It's amazing how things snowball when you start a renovation. What began as a small and manageable project quickly became an undertaking that was going to cost a lot more time and money than I'd budgeted for. But not everything has to dig a too-deep hole into the ol' pocket. Not if you're willing to try something new and put a little elbow grease into it. For a long time now, I've wanted to replace my backsplash. (The current one is just plain white, but there are six tiles that have this strange vignette of lobsters, potatoes and a glass of wine. Seriously. I can't make this stuff up.) So, these six tiles have irked me to no end and finally, as we embarked on this condo makeover, it was time to kiss those lousy lobsters goodbye. I was thrilled at the idea of putting up new tiles (I love the look of 1-inch by 1-inch glass tiles), but as my expenses continued to inflate beyond the limits of my budget, my designer Lisa suggested I paint the tiles. Paint them? To say I was skeptical is to put it mildly. But eventually, Lisa's can-do, no-problem, just-do-it attitude rubbed off on me. She picked up the primer and the paint I'd need and I set about the task (OK, I was still a little skeptical ... ) I scrubbed the tiles well to remove any film, dirt, grease and grime. Then I sanded them lightly, followed by a coat of primer. Today, I began painting them. Take a look at this in-progress shot below. It's not looking too bad - here's hoping it looks fantastic by the time I'm done! So instead of spending about $600 on tiles, we've updated the backsplash for about $30 (the cost of the materials) and a little bit of work.