DIY HANDMADE HODGEPODGE TILE BACKSPLASH

One of my friends has a charming house that she always fixes. But with the pandemic, it was hard to justify doing some projects while it was ok to try other projects.

Since Home Depot was always open throughout and considered an essential business, she thought it would be a good time to do something about the old wallpaper behind her counters.

Going this way and that over, what she should do? Paint, buy boring backsplash, or hang new wallpaper?

Since she is my friend, I assumed she saw my backsplash and just discounted making her own. But I suggested she make one since she is very crafty and could make it super custom to her house decor. She loved the idea. So here goes the story and the how-to to make your own DIY hodgepodge backsplash.

Here is how we did it.

Kitchen showing hand made hodgepodge backsplash — Kitchen showing hand-made hodgepodge backsplash.

The very first thing we did was measure and cut the Luon rectangle shapes I wanted to add a ceramic covering to. We cut a thin Luon from Home Depot to the exact sizes. One for behind the stove, One long narrow piece behind the sink, and one for the fake drawer in front of the stove.

Kay and Heather working away at the backsplash in the backyard. — Kay and Heather are working away at the backsplash in the backyard.

Lucky us, a holiday weekend with family usually means family art days. Make art or go to museums, galleries, lobbies, sculpture gardens, and private collections.

Grandma Fay and Heather working in the backyard — Grandma Fay and Heather are working in the backyard.

It also means going to movies, seeing photo slideshows, talking about the latest video, podcast, comedian, TV show, and then discussing the periodicals blogs. Of course, it is always best to be reading a good book worth talking about.

This past Thanksgiving weekend lasted until Monday, and it’s Tuesday, and no wonder my little family is tired. It was a lot of fun.

Making art was on the agenda. The best thing about this time was getting my mother off the hook to do collage at her house, to instead, as a stroke of genius, help her by coming up with one of about fifty projects I have /had ready for the willing nieces, kids, sister, brother-in-law, and mother to work on.

We ceramic tiled.

The tile set up before the grout. — The tile was set up before the grout.

Since this was my first tiling, I wasn’t sure how to apply the grout. I used a bag I bought from Restore-Habitat for Humanity store for around a dollar. It comes in many forms and colors. Really you have to experiment. I love how the white grainy one I chose turned out!

Something came over me while I was getting ready to install the tile. I decided to make an easy island in the kitchen, paint one kitchen wall with blackboard paint and paint the counters with countertop paint.