Putting up a tile backsplash

Friday Friday Friday! Thank goodness. Here's hoping work goes fast. I'm ready for a beer (who am I kidding, let's make that plural... beerS) and girls night this evening.

Day 5 of our bathroom redo = putting in a glass tile backsplash. This was surprisingly easy. We orgingally picked up this pattern of tile because it was an awesome deal ($2.60 for each sheet), but alas it didn't quite match. Too green.

So we returned it and found this tile for $4.99 which I didn't think was too bad considering most sheets cost $10-$15. We used nine sheets for our bathroom so spent about $45 on tile.

Home Depot

We also found the best invention ever! Simple Mat made this project a snap. We needed one package of it which cost $19.97.

Basically it takes away the messy adhesive step and allows you to put these sheets up for the tile to stick to instead.

Peel off the white backing and stick it to the wall. You may need to cut to size.

Pressing it into the wall. When you're ready to add the tile, peel off the front clear cover.

Cut your tile to size if needed.

You may need to cut the actual tile itself with a tile cutter like this one. We had to do this for the corner pieces. The tile actually cut really easy.

Here is the tile before grouting. Be sure to use as much strength as you can muster up to press it into the adhesive mat.

Think I need to replace that outlet cover!

Look at that shimmer! Beautiful!

Now it's time to grout. We bought the following grout from Home Depot for $9.67. We ended up needing two of these so we should have just bought the bigger tub to start off with.

Simple Grout in Sandstone

This part isn't hard, but can be messy. You'll need a grout float to help you evenly spread it. You're supposed to apply it at a 45 degree angle so that it gets between all of the tile.

After you apply the grout, clean up the excess grout with a grout sponge and warm water. They're cheap and you can find them anywhere. Ours was $1.97.

You won't be able to get the tiles clean. There will be a haze over them which is okay. I promise! Let everything sit overnight and then you can clean up the haze the following day. They make grout cleaners, but the guy at Home Depot told us water and vinegar work just as well... and he was right. Thanks, dude!

After the grout dries for two or three days, you'll want to apply a grout sealer. We haven't done this step yet. Hopefully tomorrow morning! A grout sealer needs to be reapplied every year to protect the grout.

The other option is buying a different type of grout and mixing a sealer in with it before you apply the grout to the tile. Apparently you never need to worry about sealing it again if you go with this route. We had already purchased the premixed grout unfortunately. Ask your home improvement store expert about this option because I don't know all of the details and certainly don't want to lead you astray!

See the final results by clicking here. We put in a new faucet and decorative trim around the mirror.

Have a great weekend everyone!