Please take a picture from farther away so that the backsplash can be viewed as part of the whole room. The framing of this picture is making the backsplash a deliberate focal point, so you will not get accurate feedback.
In general I am not a fan of the focal point over the stove, however it looks nice, and it looks like it matches. I might have put an accent in the center too. To me, the rope and the 4 accent tiles look like they should be framing something, but nothing is there.

Here's the whole wall.

This post was edited by catiesd on Sat, May 11, 13 at 16:59

I don't see a photo in your last post?

Looks good, but you could improve it by removing the four center tiles and inserting something of interest there....possibly something in copper or a bas relief design.

I think it looks nice, but agree you need something in the middle. It looks like it's unfinished.

I think that it looks just fine. If you feel that the center of the framed area is plain, you might be able to add a single one of those accent tiles dead center.

I do like your accent tiles in the travertine. I agree with the others, the framed area needs something in the center, even if only another accent tile, if you want to keep the frame concept. If it were mine, and weren't too much effort and $$ I would get rid of the frame and just continue the pattern of the rest of the wall. (Like localeater, I just am not a big fan of a different pattern behind the stove, so take that into account!)

It looks lovely but I think I would put somethng in the center as well.

I agree with raee. I'm not a huge fan of framed areas behind the stove. It would look wonderful and more spacious to just match the rest of the backsplash pattern in that area.

I so wish I could lose the frame BUT this b/s was done by the home's previous owners. It's definitely not my taste but I was just trying to make an improvement to what was already there.

The way it is mapped, I think it would be an effort to rip out center and surrounding tiles and lose the frame. What you can't tell from the pics, the center 4x4s are set straight square and the tiles outside the frame are larger pieces of diagonal travertine. So it is framing "something". This is not my forever house but I hope I can live with it as it.

I don't have any of the accent tiles or even know where they came from so anything plopped in the center might look like an afterthought. It seems any more work invested should be starting over. So in keeping the frame and knowing what I have going on, do you still think a center tile is appropriate? What kind?

Thanks!!!

It would not be hard to find a 4x4 tile that coordinates with those accent tiles. Then just remove the 4 tiles in the center. You will need some matching travertine to fill in the rest of the space but that should not be hard to find. That would be far less work than ripping out the whole backsplash.

I think a metal tile piece placed over the existing tiles would look nice, on the diagonal depending on what you can find. I wouldn't start chipping tiles out.

Or maybe hang a pretty trivet or something.

This post was edited by snookums2 on Sun, May 12, 13 at 14:17

Simiar to what snookums2 suggests, you could find a pretty plate or other decorative item to hang there. We did this in our kitchen. It pulls in some of the colors we have in fabrics in the room.