Recently, I embarked on a small DIY project that only cost about $50 and greatly increased the attractiveness of my kitchen. Above the fireplace, the white painted wall was the victim of grease, spaghetti sauce, and steam from constant cooking. The options were to rebuild the wall again and again, or place a block of tiles over the hearth as a shield against anyone cooking.
Learn from my experiences and follow this how-to tutorial to complete a similar project in your home.
1. First things first. Get out the candle meter and calculate the distance. You need to know how much tile you are shopping for. For my wall we bought a tile to fill 1ft. at 5ft. area.
2. Bring paper and pencil with you to the hardware store because you want to write down some ideas you like. and visuals for the wall. See what you are going to say, and outline it. The most popular wall tile size is 4.25in. square tiles, but 1in. mosaics (joined in larger sheets for easy application) are popular.
3. When choosing colors, it’s best to stay neutral (white, off-white, gray) if you plan to paint your house downhill. You will also need to choose a glossy/glossy or matte look, and make sure that all of your tiles match. If you want to throw in a splash of color, consider a lighter trim shell.
4. To get a clean edge, you’ll want to make sure you buy thinner tiles to use for edging or raised tiles for exterior frames. Round-edge bullnose tiles come in single-edge bullnose (to finish off the top of a wall) or double-out bullnose tiles (to finish off a corner). Once you purchase as many tiles as you need, put in a couple extra for good measure. (There’s always the chance that you’ll break it on the way. And besides, you’ll usually have to return your regular meter to the store.)
5. As long as you don’t have to cut any tiles to fit, this should be an easy job. You will buy: trowel, tile, spacers, floating grout, and grout sealer. You should also stick with something. My suggestion is to buy a tub or two of two-in-one adhesive and grout. save yourself time and money this way.
6. Using a blunt trowel, spread the adhesive on a small section of the pre-marked wall. Use v shaped notes to create straight lines on the tile adhesive, this will help your tile stay put. Apply the tile and click. Wipe off the excess adhesive lightly with a cloth and continue until your entire space is filled.
7. Use your tiles (which are the little white “x”) spacers Use them to sit in the middle so that the tiles, spacers spacers spacers spacers They happen to stay still.
8. The next day (the adhesive must dry for 24 hours), it is time to fill the cracks with the grout mixture. Remove the brick spacers. Float your grout on a flat line with a paste substance, and fill in all the cracks. You can use a wet cloth to clean the fronts of the tiled surface, and a dry cloth to clean the cuffs .
9. In a few days you will want to seal the grout. I used a liquid grout sealer and painted over the grout lines with a small glass. This will keep the grout from staining or cracking in the future.
I-I admire your new kitchen wall space! I suggest that you consult a professional or hire a service that will be bigger and much more difficult.
