The Backsplash

The kitchen is the first room I’ve ever tried to “decorate” without a clear picture in mind.  It has all been decided as we go.  I first wanted antiqued cabinets because I thought they would look nice with our counter tops.  As soon as I saw the samples, I knew I didn’t like the cream colored doors, but I really liked the darker samples (and Tom always liked the wood stains better).

Same thing with tiling the back splash.  I wanted to do something different – but I didn’t know what.  I have been yearning for glass tiles ever since Home Depot started putting them out on display – more and more selections every time we went in!  And I liked the brick layout on some of the tile back splashes I saw – but I also knew I didn’t want a rough surface because I wanted to be able to clean it easily.

Here are some pictures I looked at for inspiration.

I also knew we didn’t want to spend a fortune on the back splash – and should we do color? or keep it neutral? (but EVERYTHING in the kitchen was neutral!)

So, Tom and picked a day to get tile and started at Home Depot.  We took a sample of our granite counter top and the new cabinets and started putting tiles with them.  We finally settled on a small greenish blue glass tile (similar in color to the picture above, but probably a little smaller).  We figured we’d use three or four rows as an accent.  So then we were looking for the tiles we’d use for the rest of the back splash.  We moved on to Floor & Decor.  Tons of choices here.  We played with travertine tiles for quite awhile, but weren’t quite sure.  We wandered around the displays until coming upon some floor tiles that were 12″ x 24″ with a subtle line pattern.  Suddenly we were inspired!!  They only had a box in stock at our local store so we had to trek up north to Arvada to buy what we needed.  But we were excited to get started!!

We planned to get started early on a Saturday – but events conspired against us.  The tile saw we rented wasn’t big enough to cut our tiles (even though the rental guy told us it was).  Finally, after exploring all our options, we went back to the rental place in the evening and rented their other saw that had been returned and WAS big enough.  We worked madly to get all the tiles cut (we cut them down in width and used part below and part above our accent tiles) and went to bed exhausted.  Monday I finished up installing all the tiles.

Here you get a better idea of how we laid out the tile – and how I filled up that little sliver of empty space below the microwave!

Here’s a wider view with almost all the tiles in place.

I don’t have a picture of the tile all grouted and complete – promise to do that tomorrow when the light is good and get it up.

Just have to say – doing tile on the wall is a different ball-game from floor tile.  Some parts are easier (we didn’t have to install cement board, for instance), but grouting definitely took a long time (and just imagine how long it would have taken if we had had ALL small tiles).  Another thing that was tricky was working with two different thicknesses of tiles – some of my work looks better than others – but that’s part of the charm, right??  We really love how the tile compliments the counter tops, instead of competing.  And we’re glad we used a little color instead of going with a neutral tile accent instead.  The back splash has definitely classed up the kitchen!

(Erin – does this satisfy?  Pretty sure you didn’t see this!! )

3 thoughts on “The Backsplash

    • Author gravatar

      totally! i definitely didn’t see this 🙂 looks great! can’t wait til i get to see it in person

    • Author gravatar

      Love the backsplash and we noticed the dishwasher looks like it has a cabinet matching front. Is that right? In any case, we can’t wait to see the completed project in person.

    • Author gravatar

      Mom – the dishwasher DOES look like it matches in that picture! I didn’t notice. It’s just a stainless steel appliance like the rest. Posting pictures of the finished product today!

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