Putting up a Tile Kitchen Back Splash!

When you bought our house the back splash was a Fake Tin Back Splash. Honestly, I never was a fan of it. It stayed up for a few years before we decided to tackle it. After numerous trips to Lowes and Home Depot (We bought and returned countless squares of them, we finally found one that looked great with our wall color.

We had never done any tile work ourselves so I personally was a little nervous but I will say it was pretty simple for us layman's to do this in one weekend. We spent apprx. $200.00 on everything.


First we removed the old Fake Tin Back Splash.......





We pre-cut the tiles that needed trimming around the electrical sockets and garage disposal switch. We did not rent a wet tile saw. We used Tile Snips that we bought at Home Depot. They worked perfectly.

Then we spread out the Thin-Set Mortar with a trowel. We used a Pre-mix kind. We worked a square at a time. (Since we pre-trimmed our tile it made this process very simple. Once we had it all up, we let it set-up over night.

The next day was grout time! Again, we used a premixed grout. We used "Natural Grey" color. We taped up our countertops and cabinets and covered the countertop in plastic for protection.



We used a rubber like thingie to push the grout into the spaces. (I have no idea what this tool is really called! It came in a Back Splash kit purchased from Home Depot.) You do this a 45 degree angle so you don't pull the grout back out.



After you have all the grout in the spaces you have to wipe off excess grout from your tiles. This is done with a damp sponge. (Which was in that kit I was taking about earlier) You make circular motions with damp sponge until you remove all the leftover grout. This process was time consuming as your sponge needs rinsing often. This process also "Cleans Up" your grout lines.

Here's our Finished product.....



STOVE BEFORE.......

STOVE AFTER.......

This is an easy weekend project that is fairly inexpensive to do but it makes a Huge impact in our kitchen. It made our kitchen look like a completely different kitchen!!