Tiling A Backsplash

In the past few months that my husband has been home on parental leave, our tv has been on DIY Network every single day.  While I scoff at yet another remodeling show, I have to admit that the network does a fantastic job of encouraging the average homeowner to tackle projects they might otherwise hire out for.

Earlier this summer my husband built a deck off our kitchen, and just recently we started discussing tiling the kitchen back splash, after watching several tiling projects on tv.  Thanks to the help of a friend who had done his own kitchen last year, Kirk tackled the project last week and the results are beautiful!

Before the big reveal, let’s take a look at what the kitchen looked like in Feb/10 before we moved in:

I’m not sure what the name of that wall color is but it was bright!  The sunflower wallpaper border was an even brighter contrast.  Armed with a spray bottle of fabric softener mixed with water, I peeled off the border and scrubbed down the walls within a week or two of moving in and we painted the kitchen Flagstone by Benjamin Moore.

The tile we found was the perfect blend of materials (glass and stone) and colors which matched our counter top, walls, and even our flooring!  Applying the tile didn’t look as difficult as I thought (as I always say, I’m the designer, he is the one who makes it happen!)  What takes up the most time is cutting the tiles to fit around plugs and at the base of the cupboards.  Grout wasn’t fun (a frantic phone call to our friend to determine our consistency was wrong…peanut butter not playdoh) but in the end, the result is stunning!