Kitchen Report #2: The Backsplash

When we moved into our home we loved the kitchen backsplash. It looked like old-school tin ceiling tiles however on closer inspection, you realized it was raised wall paper with metallic paint. When we ripped out the kitchen, the original backslash inevitably got destroyed. So we wallpapered it all again and planned to repaint.

Of course, two years later it was still white. I didn't mind the white, except that it stained so easily and the matte wallpaper did not wipe clean from basic spills (you know, when the blender barfs smoothie? or when a jar of tomato sauce smashes on the quartz counter tops?)

In our quest to Do It Right (see the past blog posts here) we washed the wall paper as best as we could. We taped everything well, took off the electrical covers, and secured newsprint over the whole counter. Despite our best efforts, we ended up doing this twice!

In the end, our problem was  one of aesthetic. While I loved the copper on its own, I didn't like it against the red sections of cabinet. AND I LOVE RED. I couldn't part with it, so we painted over the copper with hammered silver. Even though its darker than I hoped, there's no way I'll spray again any time soon.

Spray paint  was the only type of paint I found that promised the 'hammered' metal look. For a 60 square foot section I used 4 cans of copper Rustoleum paint (and one face mask) from Home Depot. This was BY FAR a better brand then the second one from Canadian Tire. It didn't cover as much with one can, however it went on more smooth and the trigger was really comfortable. Laugh at that, but this matters after painstakingly spraying 7 coats in 2 hours. The second brand's traditional spray top meant I couldn't use the tip of my finger for a couple days after -- seriously, I couldn't type without grimacing.

Sorry for the bad light. The Rustoleum can on the right was easily worth the extra $3/can.

Over all, I'm happy with how it turned out. Its an affordable way to get a traditional look and, from what we know from living with the original backsplash for a few years, should wear really well.

Overall Costs:

$30- wall paper
$40- copper paint
$27- silver paint
7-     aerosol cans to the eco-station
a few- brain cells
30 min- prep
2 hours duration- spray time