Kitchen Tile — Up + Running!

Look at our kitchen back splash!

We love it!

If you read my recent post about the view from our kitchen window,

here ’tis:

Hi, nice neighbors!

Meanwhile, it’s time to order the light fixtures

for the wall above those windows.

Here’s my choice — the Logan sconce from Ballard Designs:

Red, please!

* * *

But back to the tile.

I chose it because the glaze looks like it was done by hand — so pretty!

Best of all, it’s crackled, which I couldn’t love more!

This adds a lot of vintage style, in my opinion,

+ makes those tiles look as if they could have been original to our house!

Oh, + that pretty but pesky grout left a few traces on the tiles, but no worries.

These can + will be removed later today.

Meanwhile, one more look:

Next up: a DIY range hood project!

Stay tuned!

Shopping For ‘Wacky’ Tiles

‘Tis time for us to choose tile for our Dutch colonial’s kitchen + baths!

I knew I wanted this vintage awesome-ness for our main bath floor:

Black + white floral mosaic
Porcelain

So, we gassed up the car + searched for said-same.

7 different places in 3 different cities — incl. Chicago — but nothing.

Apparently, my tastes are so ‘wacky’,

that nobody — ever — carries what I want!

Does this happen to you, too?

* * * *

Anyway, the good news is that moments later,

G.O. found it online at amazon.com (free shipping, no waiting!)

+ ordered it just yesterdee.

$5-something sq. ft.
Plus, amazon’s free shipping.
Not bad.

Thank goodness for the internet, am I right?

* * * *

But wait.

Back to the brick-and-mortar tile search.

I was hoping to find kitchen backsplash tiles, too.

Something 3″ x 6″ + medium gray, please.

Let’s have a look-see at said-same in my latest kitchen sketch:

Look how a medium gray contrasts so nicely

with both white cabs + dark countertop:

Pinterest

The humanity, though!  We struck out again!

Who’d have thought 3″ x 6″ gray tiles would be too ‘wacky’ to find?

Anyway, it was back to online shopping for us.

* * * *

I’ve already sent for samples, + these 2 have arrived in my mailbox:

5th Avenue tile in smoke glossy @ $3.00 sq. ft.

Methinks ‘smoke’ is code for too brown-ish, so this was nixed.

5th Avenue gray glossy @ $3.99 per sq. ft.

This is pretty but too pale to pop nicely against white cabs.

So it’s back to the search!

I’ve already found something that appears pretty spectacular:

Ms International from Home Depot
Dove Gray @ $8.98 sq. ft.

It looks suitably medium gray, appears hand-crafted, it’s crackled.

Nobody loves the crackle glaze tiles more than I do!

Here’s what Home Depot sez about it:

With the MS International 3 in. x 6 in. Dove Gray Porcelain Wall Tile, it’s easy to add a splash of contemporary styling to your decor. This attractive tile features a crackled look on a smooth surface in a trendy subway style. Handsome gray shades of this glossy porcelain create a distinct pattern for various install projects in bathrooms, kitchens and other residential or commercial spaces.

* * * *
So.  Excuse me while I whip out my Visa card

+ order a sample box of these wacky cuties.

Fingers crossed I’ll love them!

Stay tuned!

Kitchen Tile Obsession(S)

It’s not much of a stretch to say that I’m totally obsessed with white tiles + dark grout for kitchen backsplashes.

Take a look at these beauties!  The dark grout makes the tiles pop + adds tons of vintage charm, don’t you think?

Of course, you think so!  They’re awesome!

In our current house, we gutted and re-did our bathroom, + to save money, we used relatively inexpensive white tiles . . .

. . . which we tricked out by installing them in a running bond pattern, adding some black accent tiles . . . + of course, dark grout!

The kitchen in our house has a backsplash of 3″ x 6″ white subway tiles,

  but sadly, I dropped the ball + chose the plain, Jane off-white grout!

The humanity! It’s too bland!

 But WAIT!  Did you know you can buy dark gray grout stain at the build-o-rama?

 I have already coerced G.O. into re-staining our kitchen backsplash with said-same . . . but we are moving, instead!

  Did I mention the sad, foreclosure Dutch Colonial that  we’re trying to buy?

Dutch Colonial “before”.

People.  That house is practically begging for a vintage-style kitchen!

And a white subway backsplash with dark grout, right?

Consider it DONE . . . in my head, at least . . . where I’ve planned every last detail, including the drawer pulls!

Burke file card holder, Schoolhouse Electric Co.

 . . . but I digress.  Back to tiles.  I have yet one more design dilema involving them!

In addition to my dark grout obsession, I’m also crazy for crackle-glazed tile!

Hubba hubba.

Swoon!

Century Tile in Joliet + Bolingbrook (Illinois, just north of us) carries crackle glaze tiles, in an assortment of yummy colors + accents.

LOVE!

Okay, so that’s pretty great, right?  And not that expensive!  So what’s my problem?

You have to seal the tiles before you grout, + G.O.’s already nixed it!

But I’d be so happy, gazing at their crackled beauty, day after day!?  What should I do?

Should I or should I not insist?  (Stay tuned!)