I’m not sure if this was a renovation that was never completed or an actual design choice, but the kitchen design in my new home was…questionable. Dark wood cabinets, dark grey countertops, and a beige backsplash – so much color clashing! We debated a little on replacing the countertops and backsplash but decided we wanted to wait to expand the kitchen and do a full renovation then.
Painting the cabinets was an easy decision to make and easy enough to execute, it was the backsplash that gave me hesitation. I’m not a fan of painted tile, but I thought, anything is better than this right? So I did my research, painted the tile, and already it has transformed the kitchen!
I was not done yet, after painting the cabinets, the space really brightened. But, it was still missing a little spice for me. I decided to hand paint a design on the tiles to give it a more cozy vibe. Some of the tiles had a image relief of wheat on the tile that I wanted to hide as well. I first measured out the tiles and brained stormed a repeating pattern on separate sheet of paper.
After planning out the design, I mixed some black paint I had on hand with the white of the tile paint – I was being cheap and didn’t want to buy more tile paint. I figured since it wasn’t directly sticking to the tile that it would be fine, and I was right!
And here are the final results. Overall I was pretty happy with how it turned out. Painted tile is still not my favorite, however, it is a great alternative if you don’t have the time or funds to do a tile renovation.
Rachel Williams
Artist | Designer | Educator
Making mistakes and fixing them, so you don’t have to