New Backsplash

Is anyone else the type of person who excitedly starts a project one day, and then six months later remembers they started it when they find the unassembled pieces tucked away in a drawer? I sure am. And I'm always equally excited when I find those pieces.

At some point last year I decided to make a backsplash for my kitchen. This week I rediscovered the tiles I bought in bags on a shelf somewhere. I thought, "oh, fun, new project!"

Up until this point, the space behind our sink was simply a painted wall, just waiting for some decoration.

So I gathered my tiles and got to work.

I got lucky at Home Depot to find these white tile sets. I didn't want to have to cut my own tile to make a pattern, but I didn't want to have a simple two-tone checker pattern either. These made it easy. The four pre-cut tiles came as a set, connected with mesh backing. Nifty, isn't it? All I had to do was fit my tiles into the spaces.

Once I had my pattern I measured and marked where the center of the wall (and thus the center of my backspash) should be. Then I slapped on my adhesive and pressed in the tiles.

I made sure the tiles were the way I wanted them and let them cure.

A few days later I added the grout. Here's a learning experience: I found my hands worked much better at applying the wet grout than the rubber float. Too much was falling off the float and into the sink (Oops). So, after cleaning the sink and taping up a newspaper liner to catch spills, I finished smooshing on the grout. The float came in handy for finishing up the details.

Before wiping it clean. After it was dry I sealed the grout.

Another learning experience: read the label on the bottle of caulk. It could save you having to make an extra trip to Home Depot to pick up a caulking gun because you didn't get one when you were there just the other day. Oops again.

I caulked around all the perimeter since I didn't get the tiles with a nice edge.

And it's done! I love having it in the kitchen. It pulls all the colors together, not to mention makes cleaning easier.