DIY Tile Backsplash

The internet has so many tutorials and videos to help you tile a backsplash, but I honestly did not realize how easy it was. This has been on our list since we moved in, however the tiles have always been so pricy and the ones that we loved were out of our price range. Home Depot was running an awesome clearance special on these tiles. They are sea glass mosaic tiles and they were only $3ish (I cannot remember the exact price). Yes please, I will take 12! I drug my mom to the store across town because the one in my neck of the woods only had seven left. The bad thing is being that they are a clearance item you want to make sure you buy plenty just incase you cut something wrong, or need extras for any purpose. So we only needed 10 but I got two extra. Then we picked up the supplies we needed and I left the store grinning like I a kid on Christmas morning!

Here she is before.

First step was to turn off the electric, this step is VERY important because you will be working with a lot of liquids and they don't mix very well with electricity- just saying.

Then we scrubbed the wall down with soapy water to get grease and dust off, I don't know if this is necessary but I was worried about the thinset not sticking if the wall wasn't clean.

Then it was the scary part of measuring and cutting. By the way- I missed a lot of pictures because I was busy helping hubby and didn't have a free hand for pictures.

We found it easiest to measure all four corners of the outlets and put at dot at each place then connect the dots to form a box. Then we cut the tiles that needed to be removed. NOTE- the light colored tile in our backsplash is marble and is soft so when making marks on them to cut the marks stay. Our suggestion is not mark the marble tiles only the glass ones because u can clean those with alcohol but the marble ones will not come clean.

After all the tiles were up we had to let them sit for a day. This was not too hard since it was midnight by the time we got the tiles up. The project really does not take that long, however when you have little hands in the house that want to help it is recommended to wait until they are in bed before you begin most projects.

The next day was grout time. I thought this would be the easiest step and I was TOTALLY wrong. The grout had to sit 20 minutes before you could apply it. Once you began applying you have to score (I believe that is the word) it to try to keep to extra grout off the tiles. After all the grout was applied and we let it sit for 2 hours, we had to wipe of the extra grout. Man that sounds so easy- just wipe it away. But it was far from easy. We cleaned the grout off those tiles for two hours. The glass tiles were not that difficult to clean but the marble ones were ridiculous to clean the grout off.

After all the grout (or most of it) was cleaned, it was time to caulk. I have a mild obsession with caulk, weird I know. I love how it makes projects look crisp and complete. Some do not use caulk for one reason or another, however, I know it is messy but to me it is totally worth it!

Here she is all complete, clean, and decorated! We are really loving the results. For such a minimal cost, it makes such a dramatic change to our kitchen. We are debating over the next project now…I’m pulling for a bay window bench, we shall see where we go next. For now, we are taking a short DIY break ;)

I like the way the light shines on the glass tiles at night.