Backsplash

Early this month we finished replacing the kitchen cabinets and this weekend we put up our new backslash! I have always wanted a white subway tile backslash; it always looks so clean and bright. We found the tile at Home Depot for $2.67 each and we purchased 20 sheets (12 by 12). We started by premeasuring the pieces and deciding on how we wanted to lay them out. Once we had enough sheets preplanned and individual tiles cut to size we began tiling. We used a light color mortar with a peanut butter consistency, using a trowel smeared the mortar on the sheet and laid it in place. After a few sheets were mortared Jack started to cut more individual tiles to fit along the edges, around the cabinets and around the plug ins using 1/4 tile spacers to keep the tiles in place.  Once the last tile was put in place, we let the mortar dry overnight to not risk moving any tiles. The next day we removed all of the spacers and cleaned out any place where the mortar seeped through. To grout we chose a white sanded one and mixed to a thick consistency and started "frost" on, Jack assigned me this job since I was very familiar with the process and I was done in no time. By the time I finished the end I was able to go back to the beginning section and began cleaning off the grout left on tiles with a damp sponge. This step was the most time consuming since we didn't want to leave any grout on the white tiles or remove too much grout from the seams. The last step was to buff the tiles with cheese cloth to make it shinny and bright. It was well worth a weekend of hard work and cost under $300 to give us a whole new look for our kitchen!