Rooms: Kitchen Backsplash

More in the category of finishing things left undone... When we remodeled our kitchen about five years ago we always intended to do a tile backsplash but haven't found exactly the right tile to motivate the project. I loved the crackle glaze tiles for a while, and "plain" subways, and various glass incarnations. We have had the walls painted "Cookie Crumb" which is a nice tan/ochre, until now. The tile that tipped us towards finishing (credit to the nesting instinct as well of course) was this Shaw Floors Micro Blocks in "Sea Glass." Sort of a surprising source, but I love this glass--all the colors of the sea, including this nice yellow ochre vein.

I'm loving it! I think it adds another nice dimension to the kitchen. A nice complement of colors to the red/brown cabinets, the counter, the cork floors and the stainless. I especailly love it with the stainless.

Typically one would affix the tile with a white mastic, and that white background would really make the colors pop. We toned down the blues and greens a bit and opted to affix it directly over our paint color to make it more harmonious with those tones. We also used a neutral gray grout instead of white. I love glass tiles grouted in white but this seems to work better here.

So finally, five years later, it's a long way from what it looked like when we moved in!