Kitchen

Backsplash

I bought tile today during a rare bout of decisiveness.

They’re 3×6 white subway tiles. They weren’t my first choice – I wanted 2×6 subway tiles from Ann Sacks in a lovely green color. These came out to only $100 for 30 square feet though (from Century Tile). That’s a whopping $800 less than the lovely green tiles I wanted.

I then began immediately tiling the backsplash when we arrived home.

Backsplash Tile in Progress

I’ve never tiled before, ever. The salesperson insisted that my husband and I could do it though. Well, that’s only partially true… As with most of the home improvement salespeople we’ve dealt with, he looked at and spoke to my husband the whole time, assuring him that he could do it. Uggh. I did almost all of it myself. Brandon helped with some of the initial cutting, then he went to the store to buy the tools we forgot (tile nippers and a hand-held tile saw), and then he came home and played video games. I’m just much better at this type of stuff than he is, and I’m much more motivated to get things done (love ya, honey!).

I only did half of the kitchen (the sink side is about the same size), and I haven’t grouted yet. It looks good already though! I feel pretty amazing. Yay DIY!

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  • Melissa
    July 8, 2007 at 6:31 am

    It looks amazing! Was it difficult? I’m the handy house woman too. Rob claims that if he were single, he’d live in a tiny studio with all of his books, a folding chair, and a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.

  • becoming-home
    July 8, 2007 at 6:31 am

    I LOVE how it looks, now I’m all excited to do ours. Couple of questions:

    1) Is there something better/different about the quality of the tiles you got at century tile over say the ones at home depot or lowes?

    2) What color grout are you going to go with?

    Yay, I’m so glad you’re doing this project before me so I can watch and learn :)

  • Nicole
    July 8, 2007 at 7:22 am

    It wasn’t too hard! We broke a few tiles while cutting, so that was frustrating. We got better though (and didn’t waste too many).

    The tiles are the same quality – they’re by American Olean / Dal-Tile. Century Tile is just a Chicago area store, and I’m glad we went there (instead of Home Depot or Lowe’s) because we were really able to talk to somebody and ask a lot of questions.

    We’re going with a bright white grout. I hope that’s the right choice! I’ve been looking at other kitchens with subway tiles, and they mostly seem to use bright white. The ones I like do, anyway.

  • Nicole
    July 8, 2007 at 8:58 am

    Looks great, you are totally motivating me to get rooms done in my house. Now I am excited to tile the bathroom floors that I have been thinking about. Great work DIY girlie!

    PS: I found you somehow through some blog threads, I have totally forgotten how I got here, but I am so glad that I did. Your Library makes my heart skip around!

  • Jill
    July 8, 2007 at 12:37 pm

    Thank you so much for posting this! I’m going to show it to my husband b/c this is EXACTLY what I want to do in our kitchen. You’ve solved my problem on where to find inexpensive white subway tile :) I might even be motivated enough to do it myself…

    j

  • Julieta
    July 8, 2007 at 9:14 pm

    Looks good! I still can’t decide on a back splash. Maybe one day.

    If you go with the white grout look for the special type that helps prevent staining. I had bright white grout in my last kitchen, and I wouldn’t do it again. The worst is above the stove where you get a lot of splatters. It’s hard to really scrub hard to get out any stains if you’re petite because you have to reach over the stove to get to the back splash. :)

  • kate1976
    July 9, 2007 at 6:06 am

    I am really enjoying seeing your progress.. the tiles look cracking. I have to say it is very annoying when I get ignored in DIY shops – I must turn invisible when I am there with my husband!

  • Only a Paper Moon
    July 9, 2007 at 7:04 am

    I love, love, love subway tile, and you are doing an amazing job doing it all by yourself!! I can’t wait to see the finished project!

  • Mrs. Limestone
    July 9, 2007 at 8:15 am

    Looks great. I bow down to your DIY skills. Tiles are always something Im leary to try myself.

    What did you use for the spacing?

  • Courtney
    July 9, 2007 at 9:35 am

    First, let me gush about how much I love your style and this blog….it’s the bright spot of my day!

    Second, a tip: bright white grout is gorgeous, and to keep it that way, I’d strongly recommend a few Tide bleach pens. A little OCD, but you can run them over the grout in a really fine line. I’m addicted!

  • Porcelain
    July 9, 2007 at 12:10 pm

    This looks wonderful!!! What a great job! So impressed!

  • Aimee
    July 9, 2007 at 3:50 pm

    that’s so annoying that they just assume your hubby would be the one to do it. in our house we do most of things together, although i am more inclined to do somethings. luckily at our home store, they talk to both of us, or usually me (even with hubby there).

    looks really nice though! i love the subway tiles look for a backsplash.

  • katiedid
    July 9, 2007 at 4:35 pm

    You go girl! I used the same tile in my old house for the kitchen backsplash and loved it! I am probably going to use it for my new basement bathroom as well. (I will post progress on that at some point!) It is great tile and goes with everything. I, however, would not trust myself to install it myself. You are doing a great job!

  • Liz
    July 10, 2007 at 1:00 pm

    This looks so hard, but it will be so pretty. I wish wish wish I had the guts to undertake my kitchen!

  • dennis
    July 11, 2007 at 9:54 pm

    love the subway tile, it’s great, we did it in our shower, went with a light grey “delorean” for the grout, cleaning white grout in a shower or kitchen is really tough, it takes a beating esp in a kitchen where tomato based foods are cooked.

  • biznes
    February 17, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    Your kitchen is going to look great! Really lovely thing.

  • Design Strategies » Blog Archive » Subway Tile
    January 14, 2010 at 11:36 am

    […] From Making it Lovely […]

  • Andrea D.
    July 1, 2010 at 7:40 pm

    I’m sure that you’ve answered this but I can’t seem to find it. Do you happen to remember exactly what tiles you used?
    Are they just the basic Dal Tile subways? Did you go with arctic white in semi-gloss or regular white in semi gloss? Do you remember :)
    THANK YOU! I’m in Chicago too so thanks for reminding me about Century Tile!