When I started working on the kitchen, knowing that I was going to be redoing my re-do, I didn't think I'd go quite this far but one thing's led to another and I think we're finally done for a bit. You know, like a couple of months...
This week, we finished the backsplash. Again, wasn't planning a backsplash, but it became necessary when I pulled off the old vinyl to paint. Since one of the fastest and potentially least expensive updates to a kitchen is a new backsplash, I wasn't going to complain.
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After quite a bit of time at a few stores, looking at every option available, I settled on penny tile going far enough up the wall to remove the damage.
Penny tile is one of the most historically appropriate tiles to use in old homes, much like the basketweave, subway and hex tiles we used in the Saga of the Wood-Paneled Shower's restoration. As you may have guessed from the name, it looks like pennies!
First, I had to measure off the area that needed to be covered. You can cut penny tile sheets into strips, which allowed me to get two to three linear feet out of one square foot (one sheet) of penny tile that runs about $6.79/sheet.
Once I'd established that it needed to go up six rows, I cut a bunch of strips and started laying them out to make sure each new strip met the former properly.
Once the tile was laid out, I had to tape off the area I'd need to thinset for the tile. Since the tile was only going partway up the wall, it was suuuuper important that I get it taped off correctly so we wouldn't end up with thinset and, eventually, grout outside of the tiled area.
Then, because we were looking at such a small space to be tiled, I could get the thinset on a full section of the wall using a notched trowel (if you're doing bigger areas of tile, like a shower, work in smaller chunks or the thinset will dry before you can stick the tile to it).
It's also important to stick up the tile and make sure the lines are all straight and the dots are evenly spaced. It's easiest to just eyeball it and squish them around a bit as necessary. Once I have everything where I think it should be, a grout float can help get it all squished down. You don't want to be looking at the tile wishing you'd moved that one that's just a little too far to the left!
After getting everything in place, make sure to clean up excess thinset between the tiles so that it doesn't show after you apply the grout (especially if, like me, you use a white thinset and plan on using a grey grout since I already had both from previous projects) and peel off the tape while the thinset is still wet.
I gave the thinset a couple of days to dry (especially in the local humid weather) and then taped off again to get ready for grout.
Grout's about as easy as it comes. Literally, smear it on with a grout float and squish it between all of the tiles evenly. In my case, I also made sure there was enough over and below the tile to create a nice edge after removing the tape lines.
Wipe it off with a damp sponge and then with a dry, clean sponge until it's clean - trust me, you don't want to leave any dirty water on your tile, it's a nightmare to clean once it's dry and set.
Peel off the tape as soon as you have the grout as you like it (carefully so you don't smear it - I pull at an angle) and definitely while the grout it still wet and you're done!
So there you have it! We have a beautiful, newly backsplashed kitchen! What do you think for a total project cost of less than $40?
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