Print  email 

The kitchen renovation: Tile job complete!

• Published October 12, 2009

• Comments (0)

The tile job is complete.

Well, as complete as it’s going to get. I got one side of the kitchen done, and as I looked into the kitchen when I was preparing to do the other side, it occurred to me that the lines were not the same. The cupboard on the right side of the kitchen was about six inches higher than on the left side. If I tiled the right side using the same measurements as I did the left side, the tiles would be noticeably at different heights. If I set up the tiles to be the same height, I would be tiling almost the complete wall on the right. That would be noticeable, as well.

I have a very small kitchen, and on the right side is the stove and the refrigerator. Hence, very little actual wall space. I decided not to tile the other side of the kitchen at all. Luckily, the spot where the tile would have gone was only a small wall next to the stove. I had already used something entirely different for the stove backsplash, so I decided to stick with that and bring it around on the wall. I love it.

By the way, I’m not sure I mentioned it before, but when I was trying to decide what to do with the stove backsplash, I was looking online, and thought I had found actual stainless steel 18 x 24 embossed tiles. What they turned out to be are vinyl tiles, called Fascade. You can buy them in what looks very close to stainless, copper, gold, and silver.

We chose an embossed stainless. You frame them on the wall with matching framing, and then you apply an adhesive to the back. I wasn’t sure how I would like them after a period of time, so I framed them, and then stapled them to the wall. Because of the color, you don’t see the staples, and this way, if they get to be too much, I can remove them without tearing up the wall. So far, I really like them. They clean easily, and the heat from the stove doesn’t seem to bother the vinyl.

The wall tile looks really nice. It gave the kitchen just the touch I was looking for. It wasn’t difficult, but it was messy. And as I said before, you need to have some measuring skills, and extra tile.

I think I’ve decided to tile the counter tops, and the floor, but the counter tops will be in much bigger tile, and they will be granite. I think I’ve decided to go with an adhesive backed white tile on the floor, mainly because I can’t afford to do what I’d like to do yet, but at the same time, the tile that’s on them now is crumbling, and looks really bad with the newly renovated kitchen.

Now, that that project is done for the time being, I've been working on plans to build an organizing insert for my spare bedroom closet.