#smarttiles

Our very white, very bland kitchen was in desperate need of an updated look.  Not wanting to spend bookoodles of moolah, I perused Houzz for inexpensive ideas.  There were plenty of attractive, modern-looking white kitchens, but they all had one thing in common that our kitchen lacked - a pop of color/geometry/texture.  Sure, Rachael Ray’s orange is brilliant and I continue to love it as my pop of color, but our kitchen still lacked.

The most obvious choice would be to attack those rather sad laminate countertops.  But that would involved a full kitchen destruction that would hit my wallet hard.  I considered using Rust-oleum Countertop Paint. The only reason I decided against it is because it’s potentially a harder change for new owners when we finally decide to sell our condo (eventually we want a house with a yard for our pups).

So ... the backsplash became my target.  After watching tutorials on how to remove a tile backsplash and learning that the project would involve replacing areas of drywall that are damaged during tile removal, I knew I had to find a better way.  A simpler way.

And then I discovered Smart Tiles. Genius! Absolutely brilliant! Smart Tiles are applied directly on top of the existing tiles.  

For less than $250, I was able to give my kitchen an updated look.  I used Smart Tiles to cover all the areas that were currently faced with boring white tile - this included the area behind my stove, behind my sink and beneath cabinets on two countertops.

Smart Tiles were easy to install and they look and feel beautiful! I am beyond thrilled with how the project turned out!

So, what did Rob think?  Well, first he walked right past the kitchen without even noticing.  Figures.  But when he finally did see it (after I pointed it out), he loved it, too!  

I’m no longer embarrassed by our vanilla kitchen.  And Rachael Ray’s orange looks even happier against the new Smart Tiles backdrop!

Here are a few progress shots.

First, I thoroughly cleaned the existing tiles to remove any splashed cooking oil, soap from around the sink area, etc.  The cleaner the surface, the better the Smart Tiles will stick.

A Before shot.

The first sheet of Smart Tiles I placed on the wall.  I removed all the outlet covers first.

Cutting the tiles to fit is super easy!  I already owned a cutting mat and a nice, clear ruler.  Using one of Rob’s box cutters, I measured and cut tiles with ease.

I pulled the stove away from the wall so that I could continue the Smart Tiles over all of the existing white tile.

Coming along!

Absolutely thrilled with how the stove area turned out.  Now to move on to the sink area.

The sink area proved more challenging because the backsplash area was uneven.  On the far right behind the sink, the height of the white tiled area was almost a half inch shorter than the left side.  This made tile positioning difficult since I wanted to keep a nice straight line.  I ultimately decided to line up my tiles with the bottom part of the wall and allow the top to be hidden by the overlapping countertop.  

Love it!  It looks like glass tiles.  Upon first touch it feels like glass tiles.  When you press on the tiles, you realize they are an ingenious type of gel that makes cutting easy!

Unless someone sits on the floor and looks up beneath the overlapping countertop on the backsplash, no one will know the area is uneven and that the Smart Tiles are a half inch lower on the left.  I kept the lines of the Smart Tiles straight and allowed the left side of the backsplash to have that half inch of white tile exposed. Luckily for me, the white tiles blends in with the white Smart Tiles.