Cheap Kitchen Tile

My New Backsplash

Today, I'm sharing photos of my kitchen after it's backsplash makeover. 

(oh...I made a quicky chalkboard from a old silver plated tray....this was super easy)

From day one, I have hated the black and white tile in my kitchen.

It was too busy.

I'll refresh your memory as to what it looked like before.
See the full post of how I styled the kitchen in Fall of 2010 - here.

and this is how it looked the day I bought the house

Oh...I hated that red. I changed that before I even moved in. It was the first thing to go.

And this is what I've got today.

I accomplished this backsplash makeover for less than $20 including shipping.

My kitchen looks soooo much better.

I'm really loving my kitchen now.

I'm still going to put something in the back of those shelves.

I am really leaning towards mirrors because I think it will lighten up that spot 

and give the illusion of depth to a not very wide kitchen.

I added these iron brackets under the open shelving last week.

These brackets were found at Hobby Lobby a few years ago. 

I had hoped to find four matching but only found three so they sat here unused till I finally decided 

three would have to do. I painted them white and distressed them a bit.

You can find lots of iron brackets on Ebay.

The other bracket ended up over by the stove for now. 

It is not attached. I'm debating whether it will stay in this spot or not.

If I could have found one more...they would have gone on either side of the sink.

Silver stuff looks so much better without the distracting black tiles, don't you think?

This is how it looked before I made the change to the tile.

See how pretty they are?

My original white tile is really kind of a very light cream.

The tiles that were once black now are a pure glossy white.

I really like how this created a tone on tone effect.

I found this wire cloche at Steinmart a month ago. Perfect for this spot on top of the fridge.

My canisters look so much better with the all white backsplash.

I painted the frames of these prints. 

They did have dark frames that complimented the black tiles before. 

After I switched out the tiles....they looked too dark in the room and so I painted them.

You'll notice I'm not showing the floor. 

That's because the floor is still the black and white check and although it looks much better without the 

black tiles....it still brings the room down. 

My next thing is to redo the floors. I think I'll be doing wood.

It's so hard to get nice photos of this kitchen. Especially shooting here at the sink directly into the light.

And it's a galley kitchen so there is not much space to stand back to get a shot. 

This is the sink area before the change.

I must say this little makeover of my backsplash has totally changed my attitude about my kitchen.

I am really loving it now. 

I'll show tomorrow how I did this backsplash makeover.

It's very simple.

You see the black tile is still there. I just covered it up with sign vinyl bought off Ebay.

I'll share my source and how I did it tomorrow. 

But basically it just involves cutting the vinyl into squares and carefull sticking it on over the old tile.

This vinyl is suppose to last up to 15 years outside in strong sun and all kinds of weather.

So it should last indefinitely inside. 

It is a little tricky to put on. It took me about 8 hours. But it was not strenuous work 

and I just took my time to get it perfect. 

I swear in person...you cannot tell it is stick on vinyl. 

It just looks like tile. It's just as shiny as the existing tile. 

After I finished this...my Mom came up to see me one day. 

I had not even told her I was doing this project. 

She walked in my kitchen and her eyes got big and she said, "When did you retile your kitchen?"

I said..."I didn't retile." 

She looked perplexed. I explained it was just stick on and she said she could not believe it. 

She really thought it was real. 

Friends who have seen it thought it was real too. 

I've said to them..."Well, someday I want to redo it all with real tile." 

And they've asked why since it looks real now.

Another great thing about this....it is totally reversible. 

The manufacturer said it would not leave any residue and he was right. 

I did a test before I did this. I stuck some on and left it for two months. 

Then peeled it off and you would never know it had been there. Pretty amazing stuff.

I have been wanting to change out this tile for a long time and even had mentioned it here on the blog. 

I had several people write me and tell me to paint it all. 

But I thought it a shame to paint white over mostly white tile. 

I don't think it would have worked very well to have painted only the black ones. 

Anyway....if you have a backsplash that has a few tiles you hate or really at this point...I'd say...

you could cover all tiles if you wanted. This vinyl comes in many colors and even metallic.

I'll include my source tomorrow along with a tutorial on how I did it.

***UPDATE***
I now have the post up about how I created this.
See it here.

One more update as of June 29, 2011... I just added this spice rack to my kitchen....see the full post here.

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Yippee! They loved my little kitchen makeover.

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