You might notice a pattern in posts like this and this and this and this: making a house feel like yours often involves removing things as much as adding new furnishings or colors. In our previous home we ripped out matted carpets, crocheted curtains, dated wallpaper, some small doorways, a few bi-fold doors, and an old linen closet door. Here, we’re following the same approach — working with what we have and making small alterations so features fit our aesthetic instead of starting from scratch. That’s why the granite backsplash around the bedroom sink had to go.
Don’t worry — the goal wasn’t to eliminate the sink, just to make it blend in. Right now the backsplash makes the sink shout “I’m a sink in the middle of the bedroom!” Removing it would help the vanity read more like a piece of furniture, smoothing its presence in the room. We like the location of the sink; we just want it to look intentional and less like a separate element.
To avoid water damage, we relied on waterproof caulk around the edge and semi-gloss paint inside the alcove. That same caulk-and-paint approach worked well for us in our previous house, handling splashes without trouble.
Here’s how the project went. First, I scored the clear silicone caulk along the top of the backsplash with a box cutter to break the seal:
Then I scored the caulk between the countertop and the backsplash the same way:
Next I used a thin metal spackle knife to pry the backsplash away from the wall slowly, working behind it and levering each section until it broke free:
Each of the three granite pieces had to be rocked back and forth until they released. They were heavy, but I managed it all on my own while John watched Clara. I’ll admit I started the job before telling him — I wanted to see if removal was possible, and once I’d started there was no turning back. I figured he’d like the no-backsplash look since we’d chosen it in both bathrooms of our old house, so I crossed my fingers that I could make a neat job of it before he and Clara came in.
After the backsplash came off I scraped the remaining silicone caulk from the granite countertop with the same spackle knife. The blade removed the caulk without scratching the stone:
Then I used the knife to pry and flake off the old adhesive, revealing the drywall beneath. It was roughed up but much less gaudy once the glue was gone:
Here’s what the alcove looked like when John came in. Thankfully the surface cleaned up nicely after scraping the adhesive, and he ended up liking the surprise project.
To finish the drywall I skim-coated the roughed-up area so it would blend seamlessly with the surrounding wall. Instead of a heavy drywall mud, I used a lightweight spackle that sands smooth once fully dry. Note: don’t sand until the spackle is completely dry. After sanding, I sealed the seam between the countertop and the wall with white paintable waterproof caulk to prevent water from seeping behind the vanity.
From a distance, the nook already looks more cohesive (please ignore the baskets and clutter we haven’t organized yet):
For comparison, here’s what the area looked like when we first moved in, before we removed the bi-fold doors and the backsplash:
Apologies for the blue-tinted photos — I’m still getting the hang of the Nikon. Even so, we’re happy with the change. We can already picture how wipeable semi-gloss paint will brighten the nook, and we have other plans to make the vanity read even more like furniture. As for the three granite slabs we removed, we’re donating them to Habitat For Humanity’s ReStore so someone else can reuse them.