Take your time...get everything in and tile last.

I like safe and blah for backsplashes! LOL

I do too lol I like splashes of color through out. This way I can change it up when I need a change.

@njmomma @Ephma I feel like safe & blah is a good fit for our house. Especially because I have a lot of busy things all around the house. I have decorative tiles on the floor upon entering, around a fireplace next to the kitchen, blue storage cabinets, and my green-themed bathroom amongst other things. Maybe I'll follow my heart and stick with neutral backsplash throughout. I'd love a green mixer and some fun accessories like @lindacottonwood mentioned. I can also do brass hardware to give the kitchen a little oomph, but I'm sure I'll make another Houzz post for that..since I'm obviously obsessed with posting here lol

Plenty of ways to bring color into a kitchen without it being a permanent fixture!

@Ephma is that your kitchen? I LOVE it! Can I ask what oven that is?

It is! Thanks! It’s a GE Cafe 48” dual fuel range.

@Ephma I love it. I had the whole GE Cafe white/brass appliance package in my online cart for like 2 months. Then I went to best buy and saw some outlet appliances and went with those, but the Ge Cafe series will always have a special place in my heart :) Can I ask a question about cleaning the rug you have there? I have kids, pets and cook a lot so my kitchen runner is constantly dirty, I end up spot cleaning until I need a new one. Is this a special washable runner?

Donna, if safe makes you happy and it's what you like, by all means, go w/that. But don't do it just because prospective buyers may want it. decorating your home so 'in case you sell and buyers may like it' is just silly. YOu're the one living there now. do what you like. Besides, have you seen some of the homes that sell? do you actually think a green backsplash will make someone turn down your house? no.

If you want to accessorize with colors, by all means. I just think with all the neutrals you have you'd want something with a little color in the kitchen design. I mean, it's a light green, not vibrant orange!

The cream colored tiles you picked out are nice too. they have a slight variation to them.

These do too. Shadebox.

and BTW, I just bought the Cafe series for my kitchen. I love it!

@Donna B - it’s not anything special for the kitchen, it’s just an antique Turkish oushak runner. It’s pretty new so I haven’t had to do a full cleaning yet but just spot clean as necessary. It’s about 70 years old and faded/worn so I’m really not worried about hurting it! I’ll just hose it down if needed. ;) I found an awesome source in Turkey on Etsy if you’re looking for something similar, I’ve bought several rugs from her. They arrive super clean and exactly as described.

But if you’re concerned about washability, Ruggable has some really attractive options.

Ephma,,your kitchen is beautiful. love the runner. and your stone is beautiful. see, you have that. but donna is just doing a plain countertop.

@Beth H. : it's sooo nice. I love this collection! your kitchen looks great! The matte white/satin brass is killer. I love the black/brass you've picked as well!

I do like green a lot, as I've mentioned, I'm doing a very green bathroom with green vanity. Here is the look for the bathroom. But I've bought white subway tile and am nixing the deco strip. I have everything just waiting to get installed.

As for the backsplash, it has a lot of variations, it's not white, so it's not too simple in my opinion- but still clean. It looks white in my kitchen but my counters are this one. Ivory cream is the name, by MSI.

love the bathroom selection.

then do the cream backsplash. I think the tile you've chosen has enough variation in it to look interesting. I thought it was going to be a solid white.

do a colorful runner, some art, bring in some little plants, it will look great.

Thanks @Beth H. I love your kitchen too! Those appliances look great and I love the wood trim on your hood.

thanks. I have the same walnut shelving on the coffee bar area. and you guys would prob faint when I show you what I'm tiling! ( halfway done with it. was up till midnight last night doing it)

this will be going at least halfway up, and I will have another shelf put up on the left side.

in the pantry area I'm doing a black zellige tile in a herringbone inlay w/the wood flooring.

Looks great! The zellige sounds great too. I was strongly considering the Cle zellige in weathered white back when I had a Danby marble on hold but ended up switching to the matte subway when I switched to the quartzite. Love the way zellige looks.

@Beth H. : the backsplash is like cream with brown tones, each tile is different and they are rough around the edges so it'll give a rustic look. Thanks for your opinion! I second guess everything because I find everything beautiful...so it really means a lot!

@Beth H. : the combo of black and gold is just fantastic. such an expensive look. did I understand this correctly, you're tiling it yourself? Please do update, that is going to come out beautiful!

@Ephma do you mind sharing where you got the rug? I really like antique items, a 70 year old carpet sounds right up my alley.

yes. I do tile. I'd rather not, but my tile guy is MIA. so, I did two rows of the cement tile last night. i'm sure my neighbors were thrilled w/the tile saw at 9PM. I'm about to go out and finish, i'm just being lazy! then I'll get around to doing the herringbone inlay. I just dread doing it because it's so much work.

