A long time ago Sandy talked to me about re-doing her kitchen backsplash. It was previously done using leftover vinyl flooring (and looked alright in my opinion). She waited while doing other small renovations and then was ready. I discussed changing the countertops first, mostly because they had a cove backsplash and things would look cleaner with that removed.
So we went ahead with the countertops. After choosing a colour, I ordered laminate blanks and cut the mitre with a router. I pre-glued the mitre as it would have been difficult to glue onsite.
After countertops were installed, it was time to choose tile for the backsplash. This was a long process with many trips to the tile stores and several samples.
The old vinyl backsplash peeled off reasonably easily. After scraping off as much extra paper as I could, I coated the wall with a quick coat of Mapei Aquadefence to give my thinset something to bond to. Then it was time to install thousands of mini-tiles! I bought them at Lowe’s, and they come in 12×12 sheets.
I sealed the natural-stone tiles before grouting. Grouting took a long time, presumably because with such tiny tiles, there was more grout space than I expected.
Finished look! Happy customer!
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