Tiled Kitchen Backsplash

I am very excited to be sharing my finished kitchen backsplash on the blog today.  I am also extremely relieved that this project is done.  I bought the tiles quite a few months ago and they have sat on the dining room floor for what seems like forever.  It took me a long time to get up the nerve to install it because I felt like I had no idea what I was doing.  It turned out to not be so hard but it took a while to complete which is also why I am relieved that it is done.  The pictures can't even begin to capture how awesome it looks in person and I am completely in love with it.  I can't believe that I did this!

This is not a tutorial because I am not a professional but I thought I would include some videos and links that aided my completion of this project.  This tile was a little difficult to work with because of its unique shape and I felt a little in over my head since this was my first (and maybe last) tiling project.  I did find two posts from other blogs where the writers ahd installed similar tile in their homes found here and here.  I cut most of the tiles by hand using a score and snap handheld tool and tile nippers.  Some of the tiles around the outlets needed more complex cuts which I had my husband cut with a portable wet tile saw.  In order to make sure his fingers were safe from being cut a tool called the Tilesizer was a necessity

I bought one on Home Depot's website.  I am also including two videos that were helpful.  The first one is helpful in learning how to grout and the second one explains how to extend electrical outlets out after you are done tiling.  That posed a little bit of a problem for me since one switch that seems to have no purpose in our kitchen kept giving me a voltage reading on my voltage tester (an absolute necessity so that you don't get electrocuted).  It turns out that the switch is labeled disp. on the electrical panel.  We don't have a garbage disposal in our sink.  I'm not sure why electricity needs to be running through a switch that isn't actually wired to anything, go figure.

There are other videos in this series that show other steps in the tiling process too.

Here are some more images of the completed backsplash:

  

 And here is a comparison of the kitchen with and without backsplash:

It's a big difference!