I think I like your creamy tiles. they'd give enough interest to jazz things up a bit. just nothing solid white! where did you find those tiles?

the zellige (this place has some beautiful colors!) would look nice too

love this absinthe color too

https://www.ziatile.com/zellige/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqcb2ptWc5QIVltJkCh3_hwGfEAAYASAAEgIJwfD_BwE

If you go to Etsy and search VintageRugsHouse that is the name of her store. Her name is Fadime.

@Beth H. : goodness the tiles you're using way past my budget, but you get what you pay for! right? And by the way, the people I picked for my kitchen are great but not reliable so they are MIA too. If only I could write a book on the chaos of my YEAR LONG remodel lol.

The tile I want is actually very similar to the absinthe color tile you posted. It comes in a square shape as well. Here is my source for the backsplash tile:

https://www.bedrosians.com/en/product/detail/cloe-tile/?itemNo=DECCLOWHI28G

i like them! consider laying them in a herringbone or a stacked pattern. or a vertical stack.

normally my tile guy is very reliable. I've used him for many projects with customers. I know he was going to mexico for vacation in July, and i haven't heard from him since! (he's been here 35 yrs but never got his papers in order. so, i'm thinking he got, um, held up at the border?)

@Beth weren’t you the one that posted that offset vertical stack on Mittens Cat’s thread? That would look awesome here.

yes. Donna, this is an offset vertical stack

I think it would look great if you did all around the window, and then did two wood shelves w/plants and white earthenware.

or try the horizontal stack bond

@beth can I say I love the open self idea, that's great and for sure I want that! I never considered the vertical tile installation, since it's such a small space between the bottom and top counters, I was going to go with the offset brick installation. But I have a few samples of the tile I'm using, I'll test it out both ways and see what looks good! What program are you using to create these pix?

a lot of people use photoshop, but i use my Mac preview. just copy and paste. pretty rudimentary !

i think a vertical would give the illusion of more space, since it draws the eye up.

and the shelving is easy to do. I went and got a piece of walnut at the lumberyard and cut and stained it myself. $45. hub installed some lag bolts in the wall and drilled a hole in the back of the shelf. simple. I know some kitchen places charge like $800 for two wood shelves! crazy.

i love this look

you could also get some nice brackets. World Market has some beautiful gold ones. you could also use those. you would place them right over the tile and use ceramic screws (long ones) that will go through the tile and into the wall)

or, try some marble shelves and brackets.

the black would be pretty too

@Beth H. : okay, I've come to the conclusion that you're an amazing diyer! I have some corbels leftover from something, I can use to keep the shelves up. They're kind of like this. It can add a nice rustic touch. Thanks for the idea!

I can't seem to post a new thread so if there's anyone still following, can I get some help please? Which trim should I use for the backsplash? A sand color or steel color?

I wanted to use the trim that coordinates with the tile but they won't have it in stock for a few weeks!

bump!

I chose the sand color! Had to buy it yesterday. Pretty good match :)

Just a progress pic

This tile is amazing so I had to share (pictured ungrouted). It's called Cloe from Bedrosians. I didn't do an accent wall, as @Beth H. :said: this tile is interesting enough. I'm going with the virtual taupe color as it's just dark enough and gives a nice amount of contrast as well as warmth. Cabinets are still unfinished. Hope to paint them next week. And I'm painting the walls white. Although I have an instinct to add some green/greige (wall? cabinets?) but I'll probably end up getting green window treatments instead. Anyway, I just wanted to share! Maybe I'll make another post about cabinet color. I love Houzz and all of you people here!

Looks nice!

Is that the cream color in the Chloe? Looks nice!

it is! @thinkdesignlive it looks much darker in the pics- bad lighting. This is from their website:

Virtual Taupe SW7039 @User :)

Donna, that tile is really nice looking. just the right amount of variation. I'll have to remember that choice!

thanks for your advice @Beth H. :!

Hi everyone! So the kitchen is about 99% done. I need to install the pulls and knobs and I'm waiting on lights for inside the glass cabinets. I wanted to share my choice of pulls and some pix of the kitchen so far. Don't judge too harshly, I haven't really decorated or got furniture for it yet, we're using a dining table for the time being.

Looks great! So warm and inviting.

by the way, I LOVE this light (from Lamps Plus) and the vent covers (Majestic Vent Covers)

Here are the handles and pulls I got, it's champagne bronze. Thank you for the suggestions everyone!

SORRY FOR THE MULTIPLE POSTS! pix were too big to upload so I had to split them up.

Also, here's the pantry and the light inside. It's gold, it looks dark-ish in the pic. It's really pretty when it's on and the light shines through the glass door.

Beautiful!

You did such a great job!

Very nice!

So pretty! I love the color on the cabinets!