. Several people had messaged me through Etsy asking for a few blank pillow covers in order to work on a project of their own. What I realized is that many customers have their own ideas for pillows, but lack the sewing skills to get started. I saw this as a need and a huge opportunity.
This is a part of my shop people might not know about.
You can go in and order as few as four blank pillow covers, or you can order up to 100 covers at a wholesale price. I could explain exactly where that is in my Etsy site, but all you have to do is search “wholesale” in my shop specifically, OldLakeGeorge, and all the options for wholesale pillow covers will show up. (or click here)
I love some of the things people have done with my blank pillow covers. For instance, one of my customers ordered 50 white, cotton covers, which she then painted a unique watercolor pattern on. This is her shop.
Another customer ordered 100 cotton canvas covers, which she sold in her own shop once she had put her own design on them. You can see her shop here:
Working on these wholesale orders gets my creative juices flowing. So right in the middle of sewing my 75th zipper today, I stopped to create something of my own.
Although what I made today seems to fit more in the Christmas season, it sure does fit nicely into my Fall decorating doesn’t it?
Now that I have satisfied my creativeness, because that’s a word, it’s time to get back to the sewing machine and complete that order.
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Sep 12, 2016 | DIY
As you may know, yesterday was the official NFL Season opener. Our household isn’t huge on football, so I spent the day multitasking. With the football game playing in the background, I spent the day working on orders and planning out my week.
If you want a visual of what that looked like, you can catch it on my Instagram account, OldLakeGeorge, from yesterday! (Nobody likes the sound of their own voice right? Please don’t judge haha)
Across the street however, there is a household of avid Minnesota Vikings fans, our neighbors Jimmy and Nikki. I didn’t want to disrupt their game watching, but we had some work to do on their new backsplash. So I snuck over at halftime to get started.
As per the directions of Aspect Peel and Stick Tiles, the area needed to be clean, flat, smooth, dust free drywall. As you can see we already most of those steps accomplished, but I did I quick dusting with a cloth and voila! Ready.
Ok, not quite ready. Before we could actually lay tile, we needed to do a few things.
We checked that the area above the countertop was level. A nice level line is necessary because if you have a slanted beginning, you will have a slanted backsplash. Not good.
Then, we laid out the tile to make sure the pattern looked nice.
Lastly, we removed all the switch plates. Once they were off, we measured for the opening of theses plates and cut the tile. The tile Jimmy and Nikki chose was a very thin, slate tile that came in 6×23.5 inch sheets. They were very easy to cut using common kitchen scissors. If they had chosen something glass or metal, we would have had to use a glass cutting tool or a utility knife.
From this point on, using the Aspect Peel and Stick Tiles really was as easy as it sounds. All you had to do was peel off the paper on the back, line it up on the wall, and stick it on! And as a little side note, they have fantastic instructions on their website.
The only word of caution I would give is to make sure that you line the tile up carefully because once it’s stuck, it’s stuck!
As halftime ended, I wanted to let them get back to the game but I promised I would be back later this week to finish.
So far they are loving what they are seeing and I am too.
More updates this week,
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Sep 9, 2016 | Business
Prior to the Haven Conference, Wade and I had tiled our backsplash. You can read about our experience here. (I know this isn’t a super exciting way to start a blog, but hold on because this gets exciting!) After the backsplash project, Wade and I headed out to the Haven Conference in Atlanta. There we met Aspect Peel and Stick Tiles, a company that creates metal, glass and stone tiles. What is unique about their tiles is that they don’t require grout or mortar.
And believe me, that grouting process is not a fun one.
Anyone who attended the Haven Conference was sent a free deluxe sample kit, and I had been looking forward to receiving mine. When it came, I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-put together kit showcasing each type of tile they offered.
As happy as I was to receive the sample, I was disappointed that I didn’t have any more tiling projects in the works.
But I did know someone who did!
Back when we were completing our backsplash, Nikki had mentioned that she and Jimmy had been thinking about tiling their kitchen backsplash as well. So the other day, I brought over my sample kit to their house. I left it with them for a few days so they could dig through every option and play with different ideas.
Jimmy really liked the Brushed Stainless Metal Tile, and Nikki liked the Fresh Sage Glass Tile. Once I saw what they liked, I gently guided them towards the Iron Slate Stone Tile. Once they saw the Slate tile with their countertops, they knew that was the tile to go with.
The next step was to contact Aspect Tile.
Good Morning Jennifer,
Thank you so much for this great offer! I have received the sample box from your company and loved everything.
My husband and I recently tiled our kitchen backsplash. You can read the final series blog post here. That being said, I would love to help out our neighbors and tile their backsplash with your product.
Using Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook as well as our blog OldLakeGeorge.com, I believe we can create a wealth of excitement for our two companies.
We have measured the area they need tiled and will need 35 square feet of the Iron Slate tile.
I look forward to working with you,
Wendy
It was so easy to work with Jennifer. I told her what I needed and it was literally shipped out the same day!
Hi Wendy,
Great blog post and your backsplash looks great! That’s so cool you want to help your neighbors!
I will place the order for 35 square feet of Iron Slate today.
If you need anything else, don’t hesitate to ask.
Thanks,
Jennifer
Now that is great customer service.
I can’t wait to show you how to use Aspect Tiles and the process of tiling Nikki and Jimmy’s backsplash.
~Wendy
by Wendy Scheel | Aug 9, 2016 | Life
Well, it’s been about a week since I last posted and so much has happened since then! Wade and I left last Thursday evening for Atlanta, Georgia to attend the Haven Conference for Bloggers.
The trip started out very smoothly and we were having so much fun spending time together, but that all came to screeeeeeching halt when we went to baggage claim in Atlanta.
No luggage for Wade.
My luggage made it, but he was stuck with the clothes on his back.
So Friday morning rolls around and the conference gets started with a Welcome Session led by Marian of Miss Mustard Seed along with Shaunna of Perfectly Imperfect. These two successful bloggers shared a few personal stories and got us all excited for the weekend. In total I would say about 400 women and… 5 men were in attendance including my Wade who was still wearing the same clothes as Thursday night.
The weekend consisted of educational and instructional classes taught by famous bloggers and experts in different fields. In between the classes there were opportunities to meet various vendors. These vendors ranged from Home Depot, to Ryobi tools, to Wagner, to Mod Podge plus so many more.
Wade and I got the brilliant idea to ask vendors how we could win a t-shirt from them so that he would have something clean to wear.
Another aspect of the Haven conference that I personally loved was the fact that they matched first time attendees with a seasoned blogger to create a “tribe”. These tribes of attendees met daily to bounce ideas off of each other and ask questions. My tribe, led by Shaunna West, included myself and Wade and eight others. The joke of the weekend was that our group had a “token” male.
Saturday night was the big celebration, “The Saturday Soirée”. This was such a fun event because we got to dress up and be pampered with great food, great music and great conversations.
Everything wrapped up on Sunday with a few morning sessions, and then Closing Ceremonies featuring the Keynote speakers John and Sherry Petersik of Young House Love. From there Wade and I headed home. The entire trip back we chatted about what we had learned and how much fun we had. We both agreed that the number one takeaway from the conference was “Slow and steady wins the race”. A great reminder of this came when we found a giant sand turtle on our beach the next morning. Our neighbors spent the weekend on the beach and left us this adorable turtle named Tank.
I’m so excited to share with you all the ideas I came up with over this past weekend!
-Wendy
P.S. Please forgive my poor iPhone photos. With so much excitement, I forgot to take out my good camera. Silly Wendy.
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